An Alternative to Bag Limits?

[Leon Roskilly]

Sam,

 

If a licence is introduced it will probably be a 'rod licence', not a 'fishing licence'.

 

It might seem pedantic, but legally the two things are quite different.

 

A rod licence would apply to the use of a fishing rod, leaving the 'right to fish' unimpeded.

 

You would not be paying to fish, but to use a fishing rod to catch fish.

 

Exactly the same as with the coarse fishing rod licence.

 

 

(Use of handlines etc will probably be covered, as they are with coarse fishing)

 

So, all the arguments about losing the 'right to fish for free' are something of a legal red herring.

 

Mind you, the result is exactly the same - you would need a licence to go saltwater angling

[Steve Coppolo]

What I am surgesting is that we at least need some firm promises on paper from our govenment have

 

That's an oxy moron isn't it?

[Steve Coppolo]

The fact is that, if bag limits are introduced, anyone taking more than (say) two bass, and who isn't a licensed fisherman, will be committing an offence.

 

I know it's just hypothetical, but let's please not "say" two bass. The expense and trouble involved in putting a boat on the ocean for a brace of small bass just doesn't add up. Don't go putting more ideas in their heads, please.

[essexbuoy]

Sam,

 

If a licence is introduced it will probably be a 'rod licence', not a 'fishing licence'.

 

It might seem pedantic, but legally the two things are quite different.

 

A rod licence would apply to the use of a fishing rod, leaving the 'right to fish' unimpeded.

 

You would not be paying to fish, but to use a fishing rod to catch fish.

 

Exactly the same as with the coarse fishing rod licence.

(Use of handlines etc will probably be covered, as they are with coarse fishing)

 

So, all the arguments about losing the 'right to fish for free' are something of a legal red herring.

 

Mind you, the result is exactly the same - you would need a licence to go saltwater angling

 

There you go then, with catches as good as they are, it'll be free for years.

[Steve Coppolo]

Sam,

 

If a licence is introduced it will probably be a 'rod licence', not a 'fishing licence'.

 

It might seem pedantic, but legally the two things are quite different.

 

A rod licence would apply to the use of a fishing rod, leaving the 'right to fish' unimpeded.

 

You would not be paying to fish, but to use a fishing rod to catch fish.

 

Exactly the same as with the coarse fishing rod licence.

(Use of handlines etc will probably be covered, as they are with coarse fishing)

 

So, all the arguments about losing the 'right to fish for free' are something of a legal red herring.

 

Mind you, the result is exactly the same - you would need a licence to go saltwater angling

 

So a 'rod' licence might encourage those that fish for the table to purchase a few hundred yards of gill net?

 

That's sensible.

[Leon Roskilly]

So a 'rod' licence might encourage those that fish for the table to purchase a few hundred yards of gill net?

 

That's sensible.

 

Not if bag limits are placed on everyone but licensed commercial fishermen.

 

 

In any case, I think that a rod licence would work out cheaper and easier than resorting to gill-netting.

[Steve Coppolo]

Not if bag limits are placed on everyone but licensed commercial fishermen.

 

So in order to make the licence scheme work, we will have to have bag limits too?

 

It just gets better and better.

[Leon Roskilly]

So in order to make the licence scheme work, we will have to have bag limits too?

 

It just gets better and better.

 

 

Now that the Marine Bill is back on the back-burner, yet DEFRA are attempting to push bag limits in by the back door, I expect that we'll see bag limits long before a licence is imposed

 

 

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Po...or_Anglers.html

 

http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Po...ll_Delayed.html

 

 

How many have written to Bradshaw, DEFRA Coastal Waters Policy Branch, their MP and their local SFC about DEFRA's attempt to persuade SFCs to bring in bag limits on bass?

[frankthebass]

Steve is right, I dont think mentioning numbers for bag limits is a good idea!

 

So what about commercial fishermen fishing from the shore with a rod and line?

 

I bag limits were to be bought in, could a angler wishing to keep mopre than the bag limit every now and then not just regester as a commercial fisherman and if he had a boat then lisence it?

 

In my area there are lots of anglers who fish just for the pot, these could possably be the very one that would purchase the 500 yards of gill nets if a lisence and bag limits were bought in.

 

Also policeing is an issue, I often meet angler off the beaten track with a bucket or two of small undersized bass. Last year I met a lovely old boy in his late 70s, he had an old bass rod was wearing a barbour jacket and hat. He was great to talk to about local fishing. He had never heard of size limits and had six half a pound bass in his bucket he had never heard of a fisheries officer let alone met one. He was just one old man there must be lots like him. Whos going to knick the likes of him?

[Leon Roskilly]

Steve is right, I dont think mentioning numbers for bag limits is a good idea!

 

So what about commercial fishermen fishing from the shore with a rod and line?

 

I bag limits were to be bought in, could a angler wishing to keep mopre than the bag limit every now and then not just regester as a commercial fisherman and if he had a boat then lisence it?

 

In my area there are lots of anglers who fish just for the pot, these could possably be the very one that would purchase the 500 yards of gill nets if a lisence and bag limits were bought in.

 

Also policeing is an issue, I often meet angler off the beaten track with a bucket or two of small undersized bass. Last year I met a lovely old boy in his late 70s, he had an old bass rod was wearing a barbour jacket and hat. He was great to talk to about local fishing. He had never heard of size limits and had six half a pound bass in his bucket he had never heard of a fisheries officer let alone met one. He was just one old man there must be lots like him. Whos going to knick the likes of him?

 

 

A commercial licence is attached to a boat, not a person, so anyone wanting to obtain a commercial fishing licence first has to buy a boat, and an appropriate licence to go with that boat (length & engine power).

 

No new licences are being issued, so the licence would have to be purchased on the open market, usually in the region of thousands of pounds (although they were originally issued for free by the Government).

 

 

Enforcement of any legislation is always a problem. There are always the chancers and the ignorant, many of who get away with it, but with enough being caught and heavily fined, the vast majority are likely to be compliant, purchasing a rod licence for around £22 a year (assuming the same as the coarse licence, for peace of mind).

 

By the way, if the old boy was taking fish from the shore, not in a nursery area, and the fish were for his own use, he probably wasn't committing any offence, though it is DEFRA's stated intention that the new bass mls will apply to anglers as much as to fishing vessels.

Edited November 19, 2006 by Leon Roskilly