For people who care about conservation only

[stavey]

ther isnt much on the forum as far as dicusions on conservation?

were the bloody hell you been! its almost non stop!

 

Hi geffaz, it was meant slightly tongue in cheek if you know what i mean?

[wurzel]

Hello Fishingsfine

 

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Less market supply of small bass (as it will happen if the BMP is fully implemented) will help keeping up the prices on big bass.

 

It won't make the slightest difference to the supply of small bass, a long with the farmed bass the rest of Europe will be filling the gap on our markets with smaller bass they will legaly be catching, If the merchants have a demand for smaller bass they will buy them from were ever they can. If all the bass landed in the UK by UK fishermen are 45 cm and over the price for that size of bass will drop conciderably.

 

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And as I understand it the commercial fishermen have less work with the bigger fish, which should mean less cost per fish caught for them.

 

I would be interested in how you worked that out?

[wurzel]

Hello Steve

 

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Surely if there is a short term shortage of bass, like is predicted, then the value of bass will rise? If so, it'll only be fishermen landing too much fish that will make it fall again. If you can agree somehow to land just enough, without flooding the market, then the prices will have to remain high. Look at what's happened to the price of Cod since it became scarce. No doubt if we ever get a glut of Cod, and fishermen land as much as they can while it's here, the prices will fall drastically.

 

 

We would have to keep the supply to the same amount of larger bass as we are now, the BMP will force all bass fishermen to land larger fish , so how would that be possible?

 

Are you suggesting a tight quota just for the UK's bass fishermen?

 

I can see where you are comeing from, if there were no farmed bass and say just 6 commercial bass fishermen in the whole world and it would help if they all fished in one area like the Thames Estuary, then yes they would be able to dictate the supply to the markets.

[Steve Coppolo]

Hello Steve

 

We would have to keep the supply to the same amount of larger bass as we are now, the BMP will force all bass fishermen to land larger fish , so how would that be possible?

 

Are you suggesting a tight quota just for the UK's bass fishermen?

 

I can see where you are comeing from, if there were no farmed bass and say just 6 commercial bass fishermen in the whole world and it would help if they all fished in one area like the Thames Estuary, then yes they would be able to dictate the supply to the markets.

 

Why would you have to keep the supply the same? If prices were higher you could land less fish for the same money. Less fish being landed would dictate the prices staying high.

 

I'm not suggesting a quota for bass at all.

 

So what you are saying is that there will always be some commercial fishermen who put their own greed before the well being of the industry as a whole? If every commercial fisherman were landing, say, 1 ton of bass per month and earning good money, there would always some that would take the **** and land 3 ton a month, make a short term killing and depreciate the value of bass on the market?

 

You lot need more managers

[sam-cox]

I belive that the reason the bass MLS is at present 36cm is that is plate sized.

 

Trendy cheffs made bass fashnable in the mid 80s and coined up the name Sea Bass, the bass more often than not are served whole.

 

Very big bass say over 8lb can fetch up tp 5.50 per lb for the fisherman as they are sold as bequet fish. As theres not many bass over 8lb the market never floods.

In 1994 I was selling lot of bass in the summer to resturant in a 50 mile radias of my then home five pounds fifty per lb was the going rate.

The last year I tried selling bass that way was in 1999 when I worked one spring for a pal of mine, the most I could get was 3.75 per lb. The problem was I was compeating with anglers selling to them cheaper!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited January 3, 2006 by sam-cox

[wurzel]

Hello Fishinsfine

 

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If you want me to believe there is a problem you have to tell me how many extra big bass your expect to float into the market after the implementation of the BMP

 

If a foriegn fisherman does not catch them first, after a couple of years I expect to catch as much in weight perhaps even more than I do now, in fact as the sole quota is now totaly unworkable for me I will need to catch much much more bass to maintain the standerd of living my wife has become uccustomed to.

I agree the very large bass will always be at a premium, the 45 cm fish will be the most prolific size on the market causeing the price of that grade to drop, nothing much will change, bass will be cropped at 45 instead of 36 cm , the prices will drop anyway due to the large amounts of fish comeing into the fishery, it won't be long before chippys will have battered bass and chips on the menue.

 

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Not that I am surprised but it is a pity, no a scandal that is that the commercial sector is willing to fight tooth and nail for their catches of undersized fish, which never got the chance to spawn and reproduce themselves.

 

I am not sure it's a case of fighting tooth and nail, more about explaining the commercail veiws on the BMP, it's not the cut and dried simple sulution anglers think it is.

Most commercail comments I have read could be sorted out at EU level.

I am not sure about some of the smaller trawlers targeting bass, perhaps thier catches are dominated by small fish because they have not the power to catch bigger fish, if you had just invested a lot of money in a trawler for bass, you would not be to happy with the BMP.I wish more commercails would post on here I can't speak for those I know nothing about.

Personly I ain't that botherd, I am a bit concerned about how to make up the loss of earnings from bass this comeing summer, the sole quota is just not viable, and I am not keen on the fact that foriegn boats fishing around me can land fish I have to let go. I'll would only except the mesh and MLS increase part of the BMP, you can burn the rest.

 

Then there is the points Jaffa has made about implicatins on other stocks.

 

And as Sam pointed out the black market by parttimers and anglers alike will be a nightmare to police.

[geffaz]

Hi geffaz, it was meant slightly tongue in cheek if you know what i mean?

yeah lol i can see that now i see your a regular poster!

[stavey]

yeah lol i can see that now i see your a regular poster!

 

 

A regular poster but not much liked for some strange reason? geffaz

[Jim Roper]

Years ago, while visiting a friend in London, I wondered through a market in Southall.

Mullet about 10" long were 4/6 a lb. Mullet around the 3lb mark were only 3/- a lb.

We were getting 10/- a stone for Mullet at that time.

I can't see an 8lb Bass being worth more per lb than a 2lb Bass. I know which I'd rather eat.

Edited January 3, 2006 by Jim Roper

[Simon Everett]

Wurzel, fear not about the foreigners old chap.

Only just before Christmas a contingent was seeing the EUROPEAN MINISTERS about a EUROPEWIDE 45cm MLS - even Brussels are keen to implement this - THE FRENCH COMMERCIAL FISHERMEN ARE CALLING FOR IT!!!!!!!

 

Now, without getting cross, please explain why the French commercials can see a benefit for a larger MLS for bass and our commercials who don't fish for them exclusively (just a bit of useful extra) cannot?

 

The problam over the supply and demand situation is that landings cannot possibly HOPE to compete with farmed bass at small (whole on the plate) size fish - 55000 tons of farmed bass versus 5000 tons of landed bass of that size! Don't try. Go for the more lucrative bigger size fish market - a 45cm bass weighs DOUBLE a 36cm bass, so even with your pessimistic price drop you will still earn more per fish - because each one is worth more.

The 36cm came about not as a conservation measure but as a MARKETING measure. The whole crux of the new measures has nothing to do with commercial marketing (because of the pressures from farmed bass on the economy) and EVERYTHING to do with conservation. Something our commercial fleet has forgotten all about in their rush to buy new boats, new engines and new electronics to catch more, smaller fish to pay for their new boats, new electronics.........

Forget today Wurzel, think of next year. We are. That is what CONSERVATION is all about.

The fish stocks of today are not ours to do with as we please. We only have them in trust for our children and our childrens' children.