Time to set our own mls limits higher?

[Ian Burrett]

Hi Stavey

It would be logical to set the MLS on all species at just above the mimimum breeding size, that way all fish get a chance to breed which is surely the only way to promote sustainable fishing.

[stavey]

Hi Stavey

It would be logical to set the MLS on all species at just above the mimimum breeding size, that way all fish get a chance to breed which is surely the only way to promote sustainable fishing.

 

Absolutely ian, thats what i am sort of driving at, but as there seems to be still a lot of sea anglers that view (like leon said) returning fish of a size that would then be still legal to be taken by commercials is not worth having, and that its unfair, and it defeats the object? i can sort of understand this from the anglers that do want to fish mainly for the pot, but at the same time how many anglers take smoothound or mullet for the pot for human consumption? and i see no reason why these fish's mls should be so drastically below its reproduction size, surely no angler would argue against increasing a mls to a species none of us eat anyway? and in the case of mullet your average beach or boat angler rarely fishes for or catches,

[Ian Burrett]

Perhaps organisation like the NFSA could promote two limits, with the second one being for conservation minded anglers.

 

I must admit I haven't got a clue as to the length of Cod or Pollack before they breed but i suspect many anglers would adopt this size as a voluntary MLS if it was promoted properly.

[Rapala]

Perhaps organisation like the NFSA could promote two limits, with the second one being for conservation minded anglers.

 

I must admit I haven't got a clue as to the length of Cod or Pollack before they breed but i suspect many anglers would adopt this size as a voluntary MLS if it was promoted properly.

 

I think if you return any fish you catch it doesnt matter whether you know the size limit of not, tho if you see other people indiscriminately killing undersize fish it would be handy to know whats what.

Re 2 seperate size limits well its all down to the individual init? Theres them that keep fish for the table and them that chuck em back to keep them for the sport and for others. Each to there own.

I think "advisory MLS" are a good idea for clubs and societys, but members need to be told why.

Some people will always have the steadfast opinion of "Why should I chuck it back just so it can swim into a net or get caught by another angler" They will never change their minds on this, you may as well try tellin an ostrich to stop putting his head in the sand.

Nobody should try and deny another angler his right to keep a legal sized fish, but unfortunately us seaanglers are a divided lot on issues such as this which is a bit of a shame. I certainly dont think an angler has to return all his fish to be considered conservation minded, and as long as our ideals are all the same - ie seas with more and bigger fish, isnt that what we all want at the end of the day...even the commercials?

 

The enemy are the Dum anglers or commercials who flaunt MLS's and kill everything they catch are selfish and narrowminded and quite frankly arent worth having around.

[Scotty T]

Everything I catch is returned, regardless of size or species. I've never had a problem with people taking the odd fish home.

There are alot of people, mainly non-anglers who cannot grasp why I should want to fish, and never return home with anything, and i've even had heated debates on charter boats before with other punters about returning fish.

 

Scotty

[Rapala]

Everything I catch is returned, regardless of size or species. I've never had a problem with people taking the odd fish home.

There are alot of people, mainly non-anglers who cannot grasp why I should want to fish, and never return home with anything, and i've even had heated debates on charter boats before with other punters about returning fish.

 

Scotty

 

My worst nightmare Scotty. I'd probably end up getting my head kicked in. Hence I avoid charter boats, in fact most boats...infact most anglers. !!

[Scotty T]

My worst nightmare Scotty. I'd probably end up getting my head kicked in. Hence I avoid charter boats, in fact most boats...infact most anglers. !!

 

Know what you mean Rapala, some people get queer as hell, 'I would have taken that home', is a classic line, makes me laugh. My usual response how is 'wouldn't you like to catch that fish next year when its put a couple of pounds on' or 'its down there somewhere waiting for you to catch it'.

 

I like to think it makes some people reconsider, if it does make people think, then its mission accomplised as far as I'm concerned.

 

Scotty

[Ian Burrett]

For about 8 years now, all fish (apart from Baitfish) caught inshore on my three boats have to be returned. Many of the anglers that were the hardest to convince in the early days are now the biggest converts.

 

As Blair said it's education education education

 

I was told I was committing financial suicide but we often attract new buisness because of our conservation policy.

[Norm B]

I have a club committee meeting this evening and i am going to propose an increase in the mls of all species for our own members, i was wondering what the thoughts of anglers on here would be about this and what their recommendations for sizes of the more common species would be? ie, cod/bass/pout flounder etc,

 

As the majority of sea anglers support the the bmp why dont we lead by example instead of the recommended 45cm in the present consultation for bass why not set it at the 55cm as has been targeted by the bmp as their and our goal, this to me makes sense, and why stop at bass? cod for example has a mls of 35cm thats ridiculous if we are to view that we must let all fish breed atleast once before being taken them, then this must also be set at a realistic limit, and what would this be? 60cm? Even more ridiculous than the cod's mls is the one for grey mullet! at 33cm this fish as we all know is as slow growing as the bass and i would argue is in fact slower, so atleast this should match that of the bass.

 

I would like the nfsa and samf etc, to review all of their mls for all species and increase them to a proper size for conservation measures, if this is thought to be a bit tough on the match fishing seen? then they need to put their priorities right and change the rules of these matches to fit with the modern day sport angler and the changing sea's that surround us.

 

If we are going to be considered as conservation minded recreational sea anglers then we better start acting like them and this needs to be backed from the top ie, nfsa/samf/etc, especialy if they want our membership? and any money that may go with it...........

My club used to fish to sizes above the NFSA size limits but fish of that size have become harder to catch year on year so we now fish to NFSA size limits and we still sometimes blank. It would take a complete revival of fish stocks for us to go back to higher size limits, there'd be no point in fishing if half the anglers blanked.

[sam-cox]

I tend to only keep the odd bass, I always now let go any bass 5lb or above, I also let any bass go below 2.5lb. I release any codling lower than 3.5lb, I release all hounds and large female thornback.

I think most good anglers set there own guid lines that are normall sensible.