Guernsey Bass Management Meeting

[Leon Roskilly]

I feel it is you that does not understand the regulation, check with defra office.

 

 

Hi Steve,

 

DEFRA are no longer responsible for dealing with or enforcing regulations, they are now only concerned with developing fisheries policy.

 

Since Ocober 1st, all of the enforcement work previously done by DEFRA, and the local offices involved in that, have been handed over to the Marine Fisheries Agency.

 

Anyone who needs to talk to their local MFA office can find contact details here.

 

 

Steve, in no way was I implying that you have ever knowingly transgressed the regulations

 

(Although Wurzel has often made the point on here, in the past, that it is impossible for a fisherman to make a living without doing so, particularly in regard to keeping within quota!)

 

But that, if you are not completely aware of the regulations, it's easy for a misunderstanding to occur, and many fishermen that have found themselves in trouble have said that the problem has simply been the result of a misunderstanding, and it seems that there is quite a crackdown underway in recent months.

 

Tight Lines - leon

Edited January 17, 2006 by Leon Roskilly

[wurzel]

Hello leon

 

Quote

I'm surprised that you are not more familiar with all of this Wurzel, or was this an attempt by you to use smoke and mirrors? LOL

 

Not at all leon, a bit of point scoreing pahaps.

As I've said before I just don't believe it,

 

Quote

Bass need a winter temperature of around 9C for successful spawning, in earlier years, for most fish, that meant a trip down to the warmer water down towards the South-Western approaches where there were huge congregations of spawning bass, as the pair trawlers discovered in the 80s. But with increasing sea temperatures, bass are increasingly finding suitably warmer waters closer to home.

 

I know of 2 areas off Harwich where bass spawn and another just north of Lowestoft , they always have done . I think it's a case of during mild winters more fish travel not so far south. But the winter pair trawl fishery seems as far as I am aware pretty stable.

[steve good]

Hi Steve,

 

DEFRA are no longer responsible for dealing with or enforcing regulations, they are now only concerned with developing fisheries policy.

 

Since Ocober 1st, all of the enforcement work previously done by DEFRA, and the local offices involved in that, have been handed over to the Marine Fisheries Agency.

 

Anyone who needs to talk to their local MFA office can find contact details here.

Steve, in no way was I implying that you have ever knowingly transgressed the regulations

 

(Although Wurzel has often made the point on here, in the past, that it is impossible for a fisherman to make a living without doing so, particularly in regard to keeping within quota!)

 

But that, if you are not completely aware of the regulations, it's easy for a misunderstanding to occur, and many fishermen that have found themselves in trouble have said that the problem has simply been the result of a misunderstanding, and it seems that there is quite a crackdown underway in recent months.

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

 

hi leon

 

fair comment

[Jaffa]

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food

Room 425b. Nobel House, 17 Smith Square. Westminster, SWIP 3JR

Telephone: 0171 238 5583 GTN: 238 5583

Direct line:0171 238 5583 FAX: 0171 238 5721

 

To: Interested Organisations

 

15 October 1999

 

FISHERIES CONSERVATION

 

PROPOSED CONSERVATION MEASURES FOR THE OFFSHORE

SPRING BASS FISHERY

 

The attached consultation document seeks your views on proposals to restrict the

landings of bass from any British fishing vessel to 5 tonnes per week. This, we

believe, is a necessary response to early signs that the offshore fishery on pre-spawning and spawning bass may be having an adverse effect on the stock as a

whole.

 

Further information is given in the consultation document.

 

In line with the Ministry's, policy of openness we intend to make publicly

available at the end of the consultation period copies of comments we have

received. They will be available from the Ministry's main library at 3 Whitehall

Place, London SW IA 2HH. The library will supply copies on request (tel: 0645

335577 - local call rate will be charged). An administrative charge to cover the

cost of photocopying and postage will apply. We will assume that you have no

objection to your response being made publicly available in this way unless you

clearly indicate with your comments that you wish all or part of your reply to

excluded from this arrangement.

 

Please would you address your replies to me at Room 425B, Nobel House, 17

Smith Square, London SWIP 3JR. Telephone: 0171 238 5583. Fax: 0171 238

572 1 or by Email to s.h.fishiiib@fish.maff.gov.uk

 

Your comments should reach me no later than 1 5 November 1999.

 

P D Winterbottom

Fisheries III

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CONSULTATION PAPER : BASS CONSERVATION FOR THE OFFSHORE FISHERY

 

THE PROBLEM

 

I. There is recent empirical and anecdotal evidence that the

numbers of mature bass returning to UK coastal waters from the

offshore spawning grounds to the west of Britain have declined

considerably. This may be an indication that the offshore fishery on

pre-spawning and spawning bass has been taking so many mature fish

that it is damaging the spawning potential of the stock.

BACKGROUND - THE FISHERY

 

2. An international fishery for sea bass takes place between

December and early May offshore in ICES Division Vlle, south of the

Lizard and Start Point, and on the Trevose Head grounds in VIIf. This

fishery developed in the 1980s, when mid-water pair trawlers from

Lorient began to fish for bass following the collapse of the black

bream fisheiy. They were joined later by UK vessels. About half-a-

dozen are now involved in this fishery. This fishery concentrates on

pre-spawning and spawning fish. In addition, offshore demersal

trawlers take bass as a by-catch in the Channel.

3. The inshore bass fishery around England and Wales relies on fish moving

out of estuary nursery areas. These areas are stocked by larvae brought inshore

by currents from the offshore spawning grounds. The fishery also benefits from

the availability of adult fish which have returned inshore after spawning. It

involves an estimated 180 - 430 full-time boats and 1300 - 2000 part-time boats,

with the full-time boats showing a marked increase since 1992, particularly in the southwest and west. This fishery takes place chiefly between April and October, though small landings of bass are made in November and December.

CATCHES

 

French pair trawl landings

 

4. Estimates from UK surveillance and inspection data indicate that 500-

 

1000 tonnes were taken in 1990/91 and 150-650 tonnes in 1992/93, whereas in

 

1996/97 a catch of 2800 - 5000 tonnes were taken by this fleet in VIIe alone.

 

Between 400 and 1600 tonnes were landed in 1998. Estimates for 1999 are not

 

yet available but it is understood that the French effort was down considerably

 

on previous years because of an apparent lack of fish.

UK landings

 

5. Overall, landings per unit of fishing effort (which provide an index of

abundance for the fishable bass population) in the UK inshore fishery have

fluctuated around the average level from 1985-1996, with no clear trend except

in 1994, when the exceptional 1989 year-class recruited to the fishery and catch

rates trebled. Annual landings by the UK fishery as a whole were around 600

tonnes between 1985 and 1992, increased to over 2,700 tonnes in 1994 and fell

back to around 1,400 tonnes in 1995 and 1996. The UK offshore pair-trawl

fishery reported landings of 43 tonnes of bass in 1998 but some 226 tonnes were

landed by this fleet in 1999.

 

6. The trends in the fishery are worrying. They may indicate that the offshore

stock is depleted and that the depletion is already affecting the inshore fishery.

BIOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITY

 

7. We know very little at present about the impact of this

exploitation by the offshore fishery on the adult bass stock, and

subsequently on bass populations prosecuted by the coastal fisheries

around England, Wales, France, the Channel Islands, Ireland,

Belgium and the Netherlands. Although there have recently been a

number of above-average year-classes in UK waters, there is a strong

association between recruitment and sea temperatures, and a

favourable climate change may be masking the effect that

exploitation of the spawning stock is likely to have on future

recruitment. In an attempt to address this, a joint study with France

and Ireland has been prepared by CEFAS for funding under the EC

call for studies in Support of the CFP. This would enable advice to be

given on a sustainable level of exploitation, and to indicate criteria for

setting long term control measures, if necessary. If the bid is

successful, work will start in November 1999.

THE MANAGEMENT ISSUE

 

8. The bass is particularly economically important in the UK

(including the Channel Isles), France and Ireland (where there is a

valuable tourist recreational fishery). In the UK, this has been

recognized by the implementation of a national conservation package

(36cm MLS, nursery areas closed to bass fishing and enmeshing net

mesh size regulations) in 1990, which was designed to reduce

exploitation on juvenile bass and thus ameliorate growth overfishing.

In Ireland, commercial exploitation of bass was made illegal in 1990.

The exploitation of mature bass offshore is, however, essentially

uncontrolled. There are no direct effort or catch restrictions (other

than a weekly quota of 5 tonnes for vessels landing into France) and

the EC Minimum Landing Size of 36cm. This size is not a constraint

offshore since very few bass under this size are caught there.

9. In the UK, France and Ireland, inshore artisanal and recreational

fishermen complain that the undoubted benefits of the conservation

measures protecting juvenile bass are being dissipated by the offshore

fishery. At present, the inshore commercial fishery in the UK gets

roughly a year's uncontested fishing on each recruiting year-class

(e.g. in 1994, on the 1989 year class), between the fish attaining the

MLS of 36 cm and moving offshore to the adult stock. When the

adult bass return inshore in spring, following spawning, they

supplement the summer fishery, but these fish are now perceived to

be returning in much reduced numbers. As a consequence, effort on

juvenile bass may be intensifying, thus undemining the current

conservation package aimed at protecting these fish.

POSSIBLE MANAGEMENT ACTION

 

10. Prudence suggests that managers should act now to introduce some

controls on fishing aimed at avoiding a possible stock collapse even though

there is no absolute evidence that bass stocks around the UK are

threatened by the current level of exploitation of adult fish offshore.

I I. As a first step it is suggested that the UK should follow the

French example and limit bass landings in the UK to 5 tonnes per

week per vessel.

12. The benefits of this would be:

 

a) landing opportunities would be equal in the UK and France,

(and Ireland would probably welcome similar limits, because

French landings are made there even though there is a prohibition

of commercial fishing for bass in Ireland);

to provide a constraint on the rate of exploitation of the adult stock

pending the completion of a full assessment of the sustainability of

the stock to exploitation; and

c) to buy time for the stock pending the international research work

referred to in paragraph 7.

 

 

Theres fisheries management at its best!

 

Pure politics and damn all to do with conservation.

 

As i remember it the inshore boys were cheesed off with the pair trawler landings and a lot of political pressure resulted. Then we get this extraordinary justification under the "conservation" flag!

 

Wonder how long a bil,l that proposed to stop pair trawling, just because it effected inshore markets, would have lasted ?

[Leon Roskilly]

Its my understanding that different tow speeds/tow durations are required to effectively catch different sizes of some species. Is this true for bass? If so, is therea particular /duration/speed (therefore boat HP/size) needed to effectively target different sizes of bass? Whats the cutoff point for your boat or is it not an issue with bass?

 

 

Writing in this week's Fishing News, Jason Rudd writes:

 

Trawlers in the Sussex Sea Fisheries district rarely catch the class of fish being discussed (> 45cm bass) due to current horsepower regulations and lack of towing speed inside of six miles

[wurzel]

Hello Leon

 

What did you think of all of Jason Judd's comments?

I recon he made some good points.