Swann pushes for ‘catch and release’ angling policy

[Bob Shotter]

ohh stopit, your dribbling again.

 

When you have something decent and crdible to say without doing it behind me back i'll address you, apart from that go away and get your head sorted. I won't bother replying to anymore of your pointless dirge. You are now becoming an irrelevance with regards to the damage you have done alianating the rsa, now you are here winding up others, nothing changes with you, you just don't learn.

 

good afternoon.

 

Here we go again more of the ‘Holier than Thou’ attitude from the man from Kent. If you’re not going to reply to me anymore is there any chance you can stop hounding me in the first place as that might be a relief all round.

 

As for being irrelevant let’s look to put that to bed while we are about it starting with this topic of C&R as a regulation just how much difference do you expect it to make. I don’t suppose anglers like Sportsman would dream of taking any more than the odd fish in any event and those that do are unlikely to change either. The evidence which shows returned fish do make it to spawning is not some sort of comprehensive study now is it. No authority in its right mind is going to pass legislation on such flimsy and dated evidence in any event let alone the fact that it could well backfire or don’t you believe what has happened in Germany and Switzerland.

 

I’m opposed to supporting better fishing is another accusation you have laid on me recently, because the MLS increase for Bass has been rejected by the CIFCA (For the time being) Again a decision reached on the evidence on offer by those making the application. Frankly I’m not surprised it would have been yet another unfounded regulation just as bad as the Eel and Tope you are forever banging on about.

 

I’m not saying either application is without some merit but looking at all the factors neither stack up the amount of brownie points required. To try and explain this to you in detail is equally pointless as you have shown a total lack of understanding in many of the previous explanations passing them of with clichés like ‘Its just smoke n mirrors’ or ‘Yet more swerving.’ You seem to forget I sit on an authority and know first-hand how through each and every byelaw has to be researched.

 

I could go on but if you’re not going to respond further then best let sleeping dogs lie for all concerned, but I know you will have to have the last word. How about coming clean as to what you do believe in for a change you know like your WSF post of yesterday.

Edited February 16, 2012 by Bob Shotter

[John S]

BARRY & BOB

 

Please continue this in PM's, it's just getting very boring now. Thank you.

[wurzel]

Bob, for over 20 years when I lived in Scotland my best mate was a ghillie on the river Dee. He often invited me to fish with him on the river and through him I got to know many other river Dee ghillies and keepers and got invited to fish their beats. As a result I spent many hours in the company of these professionals, fishing and in the fishing huts and not surprisingly the thing we talked about was the numbers of fish being caught and the reasons why.Now all of these professional river keepers, their bosses the owners and the other guests believed that C&R had a beneficial effect on the number of salmon returning to the river, along with other steps such as the buy out of commercial netting operations at the estuary.

You on the other hand don't fish for salmon, have never fished for salmon, have no interest in fishing for salmon and know nothing about fishing for salmon, salmon rivers in general, Scottish salmon rivers in particular and especially the river Dee and yet you feel perfectly qualified to state that I and all these other people don't know anything, that C&R doesn't work, that we lack the common sense to see that and that we are only fooling ourselves to make us feel better.

You didn't even know the original article referred to salmon because you couldn't be bothered to read it properly.

 

I think I will stand by my statement

 

 

Hello Sportsman

 

I am envious of your time on the river's of Scotland ,though you were only talking to anglers and anglers opinions are much the same all over, if your best mate had been a commercial fisherman and you had spent time fishing and sitting in huts mending nets talking with other salmon netters, also professionals, about the numbers of fish being caught the out look would have been very different, probably remembering good and bad times while resigning to the fact that it is the way fishing goes and has done since man learnt to fish and that anglers, ghillies and their bosses don't know what they are talking about, I suppose commercial opinions are also the same all over.

 

How many are recaptures as this would distort the numbers of salmon claimed to be in the river?

Is there any data showing the total numbers of salmon on the spawning grounds of the Dee and what percent are fish that have been caught and released?

Your link says it's the best fishing for thirty years, I doubt thirty years ago there was much C&R and at the same time a thriving commercial fishery, can you see my point?

 

I have no problem with C&R I practice it with out thought when course fishing and would happily fish the river Dee on the same bases, although I don't think it necessary for the survival of the salmon stocks in general.

Sea fishing is an entirely different kettle of fish altogether ,

Edited February 16, 2012 by wurzel

[Bob Shotter]

BARRY & BOB

 

Please continue this in PM's, it's just getting very boring now. Thank you.

 

 

Point taken John and please accept my apologies

[Sportsman]

Hello Sportsman

 

I am envious of your time on the river's of Scotland ,though you were only talking to anglers and anglers opinions are much the same all over, if your best mate had been a commercial fisherman and you had spent time fishing and sitting in huts mending nets talking with other salmon netters, also professionals, about the numbers of fish being caught the out look would have been very different, probably remembering good and bad times while resigning to the fact that it is the way fishing goes and has done since man learnt to fish and that anglers, ghillies and their bosses don't know what they are talking about, I suppose commercial opinions are also the same all over.

 

How many are recaptures as this would distort the numbers of salmon claimed to be in the river?

Is there any data showing the total numbers of salmon on the spawning grounds of the Dee and what percent are fish that have been caught and released?

Your link says it's the best fishing for thirty years, I doubt thirty years ago there was much C&R and at the same time a thriving commercial fishery, can you see my point?

 

I have no problem with C&R I practice it with out thought when course fishing and would happily fish the river Dee on the same bases, although I don't think it necessary for the survival of the salmon stocks in general.

Sea fishing is an entirely different kettle of fish altogether ,

 

Perfectly good point wurzel.

I think the difference is that we are referring to Salmon.

Firstly, whatever anyone says, salmon cope with catch and release very well. They have a very difficult and stressful journey back up the river and being caught and released, as long as it is done properly, is probably just a minor inconvenience.

Secondly, because salmon always return to the river of their birth it means that salmon from the Dee will produce offspring that return to the Dee, so it benefits my river rather than salmon stocks in general. That is why rivers that practice C&R have seen an increase in fish numbers whilst there may not be much of an overall increase to be seen, especially by netters at sea.

I agree that 30 or 40 years ago there were many more salmon overall and catches were higher in rivers and at sea. This is no longer the case for a multitude of reasons. What C&R does is increase the chances of a particular river's stock to increase, and it seems to work. What I do know is that a dead fish produces nothing.

Lastly, in an area like Deeside salmon fishing is a major industry, in fact it is almost the only one after tourism and farming. It is worth a great deal of money, not just to the landowners and ghillies but to the hotels, restaurants, taxis and pubs. We have anglers from all over the world who come to fish. Given the value you can be sure that a great deal of time and money is spent on monitoring the success of spawning.

If the fishery owners weren't convinced (and some took some convincing in the early days) then it wouldn't have been taken up. It is hard to say to a millionaire American who has flown thousands of miles to catch his trophy salmon that sorry, you have to return it. You don't do that lightly. If it wasn't seen to be working then this just wouldn't happen.

I don't advocate C&R in any other scenario, I don't know enough about it, but I do thing salmon are a special case.

Edited February 17, 2012 by Sportsman

[Leon Roskilly]

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ni/?id=2012-...s=fishing#g0.90

 

Robin Swann (UUP)

 

On the management of the public or derelict waterways, can the Minister state, once and for all, whether she has directed her Department to make catch and release mandatory?

 

 

[barry luxton]

Yer right, even they can't agree on what sort of question it is and they still havn't provided an answer, pathetic. :

 

 

 

1. That is certainly not a supplementary question, but I am happy to answer it.

 

 

 

2. It is.