If you think bag limits are just for Bass...............

[glennk]

I walked on my local pier on Saturday night and as I walked on I reminisced about the first time I walked on there and all those subsequent times back then . As you would walk up the pier there would be guys showing their kids how to fish (my Dad first took me at about 8 years of age). As you walked along everyone (and I mean everyone) would have some fish near their bag. Kids would be telling you of how they pulled in their fish. The end of the pier would always be the hotspot though and catches there were twice what they were at the start of the pier.

 

Now when I walk on that pier there are no fish for the guys who dont want to fight over that prized position on the end. The kids are board to tears and their parents wanting to show them how to fish are wondering where it all went wrong.

 

Like you say Steve there are still fish to be had. I catch a lot of mine from places like this

 

 

 

Can you see the dads climbing down there with their 8 year olds ???

 

Fishing is not what it was Steve and to most people it's plainly obvious why.

[steve good]

But anglers didn't ask for a useless increase of just 4 cm.

 

We want a good population of bass in the 5 - 8lb bracket.

 

And to achieve that an mls of 55cm.

 

(The Prime Minister's Strategy Unit advised that the Government should look at making bass a wholly recreational species, as they were in the 1980s before the commercials moved in on the stock, but we felt that measures that improved the stock for the benefit of all was the way to go)

 

Then another compromise, an mls down to 45cm (around 2lb) with the aim of ensuring that all bass will have spawned before being taken, and which had overwhelming support from the vast majority of respondants to the consultation.

 

But thanks to commercial pressure, the Government bottled it and increased the mls by a meaningless 4cm.

 

Look at a ruler, do you really think anyone will notice that the baby bass they are catching are 4cm bigger?

 

And you might as well kill the fish at 36cm as 40cm, they still won't have spawned, so what's the point?

 

The Government have fallen far short of what anglers were asking for, and have delivered nothing of any appreciable benefit.

 

And for that you really believe that we should happily accept unjust bag limits with no conservation benefits?

 

Hi Leon

 

When changing management policy it is allways a good idea to get all stakeholders to have a imput. Commercials had no imput to the BMP before it went out to consultation after which DEFRA realised that it should have been done on an EU basis thats why they compromised at 40 cm

 

Now the BMP has created a mess, MLS for bass Scotland 36 cm, Wales 37.5 cm, England 40 cm, rest of the EU 36 cm thats what peicemeal management policy does.

 

Even if the mls went up to 55cm it would do no good whatsoever unless it was done at EU level

 

steve

[steve good]

Hello Leon

 

You really are a stuck record over this issue, unless you lighten up you will only have confrontation from the commercial sector,

It would help if you gt your facts right.

 

I have been fishing commercially for bass since 1978 I know of a few that were before me, so bass have been fished for commercially since at least the very early 70's, probably about the same time as a few anglers became aware of them, most only fished for cod.

 

So far I have yet to weigh a 40 cm bass under 2LB let alone a 45 cm one.

 

You are right about anglers ( do they carry rulers?) they won't notice the difference, they will just stuff them all in the same bag.

 

Hi Peter

 

In my area the first bass markets started just after we joined the EU in the early 70's

 

steve

 

 

See the white thing in the top of my bag ???

 

 

Its called a fish measure.

 

 

And every angler I know carries one. I caught an undersized codling tonight. No It didn't go in the bag, I unhooked it with care and watched it swim away. I dont know about in your neck of the woods Wurzel but we take great care with the undersized fish around here.

 

Hi glennk

 

[Steve Coppolo]

 

Even if the mls went up to 55cm it would do no good whatsoever unless it was done at EU level

 

 

 

 

 

To hear anglers talk one would think that there are no fish left in the sea, when in fact there are plenty.

[steve good]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/19/...oubled-Seas.php

Associated Press

19 january 2007

 

Europe in desperate struggle to save fish stocks — as fishermen lament a dying way of life

 

'North Sea stocks of cod, the emblematic fish in the Atlantic, have dropped by three quarters in 30 years, according to EU figures, and special EU campaigns to revive the species over the past three years have failed'

 

'The fishermen are angry at the bureaucrats and environmentalists. EU bureaucrats point the finger at fishermen. Environmentalists criticize both fishermen and bureaucrats.'

 

Hi FishingsFine

 

quote/ http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/19/...oubled-Seas.php

 

quote/ "So now the problem is that a kind of pincer effect is created" "On one hand, you remove the reproducers and on the other you capture the young before they can reproduce"

 

Looks like the BMP is going WRECK the bass fishery, The mortality of smaller than 40cm bass will increase, French will still catch them in increased numbers and the discard rate by English vessel will also increase and on the other hand English vessels are gearing up to catch far more larger bass.

 

So when the bass stocks crash the blame rests solely on the anglers shoulders, perhaps you should not meddle with things you know nothing about

 

steve

 

[steve good]

 

Hi Steve

 

I see by your reply that you concede the points

 

 

steve

[Steve Coppolo]

 

 

I see by your reply that you concede the points

 

[Steve Coppolo]

 

 

Looks like the BMP is going WRECK the bass fishery,

 

So when the bass stocks crash the blame rests solely on the anglers shoulders,

[steve good]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Steve Coppolo]