An Alternative to Bag Limits?

[Leon Roskilly]

See:

 

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Opinion/Bass_Carcass_Tagging.html

[glennk]

Someone would bring out counterfeit tags.

[Leon Roskilly]

Someone would bring out counterfeit tags.

 

 

Not so easy to do, and for that they would go to jail - hardly worth the risk!

[glennk]

I know people who served time for Salmon poaching and then came out and did it again.

[Leon Roskilly]

I know people who served time for Salmon poaching and then came out and did it again.

 

 

There will always be a few chancers, and a few that get away with it.

 

But that doesn't mean that overall the system isn't working, even if not working 100%

 

 

I suspect that a lot more people would ignore bag-limits than would try to get around a system of carcass-tagging.

 

 

When carcass tagging was introduced to disrupt the illegal trade in poached salmon in Ireland, it worked better than anyone could have reasonably expected.

[glennk]

Am I to assume that the main gripe is not the amount of fish caught but the amount of fish illegally sold ?

Edited November 16, 2006 by glennk

[Sharkbyte]

What difference would Bass tags (supplied at the tax payers expense, what a surprise) make?

 

Any illegally sold fish are supposedly covered by the buyers and sellers legislation. In essence any unlicenced boat landing a load of sizeable fish is breaking no law until it has passed on to a buyer. Therefore if the buyer of said Bass cannot prove by way of invoices, receipts etc. that it came from a legitimate source, he's already in schtuk.

 

The legislation that is already in place goes largely unenforced, so why bother with more.

 

Am I missing something here?

[Leon Roskilly]

Am I to assume that the main gripe is not the amount of fish caught but the amount of fish illegally sold ?

 

 

Not all of it is illegally sold!

 

 

Rod and Liners fishing from the shore or a pier etc or from an unpowered vessel (providing that the vessel is under 10metres in length) can legally sell their catch, and so can unlicensed seine netters and gill-netters etc.

 

 

Yes, the real beef is with unlicensed sales taking away the market of licensed local fishermen.

 

 

In theory, those selling fish illegally should be covered by existing rules and regulations, particularly the buyers and sellers legislation, but enforcement and conviction and level of fines is a problem.

 

 

So the idea of bag-limits to protect the market of licensed fishermen, and to plug the loophole of currently perfectly legal but unlicensed sales appeals to the supporters of the licensed catching sector.

 

No matter that the legal and legitmate rights of bone fida Recreational Sea Anglers will be trampled underfoot.

 

 

All the fish belong to the catching sector, and you can have one or two for tradition's sake.

 

The crumbs from the table, but never a slice of the cake!

 

 

But the fish do not belong to the catching sector alone.

 

They belong to the people of the UK.

 

 

 

And Recreational Sea Anglers in particular depend on access to those fish, not only supporting thousands of livelihoods and businesses, but for enhancement of their quality of life, and the feel good factors that make life worth living.

 

As well as introducing hundreds of thousands, young and old, abled and disabled, to the mysteries of the marine environment that surrounds us, and the creatures that live there.

 

 

But whilst the majority are content to sit back and let it happen, blaming the unpaid and under-resourced few (relatively - actually far more than most realise) who try their damndest, for any failures to make a real difference, that's the way things are definately headed.

 

 

But hey! We can always take up golf!

Edited November 16, 2006 by Leon Roskilly

[Ronessex]

What difference would Bass tags (supplied at the tax payers expense, what a surprise) make?

 

Any illegally sold fish are supposedly covered by the buyers and sellers legislation. In essence any unlicenced boat landing a load of sizeable fish is breaking no law until it has passed on to a buyer. Therefore if the buyer of said Bass cannot prove by way of invoices, receipts etc. that it came from a legitimate source, he's already in schtuk.

 

The legislation that is already in place goes largely unenforced, so why bother with more.

 

Am I missing something here?

A boat under 10m and NON POWERED or a netter working from the shore is not breaking any laws anyway (As long as no bye law is in place) and can sell his catch perfectly legally with NO licence needed

[Sharkbyte]

A boat under 10m and NON POWERED or a netter working from the shore is not breaking any laws anyway (As long as no bye law is in place) and can sell his catch perfectly legally with NO licence needed

 

Your quite right Ron. I would love to know what percentage of unlicenced landings that go on to be sold are caught from powered and unpowered vessels. I'd wager the latter accounts for a far higher proportion. Bass on feathers springs to mind.