Tope - result of consultation

[Toerag]

I had my Defra license throug hthe other day - I'll have to re-read it, but I'm sure I'm allowed to land tope. The 'one porbeagle a trip' rule is in there though.

[H.A.]

I'm sure I'm allowed to land tope

 

If you're an angler, why would you want to do that?

 

If you are not, why are you on this forum?

 

[barry luxton]

I had my Defra license throug hthe other day - I'll have to re-read it, but I'm sure I'm allowed to land tope. The 'one porbeagle a trip' rule is in there though.

Yes you are allowed 45kg per day as a by-catch Toerag.

[Cornishman]

I still cant find the Tope rule on my licence either?. With the MFA doing a u-turn on the porbeagle front hopefully they'll revise the tope aswell. The word on the street is the number of Porbeagle's per landing is to increase to 13 if they have been caught accidentally, a move like this for tope would be sensible aswell. 45 kgs a day is not enough, the tope are still going to be caught and killed.

[Leon Roskilly]

45 kgs a day is not enough, the tope are still going to be caught and killed.

 

 

45kgs was the amount deemed reasonable to deal with accidentally caught tope without allowing an 'acidentally on purpose' fishery for tope to develop.

 

 

Tope are also known as the 'shark-fin soup' shark.

 

A couple of years ago a fish merchant had the idea of marketing tope to the UK population, presumably so that they could also remove the fins for export.

 

He had already bought the equipment and was investigating boats that could supply him with tope.

 

Fortunately the whole idea fell through, following strong protests.

 

But it did illustrate how quickly an operation could be set up to exploit tope, which where these have been exploited like this in various parts of the world quickly produces a population crash (within about 3 years).

 

Tope are a very long lived species - around 80 years, and mature late, with relatively few young.

 

Once they have been fished down, they take decades for the population to re-build.

 

Especially the larger, older, fish that are important to the recreational sea fishery, which is largely catch and release anyway. Once the big tope are gone, you wont see their like for decades.

 

Although there was no immediate threat, it was realised that if a fishery did develop, that by the time they could introduce the legislation, the damage could already be done.

 

And of course instead of the argument that 'there is no need so why bother', vested interests would then be arguing 'our business, our livelihoods are at stake'.

 

So it was decided to bring in the legislation now to ensure that the current population are protected, at least while in UK waters, and to pre-empt the setting up of a UK fishery for tope.

 

(Individual tope do travel a long way, but return each year to the same place in UK waters to spend much of the summer. Until wider EU legislation is bought in to protect them on their wider travels, at least they will not face the prospect of being hammered by UK boats, fishing opportunistically, within UK waters).

 

There is a strong movement to protect all shark species within the EU, so in this case EU wide legislation is more likely than for other fish species.

 

One important thing for RSAs to consider is that when a tope is lifted from the water, it is vital that it is kept horizontal (ie not held with the tail up and head down as seen in so many photos). Holding it incorrectly will damage internal organs (it's not designed to be lifted out of the water), and the fish is likely to die when released.

 

A code of practice for the catching of tope by RSAs has been developed by Save Our Sharks and adopted by the NFSA, and can be read at: http://www.sacn.org.uk/Articles/Tope_Code.html

[barry luxton]

I still cant find the Tope rule on my licence either?. With the MFA doing a u-turn on the porbeagle front hopefully they'll revise the tope aswell. The word on the street is the number of Porbeagle's per landing is to increase to 13 if they have been caught accidentally, a move like this for tope would be sensible aswell. 45 kgs a day is not enough, the tope are still going to be caught and killed.

 

Could you tell me the estimated value of the 45kg's per day, i would imagine that we are not talking about a lot of dosh here, so why make a fishery out of it. It is now a by-catch, 45 kg's is more than any angler can take, who has to put them back dead or alive. So what is the difference.

[Cornishman]

I fully understand and respect the reasons to protect and conserve all types of marine organisms but sometimes the rules put in place to achieve this appear fantastic in principal but practically will have no positive effect. The market price for Tope is around 80p - £1.40 . Many boats will never need thier 45 kgs and some may land a few Tope in number every now and then but some boats have been known to catch between 500kgs - 1000kgs on occasions without targeting them, the situation now will see £1000 of dead tope being dumped back into the sea.

[H.A.]

..... the situation now will see £1000 of dead tope being dumped back into the sea.

 

And if commercials themselves don't do something about this, there will be more and more regulations to stop them fishing in this manner.

 

[Toerag]

If you're an angler, why would you want to do that?

I am an angler, and I don't want to land tope - the two we've had on the boat have been returned unharmed. I was confused as to why there isn't anything in my license when I thought there was a ban on fishing for them with any method other than angling.

If you are not, why are you on this forum?

I have a license to allow me to get rid of the excess fish we catch on the boat. Plenty of fish get returned, but things like ling, cod and pollack from the wrecks can't go back, and I'd rather sell the fish for eating than give it away for pot bait.

[ColinW]

the situation now will see £1000 of dead tope being dumped back into the sea.

 

Which is a lot better than the fisherman having an incentive to go back the next day and kill another £1000 worth, and the next day, and the next.......

Maybe, instead of wasting his time catching worthless fish, he'll move somewhere else and NOT catch them?