Bass Pair Trawling banned - At last!

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

Would I be right in saying that the restaurants are breaking the law by buying fish from an un licenced source????? I know up here this is how they combated the Salmon & Sea Trout poaching, they couldn't catch the poachers so they took away the demand for the product. Simple but very effective.

[Leon Roskilly]

Davy Holt:

Would I be right in saying that the restaurants are breaking the law by buying fish from an un licenced source?????

I'm afraid you are Davy.

 

There are moves to register and control 'first hand' buyers of fish (ie fish merchants) to make it easier to trace the souce of fish through paper audit trails and thus make life more dificult for sellers of black fish into the market, but these do not extend to pubs and restuarants etc.

 

(And even so, registration is being opposed by the fishing industry who complain that this would tend to create a monopoly, rather than a free-market situation)

 

Remember that if the fish is legally caught, ie big enough, and caught with legal gear, and not in an area where restrictions apply, the fisherman selling the fish only needs to be licensed if the fish was caught from a powered vessel (see http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/sacn/ill_net.htm )

 

 

So, my understanding is that so long as we are not using a powered vessel, any of us can legally take fish, with nets or hooks and sell them.

 

We would then be unlicensed commercial fishermen (not recreational anglers (who by definition fish for recreation not commerce) but we would not be illegal commercial fishermen.

 

That is something that both ourselves and the licensed commercials would like to see stopped, but there is the small matter of Magna Carta and the common right to take fish.

 

Once fish have been legally taken, they are your property. and common law allows you to use and dispose of your property how you please (with some exceptions, but none that normally prevent you selling your unwanted bicycle or unwanted fish!)

 

But, although I'm no lawyer, things can be changed if there is the political will to do so.

 

SACN have argued in responses to consultations that there must be a transfer of the risk that comes from selling and buying 'black' fish from the catcher to the downline buyer(s), thus removing most of the market.

 

In Ireland they have a successful carcass tagging scheme for salmon. Those who are legally able to catch and sell salmon are given numbered tags (like plastic cable ties), that go through the mouth and out of the gill before being irrevesably attached.

 

Woe betide any establishment or any person found with the carcass of a fish that does not have a tag - 'Buyer Beware' it is called.

 

Something similar is called for in the Bass Management Plan (see http://www.anglers-net.co.uk/sacn/latest/i...ex.php?view=192 ) and is already being used voluntarily by the hook and line commercial fishermen down in the southwest to guarentee that the fish they are selling is wild fish caught by hook and line, and not poor quality (dolphin killing) trawled fish, or relatively poor quality farmed fish.

 

If that was adopted, restuarants would only be allowed to have tagged fish in their kitchens/freezers, traceable back to the fisherman who caught it (and entered in their log book) or traceable receipts showing purchase from a fish farm.

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 24. December 2004, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[Leon Roskilly]

samuel-cox:

I understand that there are people who would like to sea bass only commercialy fished for with hook and line. I feel that this would also take undersized fish even if large hooks are used

Where commercial hook and line fishing takes place, in most cases, undersized fish can easily be returned alive.

 

There is a very useful paper about gill-netting, produced by CEFAS that can be downloaded from www.cefas.co.uk/publications/lableaflets/lableaflet69.pdf

 

Tight Lines - leon

[Guest jay_con]

What about SACN Leon? Now pair trawling is banned for bass Will They be campaigning for a

ban in all Brittish waters on pair trawling for any species??

[Leon Roskilly]

Winter,

 

SACN is not a 'they' it's an 'us' and a 'YOU'!

 

We need the winnable arguments, support and resources.

 

pair trawling, beam trawling, scallop dredging, vacuum dredging, unrestricted gill-netting ..........

 

 

Tight Lines - leon

 

[ 24. December 2004, 09:42 AM: Message edited by: Leon Roskilly ]

[big_cod]

winter is right pair trawling is disaster for cod and must be stopped they will try and catch the last codling

[Guest jay_con]

Hi big_cod, ive been waiting for you to arrive.

Welcome to the forum. Im sure you'll have some very valuable and well informed points to make.

 

Is that a yes or a no then Leon? I never would have believed pair trawling would be banned for bass but somehow it happened, somehow you won what looked to me to be an unwinnable argument. If we believe an argument is winnable then I think it can be won. But me harping on in this forum isnt going to change anything. Guidence and backing from organisations like SACN and NFSA is essential. I will be writing to nfsa about this matter and asking if they are to campaign for an outright ban on pair trawling. If they continue to do nothing then they shouldn't be taking membership subscriptions from anglers in the north east whose main target fish is the cod which is about to be wiped out by pair trawling.

[stavey]

winter, why not start your own campaign to ban pair trawling in your area, i am sure leon and the guys would give you their full support and offer you plenty of advice, or have you already started something similar? chow. andy.....

[Guest stevie cop]

Yes, gill netting can be a selective method of commercial fishing when used by those that are good fishermen, and no, gill nets don't catch anywhere near as many fish as people imagine when used by part time, hobby and cowboy fishermen.

 

However, every now and then, the cowboys will get it right and take lots of fish. In these instances, they will wipe out a complete shoal, and that's one areas bass fishing buggered for the next 10 years!

 

I also am opposed to development of a rod and line bass fishery. I know how easy it is to catch very large numbers of bass in a very short time on lures. The thought of dozens of commercial rod and liners with strings of feathers fills me with dread, but I suppose if managed properly it could possibly be sustainable.

 

I think the biggest threat to our bass are the pair trawlers. Just the shear numbers they catch makes it the most destructive form of commercial fishing there is. Add to that the fact that they target large, pre-spawning adult bass and it's easy to see that it can never be a sustainable way to fish.

 

There are plenty of other species that the commercials could target throughout the year if bass were to be designated as sportfish. Sole, Cod, Whiting, Skate, etc, etc. Also, shelllfish, which can actually be harvested in the same way as field crops.

[Guest jay_con]

I like the idea of harvesting shellfish like field crops. I have seen it done and it looks great and im sure is very sustainable. Thing is steve you never placed greed in your equation.

 

The greedy w-----s round here would take the full row of carrots in 1 dig + plus half a row parsnips which really arent mature untill christmas.