petesnr Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 It has been suggested that because of the mild winter bass may well have continued to grow throughout the period and so fish that would have been expected to be below the proposed new limit may have 'caught up' and be above it. In the event of the new limit being introduced this would have lessened the effect on the commercial fishermen's pocket and incidentally might even have hastened the introduction of a 45cm limit. It is a bitter blow that the minister has apparently bowed to last minute lobbying by the commercial sector but there are ways around the question of discards. Immature bass are most likely to caught in trawls in waters less than 20metres deep as this is where they are found. These trawlers are mostly targetting flatfish such as sole which can be caught at trawl speeds slow enough to allow bass to evade capture. This is well documented. The problem is that the some commercial fishermen want to make a political point by catching and discarding bass in the 36-40cm size range to back up their case for retaining the old limit. I don't think the game is up yet. The minister will undoubtedly have saved the slaughter of a large number of small bass by a small section of the commercial fleet who would then have had to discard them. Another way around the problem is to ban trawling in areas with a high population of immature bass--this would further antagonise the netters and I think that other strategies will have to be proposed if there is to be a positive way forward for all stakeholders. In conclusion it has to be said again that the power of professional representation has probably been a contributory factor in the success of the commercial campaign and if we fail to support our representatives in every way possible we cannot expect to reap benefits in our own fishing futures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul D Posted March 30, 2007 Report Share Posted March 30, 2007 zzzzzzz, Gets back from boat, downs tackle and signs petition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carl/overdraft Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Done Carl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
great white Posted April 1, 2007 Report Share Posted April 1, 2007 Done We need to continue to do what we can to get the politicians to listen Charlie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.