Fish theft, again.

[chesters1]

i think that EA "questionair" is no more than a survey of "product" nothing on the first page regarding the EA and the same survey regarding consumer sales similar to that that used to appear in our post ,maybe the questions totally regarding the EA appeared later but i didnt wish to go further

[Dick Dastardly]

One thing I will agree with you on here Bob is that the legislation around the whole buisness of freshwater fish (in fact sea as well) for bait is a bit suspect to me.Even though it is quite legal for an angler to take fish from a water (providing it is not privately owned and against the rules to do so) there are still(I believe any way) size limits in place.They used to be printed on the back of your rod licence not that many years ago. A lot of roach you see even from reputable/labelled supliers fall beneath these sizes.So how is this? I also raised a similar point re sea baits.Even though Leon quite rightly pointed out that different areas have different size limits most "Joey"mackeral and "Jack" Herring you see in the shops are far below any size limits. There fore if it is ilegal for an angler to take and use undersize fish how can the bait guys?

 

Farmed or wild the issue still exists.When Weirwood reservoir first opened for pike fishing it was proposed that live trout would be made available on site for bait.Dr Binny Buckly of the then NRA suggested that this would only be acceptable if the fish were above the legal takeable size ie 10" so that anglers couldnt be accused of taking undersized fish. Surely the same logic should be applied to coarse deads?

 

Any way sorry about that slight deviation Bob.Why dont you try contacting the bait dealers to see if they will tell you where they get their supplies from.Also contact any coarse fish rearers to see what they do with their mortalities. It may be interesting to see if there is much of a shortfall between what comes from the reares to what hits the shops?

 

From what I know of the fisheries buisness I would have thought that there is so much surplus silver fish of a bait size that they would command such a low price that there wouldnt be any profit in trying to obtain and sell them illegally.

 

Christ Bob in France we cant even sell our carp there is so many available! Last lot we netted out were swopped for a lawn mower! and their from a World record pedigree!

 

Like you said you live there so it is in your interest to find out if there is a problem but as I said I think that the amount of fish taken directly by pike anglers or even if some are indeed took by ilegal nets and sold via the bait trade it is still a drop in the ocean.

[chesters1]

the "freedom of information" act is really a ruse any "official" can withhold more or else anything they wish for any reason they dream up ,the canoe club that used to use the stretch (with no problems ) tried to get the very same info my old neighbour tried to get by conventional means so far they have nothing ,a meeting the club was invited to attend was cancelled at a hours notice.

A "consultation" (another blair byeword) was totally ignored despite a high % of the village wanting their river back ,this "consultation" has only to be made to "legalise " it its findings can be ignored if wished.The village green act (where the council has to bend to the people in its use) was easily got round the council merely labled the blocked off bits of bank as "conservation" areas !!

shredders are working overtime incase a plausable reason not to supply information cannot be found.

anything smaller than the minimum despite EU guidelines can be sold ,take fruit ,the EU states only a certain size of bananas or apples can be sold but notice how the small ones are still on the shelves marked as "fun" fruit or "economy" apples ,rules like straws are easily bent

Edited January 27, 2006 by chesters1

[Dick Dastardly]

So come on then Chesters who was the second sniper on the grassy knoll and did the US realy land a man on the moon?

 

Sadly though you may be right!

[Peter Waller]

Bob, I will accept what you say is true re the actual theft of fish. I am still not convinced that us pike anglers deserve the blame though. Its a fact that dead coarse fish are not the world's most popular pike bait.

 

So, where are all these stolen fish going? Too small for human consumption, other than as fish paste. Buckshee bait for North Norfolks crab indusrty perhaps? Find the outlet and work backwards.

 

At this time it just has to be a matter of open minds.

 

By the way, I bought some joey mackeral and smelt the other day, no labels.

[Peter Waller]

Bob, have a look at this:-

http://www.baitsdirect.com/acatalog/baits_pike_bd.html

and scrole down to roach.

[chesters1]

blimey i wouldnt try to hoof out that cod for pike in the "more information" dooda

[Dick Dastardly]

Nice one Peter thats certainly cleared up a few of my points.

[Guest rabbit]

And it looks like I gotta bloody good excuse now for blanking

[Bob Bradford]

Peter, I have been told .

Edited January 29, 2006 by Bob Bradford