anglers bag limit and discards

[steve good]

time to wake up lads

 

when bag limits come in and say for example there is a bag limit of 2 cod a day per angler and say in the morning you catch a 6 pounder followed by a 8 pounder and they then die in your fish box. Later in the day you then catch a 15 pounder and drop your line back done and ponder what do because you are now one fish over your bag limit. Then up pops a 20 pound cod. Now do you throw (discard) back the 2 dead cod (the 6 and 8 pounders) or throw back alive the 15 and 20 pound cod

 

The fact is that until quotas came in there was no discards, You anglers blame the commercials for the state of some fisheries. Maybe you may now realies that once managers of the fisheries set quotas and bag limits they become counter product and therefore wasta fishery resources, it is not the fault of the angler or the commercial fishermen it is the failury of the manager to understand human nature.

 

regards steve

[wurzel]

Hello Steve G

 

So what would you sugest instead?

[Steve Coppolo]

First of all Steve, bag limits for Cod is something that won't ever happen, in my opinion. Bag limits for bass have been talked about because of proposed measures, ie, a 45cm MLS to start with, that might have improved things for bass anglers. Those proposals have come to nothing and therefore I can't see bag limits for bass happening anytime soon. They will have to come up with something a lot better than a poxy 40cm MLS before anglers will even consider bag limits. A 55cm MLS might do it, as might a 3 mile net free zone. If these things seem pie in the sky to you, bag limits are equally pie in the sky to me.

 

Cod are a different story altogether. What could the government offer Cod anglers in the way of improvements to their sport? Nothing that I can think of. Maybe the Whitby boys have something in mind that could see them agreeing to bag limits, but then again, maybe not.

 

As for discards, what difference would your scenario have on the Cod stocks? You are comparing bag limits with quotas. Let's just say that an angler did have a limit of 4 Cod. He catches his 4 Cod and continues to fish, and catches more Cod. He keeps the biggest 4 and throws the rest back dead. The effect on the Cod stocks is the same as if he'd kept them all. I know that was your whole point, comparing bag limits with quotas, and you are telling us how ridiculous the quota system is. O.K, but the whole idea of quotas is for the fisherman to stop fishing when he's caught his quota. If the fisherman doesn't do that then isn't he placing the stock under more pressure? The same pressure that made quotas necessary in the first place. If you are suggesting that a free for all would be better, how would that make any difference to the Cod stocks? Thrown back into the sea dead, or dead in fish boxes, the Cod are still dead.

 

The only system that I can see where quotas wouldn't be necessary is one where the MLS for each species is above the size at where they spawn, and the appropriate mesh size used. Then you could have your free for all without hurting the stocks.

[steve good]

First of all Steve, bag limits for Cod is something that won't ever happen, in my opinion. Bag limits for bass have been talked about because of proposed measures, ie, a 45cm MLS to start with, that might have improved things for bass anglers. Those proposals have come to nothing and therefore I can't see bag limits for bass happening anytime soon. They will have to come up with something a lot better than a poxy 40cm MLS before anglers will even consider bag limits. A 55cm MLS might do it, as might a 3 mile net free zone. If these things seem pie in the sky to you, bag limits are equally pie in the sky to me.

 

Cod are a different story altogether. What could the government offer Cod anglers in the way of improvements to their sport? Nothing that I can think of. Maybe the Whitby boys have something in mind that could see them agreeing to bag limits, but then again, maybe not.

 

As for discards, what difference would your scenario have on the Cod stocks? You are comparing bag limits with quotas. Let's just say that an angler did have a limit of 4 Cod. He catches his 4 Cod and continues to fish, and catches more Cod. He keeps the biggest 4 and throws the rest back dead. The effect on the Cod stocks is the same as if he'd kept them all. I know that was your whole point, comparing bag limits with quotas, and you are telling us how ridiculous the quota system is. O.K, but the whole idea of quotas is for the fisherman to stop fishing when he's caught his quota. If the fisherman doesn't do that then isn't he placing the stock under more pressure? The same pressure that made quotas necessary in the first place. If you are suggesting that a free for all would be better, how would that make any difference to the Cod stocks? Thrown back into the sea dead, or dead in fish boxes, the Cod are still dead.

 

The only system that I can see where quotas wouldn't be necessary is one where the MLS for each species is above the size at where they spawn, and the appropriate mesh size used. Then you could have your free for all without hurting the stocks.

 

hi steve

i do not want free for all

you say make the mls large enouhg so they all spawn yet the french are pair trawling them up just before and during spawning your case does not hold water

 

1,000,000 anglers catching 10 kilos of cod a year plus 10 kilo of discards add up to one hell of alot of cod, anglers cannot continue to fish uncontrolled and unretricted

 

how much did the taxpayer have to pay for the bmp because thats whos paying for the whole process

 

regards steve

 

 

Hello Steve G

 

So what would you sugest instead?

 

hi peter

thats a secret, that i am working on at the moment

 

regards steve

[chesters1]

all my fish are discards ,they all go back.

whatever next eating fish from the dirty old sea

i eat real ones from sainsburies freezer

[glennk]

1,000,000 anglers catching 10 kilos of cod a year plus 10 kilo of discards add up to one hell of alot of cod, anglers cannot continue to fish uncontrolled and unretricted

 

At least live in the real world Steve. Catching a cod these days especially from the shore is bloody hard work. When I read what some people write in these forums it would surprise me if the average angler ever a caught a cod (hope people dont take that personally). The days when cod were so abundant that they competed for food and would eat pork pies and banana skins is way behind us - its now difficult to catch cod. Your figures are a bizzarre stretch of anyones imagination, even from someone tainted by a commercial philosophy of fishing they are from a different planet. Beam me up stevie.

[sam-cox]

The cod are stuffed, the zoo plankton that imature cod feed on aparently have moved north so even though the few cod left by commercials do have good spawnings there bugger all for very young cod to eat anyway!

 

So lets just deal with what can be delt with bass!

in my humble opinion SLOT sizes is the only way to go in the long term.

The yank have pulled the striper fishery back into shape after it collapsed so I think this could be done with our fishery.

[glennk]

The cod are stuffed, the zoo plankton that imature cod feed on aparently have moved north so even though the few cod left by commercials do have good spawnings there bugger all for very young cod to eat anyway!

 

That certainly is an excuse that is floated about a lot sam. MAinly by commercial fishermen and maverik scientists as Mr Bradshawe refers to them. why is the eu and defra investing so much time and effort on a cod recovery plan if there is no hope ? This is an argument the commercials put forward to the eu recently. To the best of my Knowledge the scientists at ICES blew this idea right out the water.

[Steve Coppolo]

1,000,000 anglers catching 10 kilos of cod a year plus 10 kilo of discards add up to one hell of alot of cod, anglers cannot continue to fish uncontrolled and unretricted

 

Hi Steve

It doesn't happen mate. They say that 95% of the fish are caught by 5% of the anglers. I say that still holds true. Most sea anglers will never get to catch a Cod now. Pouting and Whiting make up most of the average sea anglers catch. Even the sea angling magazines run articles on how to target Whiting nowdays!

 

hi peter

thats a secret, that i am working on at the moment

 

regards steve

 

Why do I get the feeling that you've got something nasty for anglers up your sleeve?

[Stoaty]

I don't normally comment on these threads but this has grabbed me.

 

1,000,000 anglers catching 10 kilos of cod a year

 

I wouldn't mind a bet that the true figure is nearer 1000 anglers catch 10 kilos of cod and 4,000,000 catch sod all cod.