A Nice Catch of Mullet

[barry luxton]

On the tagging issue. Who will pay for the tags?. How many should Joe Bloggs buy as he hasn't caught a bass for 5 years but had a 1000kgs haul in his trawl on a few occassions before ?.What if Joe is friendly with the angling fraternity and decides to distribute a few to them?.[/quote

 

The guy who decides to go out and catch bass and to sell commercially should buy the tags, if he gives some away to his friends or what ever he decides to do with the tags is up to him, just like quota buying and selling really. If he is lucky to catch a trawl full then again its down the the person to ensure that he has the correct and enough tags or he puts them back, simple. I don't see that it should be anymore complicated than that. No tags no selling.

There does not have to be a great value to these tags as they should only be allowed to be purchaced from the local sfc or agents controlling.

Edited February 7, 2007 by barry luxton

[Steve Coppolo]

Not all the charter boats are registered and licenced althoughcan still get away with landing pollack and cod . Because they have no licence the MFA are not interested because they can't take anything away from them i.e. licence.

The vessel holds the licence to catch fish .

 

First of all, these boats you speak of are not charter boats, If they are catching fish to sell they are commercial boats. A commercial fishing boat is licenced and registered, so is a charter boat. With anything else, who knows what goes on? Start talking about things like that and you're getting into the realms of myth, legend and rumour. It's like all the recent talk of anglers selling fish, it may go, it may not. If it does, to what extent? No one knows, they can only guess. What these unlicenced commercial boats have to do with anything I don't know, I thought you asked about charter boats initially. How do the owners of all these unlicenced commercial fishing boats sell their fish with the new fish buyers and sellers regulations?

[Guest challenge]

Hi challenge

 

I will tell you what i see in the picture shal i, i see a group of selfish single minded oppotunists who dont give a f*ck about anybody only themselves, out to make some quick tax free beer money thats what i see!!! much like a lot of the under ten metre inshore part time brigade in this country imo cheers.........

well all I can recommend stavey is that you ether (a) go and see your optician ( learn a bit about the subject of the photo (like most of us have through this thread) or © go out and learn a bit more about the under 10m inshore commercial industry.

Your opinion stavey is the best thing that could ever happen to any commercial representative, if he was looking for bad publicity from RSA.

Regards.

[Ian Burrett]

Not all the charter boats are registered and licenced althoughcan still get away with landing pollack and cod . Because they have no licence the MFA are not interested because they can't take anything away from them i.e. licence.

The vessel holds the licence to catch fish .

 

Hi Cornishman

 

All charter boats must be licensed but this license doesn't allow either skipper or customers to sell fish. The paying guests can take unlimited amounts of fish home for their own use.

 

If the people you are talking about, do sell fish, then they are unlicensed commercial fishermen not recreational sea anglers

Edited February 7, 2007 by Ian Burrett

[roryh]

The guy who decides to go out and catch bass and to sell commercially should buy the tags, if he gives some away to his friends or what ever he decides to do with the tags is up to him, just like quoter buying and selling really. If he is lucky to catch a trawl full then again its down the the person to ensure that he has the correct and enough tags or he puts them back, simple. I don't see that it should be anymore complicated than that. No tags no selling.

There does not have to be a great value to these tags as they should only be allowed to be purchaced from the local sfc or agents controlling.

 

If the tags are there to ensure adherence to quota system/ bag limits then instead of selling them distribute them to comercial only interests as per the licencing information held, therefore no real monetary value is attatched to them. Sport anglers can continue to take for own use and restraunts would be checkable via the number of covers through the books. Although not foolproof surely a system like this would be a reasonably painless starting point.

[Cornishman]

Leon , I know several people who have licences taken away . The reason's were due to paperwork misunderstandings but it has happened. Fines add up and in most cases exceed licence value so in effect are more costly. On the spot fines really appeal to me as so many people get away with retaining undersized fish/shellfish because of the long winded court system. Get caught once get a warning ,twice a heavy fine , third time lose licence/permit. The licence implications on shore seining is'nt a stong point of mine, although I would agree that he boat used to shoot the net should be licenced.

 

 

Steve , the vessels I refer to are classed as charter angling boats. People pay to go and catch fish for the day, when they have taken 2-3 each home for a feed the remainder find their way to market and get sold for profit or gain. This is illegal unless you hold a UK fishing licence which can only be applied to a UK registered fishing boat. If this bag limit is introduced then the charter boats will only be able to retain x number of fish per person making it easier to prosecute. Although the problem still arises , who will police this?

It is a known fact that some anglers sell their catch. Being friendly with a number of fishmerchants who are regularly approached by anglers selling bass in fairly large numbers 5-50. These fish are often below the CFSC mlsof 37.5. I'm not stirring , just bringing it to your attention if you wern't aware. Not all anglers are bad guys , the same go's for us.

 

 

 

Barry , the tagging scheme looks good on paper but there are problems as with most new ideas. Knowing how many bass you'll catch is one of them. As for this comment- ' if he gives some away to his friends or what ever he decides to do with the tags is up to him'. Well that is the whole point of the idea surely to remove any illegaly caught bass?.

[Leon Roskilly]

If this bag limit is introduced then the charter boats will only be able to retain x number of fish per person making it easier to prosecute. Although the problem still arises , who will police this?

 

 

Hmmmm!

 

Most antisocial behavior and crime takes place after (say) 8pm

 

Let's introduce a general curfew on the whole population, and it will be far easier to police.

 

If you are on the streets after 8pm you are nicked.

 

 

No more unfair than making thousands and thousands of genuine RSAs put fish back above a bag limit, and make them criminals if the don't, just to make the law easier to enforce on a handful of rogues!

 

 

If the stock was in trouble, there might be some point to it (although I would want restrictions placed proportionately on all who remove fish if the point was to protect stocks), but we are constantly being reassured that bass are being managed sustainably.

[Leon Roskilly]

The licence implications on shore seining is'nt a stong point of mine, although I would agree that he boat used to shoot the net should be licenced.

 

If fish are to be sold, and are caught from a powered boat, or a boat over 10 metres (or is it 15?) in length, then the boat has to be licensed.

 

If fish are caught from a small unpowered boat, or from the shore, by any legal method (subject to byelaws etc), then the fish can be sold without the need for a licence or quota etc, and are not subject to the buyers and sellers legislation.

 

Some of that may change with the Marine Bill - watch for the white paper in March.

[roryh]

If fish are caught from a small unpowered boat, or from the shore, by any legal method (subject to byelaws etc), then the fish can be sold without the need for a licence or quota etc, and are not subject to the buyers and sellers legislation.

 

 

Thinking that although i love my fishing and sometimes i have taken more than i will eat in the mext few weeks (a rare good day) they have gone in the freezer ready for eating, i consider that anyone wishing to sell fish should be govorned under comercial fishing legislation otherwise this is just another neither/nor situation which muddies the waters of the whole debate.

 

I feel that this is a gaping loophole which could be exploited by the immoral amongst both parties and likewise used to shoot down the arguments from both parties.

[thedogs]

Here in Essex I know of one commercial fisherman who also runs a charter boat. So he takes anglers out angling on one boat then goes out gill netting often to the same grounds. Nothing illeagal there he catches lots of fish for his anglers and lots in his gill netts to.