Proposals for banning of Tope Fishing

[Fastd]

Thanks for the support guys.

 

If you need any hints as to what others have written take a look here

 

There is also a poster on both the English and welsh consulations available to download from the sos website. You are allowed to respond to both.

 

dave

[GB]

Job Done

 

Just hope it comes to some good for the tope.

 

Good to see people getting pro-active

[Simon Everett]

Well done folks - and now, like FastD, get some others to write.

 

You ALL know at least one other angler - if you get them to write in you have doubled your response. If you can get 2 or 3 more people to respond even better - ask your charter skippers to do it, it is THEIRlivlihoods at risk as I know from 1st hand experience. The wiping out of the mackerel and the netting of the wrecks and reefs in the late 70s put paid to many charter boats - including my fathers. It just wasn't worth it any longer - you could go to a wreck one week and fish were everywhere over it on the KH sounder - or if they were pollock up ahead of it in the tide flow. Come back in a week or two and it was surrounded by nets.

 

The conger club finds the same problem. Imagine the disappointment of steaming for 2-3 hours to your wreck and when you get there it is littered with flourescent dahn buoys making a drift impossible and anchoring a risk. Makes for happy anglers too.......and that is you. Now you have the chance to do something about it, don't waste the opportunity.

[codshead]

Wots the address to write to.

[SpeciMan]

The Government's consultation invites comments on three possible management options:

 

* doing nothing;

* restricting fishing for tope to rod and line and allow the practice of catch and release;

* banning fishing for tope by all methods.

 

The consultation also asks for information about the costs and benefits of these options to commercial fishing operations and recreational sea anglers and associated businesses. These will help the Government assess the impact of the proposals.

 

The closing date for comments is 20th October.

 

Comments should be sent to: tope@defra.gsi.gov.uk

 

Or Patrick Cotter, Defra Marine and Fisheries Directorate, Area 7B, 3-8 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HH.

[darnsarf]

Here was my submission. For those that like to cut and paste feel free. Then edit as required.

 

Tope have very little commercial value and the argument to develop them as a commercial species is weak and unproven at best.

 

However, as a sea angling species Tope represent one of the most exiting fishing opportunities in our waters. The ever growing charter fleet have recognised their value targeting them specifically. They represent one of the few opportunities to game fish in UK waters. This is the most lucrative sector of the market generating more revenue per fish than any other.

 

Tope when handled properly have a very high survival rate making them an ideal game species for catch and release. However, as slow breeders they are very susceptible to mortality rate changes, as will be caused by an active commercial fishery.

 

Just for the record I am a recreational sea angler that fishes from shore and the ever more popular sea kayak. To give an idea of the potential value to the economy of such a fishery, I have spent over £1200 on equipment to allow me to safely fish for Tope from my sea kayak. How much is a single Tope caught for its fins worth? A few pounds maybe.

[Simon Everett]

Anyone going along the same lines it would be worth pointing out that recreational angling captures can be recaught time and time again - and so the value continues. With commercial catching the very small value is a one off payment and then the fish is gone doing untold environmental damage to such a slow maturing and low fecundity species.

[spanner]

This is wot I writ...

 

 

I am writing in response to the Consultation on proposals for managing the exploitation of tope and strongly support option 2. only allow fishing for tope by rod and line but prohibit the retention, transhipment and landing of tope caught by any method.

 

I am a Recreational Sea Angler, a member of the National Federation of Sea Anglers (NFSA), Scottish Federation of Sea Anglers (SFSA), Sea Anglers Conservation Network (SACN) and Save Our Sharks (SOS).

 

As you have noted in the consultation notes Tope are a slow growing, low fecundity, species making it vulnerable, and as they are apex predators their health is important to the whole marine ecosystem. Tope are currently listed The IUCN Red List, which classes it as an endangered species, and have also been given the highest rating of 5 (should be left alone, not eaten) by the Marine Conservation Society. As such Tope should be protected from commercial exploitation.

 

However, a complete ban on fishing for Tope including rod and line angling, as in option3, is not necessary for several reasons:

 

1. Recreational Sea Anglers are currently involved in tagging programs assisting the research of Tope distribution and migration, growth rates etc, and this work should continue.

2. The fact that many tagged fish have been re-caught testifies to the fact that rod and line angling with catch and release is not harmful to the fish.

3. There is a significant health benefit derived by anglers from undertaking sport fishing as a release from the stress of the modern day world

4. There is very significant economical benefit to UK PLC, and in particular to the coastal communities with the best tope fishing, from the total spend of anglers.

 

To illustrate these points I’d like to mention a trip I made to Tywyn, Wales, in June this year to fish specifically for Tope with a group of over a dozen like minded anglers. I live in Aberdeen where Tope are not caught so I traveled to Wales to fish for them. I stayed for several days in the town, ate in a few restaurants and enjoyed a few hostelries, as you do when you are on holiday. I was fishing everyday from my sea kayak and caught many fish, all returned except for a few mackerel used as bait, and as I was paddling my kayak for several miles everyday I was getting a good workout whilst enjoying myself. My trip cost me several hundred pounds. My kayak, safety equipment, lifejacket, flares, VHF, GPS, fish-finder, rods, reels, etc cost over £2,000 in total (please don’t let my wife into that little fact).

 

So UK PLC has benefited to the tune of around £2,500 from those tope, I have benefited to tune of ‘priceless’, and the tope are still swimming around, doing what tope do best, and available to be caught again by another lucky angler spending a similar amount.

 

If the Tope were commercially exploited then:

1. the fish would be dead and not available to contribute to the future stocks

2. it would probably have yielded a net profit less than the £1.50 a recent fish, that was large enough to have been a British rod caught record, provided when it went to market

3. the stock would soon be collapsing, a similar fate befell the vast stocks of spurdogs of the west coast within 3 years when they were targeted

4. the knock-on effects due to the loss of an apex predator

5. and at the end of the day it would either be used for pet food, fertilizer, or just the fins sold to the Asian market, where the Tope is known as the Soup Fin Shark, as they are not eaten as a table fish.

 

 

 

 

 

Mind you, having seen the repeat of the BBC prog about great whites in the UK last night, I missed it first time around, I'm not so sure about the apex predator bit

[SpeciMan]

My Daddy takes me crabbing and fishing sometimes. When we go he tells me stories about catching tope from his kayak and how some people plan to catch these fish so they can cut off their fins and sell them for little money.

 

I hope this doesn't happen. When I'm bigger I want to catch these fish with my daddy.

 

Please help.

 

Natasha (aged 9)

 

(hand written )

[Simon Everett]

You can't beat the "aaah" factor!

 

Top Girl!

 

Well done for getting that one done.