Bass being commercially exploited again!?

[Donnyboy1]

the french are catching and 5 tonne a night,off the SE of Ireland,i think they will be using pelagic gear,,

Jez... never realised!!

I saw some attempts in the UK at 'sustainable' bass fishing with a small rowboat (8hp outboard) and some lines. Fisherman was catching a fair few bass and tagging them similiar to how trout are tagged through the gills. There are a limited number given to fishermen and each fisherman has a unique tag which also uses GPS to show exactly where the fish was caught. The tag stays on all the way to the fishmonger / restaurant and the customer pays a premium for it.

I would have hoped the government would have gone down a line like that!

[teacher]

it look like there opening the Bass on a trial run, 4 boats are getting ready for the 10th of this month from Waterford,

I would be very surprised if that turned out to be true. Political suicide for Minister Connick as he told us officially two weeks ago that no decision would be made in the near future. Pretty sure the SFPA know nothing about it either. Neither does the Marine Institute who I guess would be involved in any experimental opening of a fishery.

[John D]

I will echoe everything that Jonathan has said re: 4 trial boats etc.

Just to let everyone know that the fact John Quinlan from Irish Bass has met with Minister Connick does not mean everything is hunky dory. The effort to protect the bass stocks and Irish Bass sport fishing tourism sector (and further develop it) is going to be a long and hard battle.

Yes of course an angling bass stocks stakeholder meeting a Minister is progress and we're very encouraged by it, but it is extremely important not to think we can all rest on our laurels now!

For the foreseeable future the desire to open a commercial bass fishery will always be there, therefore our efforts to protect the fishery must also always be there.

Anyway here is an excerpt from the recent Irish Bass newsletter and picture of John Quinlan (Irish Bass chairperson) with Minister Connick.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

To all of you who have helped by sending in letters and emails to the Minister of fisheries and any of the other ministers involved, your efforts have not been in vain. On Friday 23rd July I travelled from West Kerry to Kilmore Quay in Wexford in the hope of meeting the Minister for Fisheries, Sean Connick who was there to launch an angling promotions booklet for the Wexford area.

The eleven hour round trip was worthwhile because with the help of Josie Mahon from the ERFB I managed to get a good 10 minutes of Minister Connick’s time. He said that the Irish Bass Group and Bass anglers had been giving him a very hard time about his stance on commercial Bass fishing. I told him that I was very pleased to hear this. He said that he was under severe pressure from the FIF to have their proposal accepted and also he was under pressure to allow an inshore commercial line caught Bass fishery. However, critically he said that no decision to change the legislation would be made quickly and there would be more consultation on the matter. Coming from a minister who is already on record as saying he was in favour of a commercial Bass fishery in Irish waters this clearly shows that all the efforts anglers have made have paid off.

If we had not made such a big effort this would be all over by now. So well done and thank you to you all. It shows that if we can stick together we can really make a difference. Minister Connick has suggested a meeting with Irish Bass about this issue so we will keep you informed about how this goes. There may never be a time when the commercial sector will not be looking for the quick buck with the Bass stocks that we have looked after so well, but if we can stick together and keep the pressure on, we will show that we are not prepared to let the Bass resource that we love be tampered with.

The proposal to change the Northern Ireland Bass regulations to match those of the south is still at the consultation stage but time is fast running out to have your say. The process ends on the 24th August.

If you haven’t already done so, please click on this link (this link won't work from this report but can be filled out in another thread on this site): NI Bass Conservation - then cut and paste to your email. Agree to all the points and send it to myrtle.ferguson@dardni.gov.uk.

It only takes a few minutes and could go a long way in helping protect our Bass stocks into the future.

The UK Bass group were at the big CLA Game Fair in England last week. As well as trying to get support for the NI Bass proposal they also did a great job in promoting the Irish Bass Group and our campaign to protect our Bass stocks.

With the Bass season in full swing now is the time to get out there and enjoy the Bass fishing that we all love so best of luck and tight lines

[Donnyboy1]

it look like there opening the Bass on a trial run, 4 boats are getting ready for the 10th of this month from Waterford,

Any word on this?

[John D]

I haven't heard anything myself?

John D.

[the2000monkeys]

Hello everybody.

Considering the recent proposal by the Federation of Irish Fishermen to allow Bass to be legally caught offshore, I urge everyone to please send a quick, short and to the point e-mail to all the ministers working in the departments of natural resources, fisheries and tourism to do all that they can to reject this proposal.

I have already done it this evening.

Yours hopefully,
John D.

will send on a note.

[tunaorlater]

any updates on this important subject?

mick

[teacher]

Apologies for not getting this out sooner. We (Irish Bass) had a meeting with Minister Connick a few weeks ago. Here's a summary, taken from the Irish Bass newsletter:

The Irish Bass group had an official meeting with Minister for Fisheries Sean Connick last Tuesday, 12th October. We decided it was best to wait with the newsletter to let you know how the meeting went.

Those in attendance at the meeting were Jonathan Dukes (I.B.), Pat O’ Shea (I.B.) and John Quinlan (I.B.). The minister was accompanied by his private secretary Seamus Monaghan. The meeting was held in government buildings in Dublin.

When the minister arrived, he said he only had 20 minutes even though we were promised half an hour. In actual fact the meeting went on for one hour which gave us time to get all our points in.

The meeting centred on 3 main points:

History and current state of Irish bass angling.
The FIF proposed to change bass legislation.
The illegal bass fishery.
1. The minister was told about the major decline in bass stocks in the 1980’s and with it the demise of the valuable sport fishing industry that revolved around it. It was also explained to him that at present bass anglers contribute significant sums of money to the Irish economy and that any change in the bass laws could endanger this. He was made aware of how long it takes bass to grow to a decent size and therefore how vulnerable they are. We told him that the Irish bass stock dropped to 1.5% of its historic level in the 1980’s and how even now it is estimated at 4.5% of its level in the 1950’s.

2. When it came to the discussion on the FIF proposal the minister stated that inshore fisheries and the commercial fishermen who depend on them are in crisis. A very simple point was made to him that if this is the case how can we hand over the only stock of fish that is showing signs of recovery-the bass. If commercial fishermen have been unable to make a sustainable living from all the other fish that they have available to them, then it makes absolutely no sense to give them any access to the Irish bass stock.

The minister said he was there to represent the commercial sector but would make his decision carefully taking into consideration the views of all parties and scientific advise available to him. We were of the opinion that the minister for fisheries was responsible for the sustainable and controlled management of our commonly owned fish stocks for the country of Ireland and not there just to represent private businesses who have been given access to fish stocks belonging to us all.

3. Quite a lengthy discussion took place about the illegal bass fishery. Evidence was given to the minister showing how large this fishery is and also how damaging it is to our fish stock. The minister said that commercial fishermen already felt they were overburdened with both regulations and the enforcement of these regulations.

It was explained to the Minister that it was vital that this illegal fishing was curtailed if the bass angling industry in to achieve its full potential. The meeting ended with the minister been given documentations going into much more detail about all the issues above.

[teacher]

In light of what we discussed with Minister Connick at the above meeting, its vitally important that those who either directly or indirectly rely on the recreational bass fishery for their business contact the Minister immediately to let them know that they are against the re-opening of Irish Bass stocks for commercial fishing. This includes both those directly involved, such as guides, tackle shops and charter boat operators and those indirectly involved, such as hotels, b&bs and car hire companies.

The Minister is constantly reminded by commercial fishermen that their industry is in crisis and that they need to be able to catch bass to boost their income. While the commercial fishery may be in crisis, allowing bass stocks to be over-exploited, in the same way as our other commercially stocks have been, is not the answer.

The Minister needs to know that there are other groups that rely on recreational bass angling for their income. If you have used any business or service to support your bass angling, you need to get onto the business and ask them to lobby the Minister by informing him how important a healthy bass stock is to their business.

[samo]

what is the ministers function? by the sounds of the meeting it would look like they are on the verge of allowing commercial fishing for bass again because his department is coming under pressure from commercial fishermen who dont seem to be catching as much fish, from the stocks that they have access to, for some reason.

[teacher]

what is the ministers function? by the sounds of the meeting it would look like they are on the verge of allowing commercial fishing for Bass again because his department is coming under pressure from commercial fishermen who dont seem to be catching as much fish, from the stocks that they have access to, for some reason.

That's more or less what the Minister said to us himself.

(We suggested a possible explanation why they weren't catching as much fish as they used to ... )

[teacher]

By the way, if you're in the mood for writing to the Minister again, now would be a good time!

If you are one of Minister Connick's constituents, write to him here:

Sean Connick T.D.
Priory Lane
The Quay
New Ross
Co. Wexford

Otherwise, if you're not a constituent but want to write to him in his capacity as the Minister:

Sean Connick T.D.
Minister of State,
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
Agriculture House,
Kildare St
Dublin 2.

[Dicenintra]

Thats an interesting point on Minister Connicks role and who he is there to represent.

Looking at Section 12 & 13 of the Sea Fisheries and Maritime Jursidiction Act he may be right as it only deals with boat fishing and quotas under the CFP

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2006/en/ ... html#sec76


I wonder does the regulation of bass come under the
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2010/en/ ... print.html as this gives IFI jurisdiction to the 12 mile limit.

Probably the best option for us is for Eamonn Ryan to bring a memo to government designating bass as an angling species and thereby giving the Greens a some brownie points with the fishing/hunting community. Once a government decision is there, it doesn't matter if its never enacted, it couldn't be opened to commercial fishing.

[cathalger]

What became of this ?????

[Dicenintra]

IF anyone knows Norwegian, this looks like a good report on the economic value of angling tourism compared to commercial fishing.

http://www.eaa-europe.org/index.php?id=19

[saving private brian]

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Irish- ... 4728866487

[johnfish]

im not trying to be smart ,but if someone from now till this day next year could count every dead bass pictured or killed by anglers on this site it would be interesting ,then extrapolate that by the amount of irish anglers not on this site,just saying,and the 5 tonnes of bass by french commercial fishermen line .not too sure about that one

[fisher of bass]

it looks like its going a head Ireland is f****d the EU is calling the shots,,licence for shore angling is next its all about money now,,,

[Dicenintra]

There is no way commercial bass angling is going ahead. I looked at all the official responses and it's clear that nothing is happening either on way or the other at least not in the next 5 years. The government committed to referring the issue to an EU technical committee. They have been saying they intend to do this for at least 12 months. They have made no effort to do it so far, they can't back down from this. Even if it does get to the committee it will take years to get a response. Even then the results will probably be inconclusive and so the EU precautionary principle will apply and the status quo will prevail.

I think there a few fellas out there yanking you chain with talk of french boats taking 5 tonnes or it being opened to commercial fishing next week.

I wouldn't be opposed to a shore angling licence if in return we got bass designated as an angling species and all commercial fishing banned within 1 mile of the shore.

I still think a formal proposal from the IFSA to Minister Lenihan proposing that Bass be designated as an angling only species is the best option. A direct counter proposal to the FIF. Then the whole Government will have to make a decision which proposal most benefits the country. just look at the votes in the angling community compared to the fishing community.No contest!

[beachcomber]

Time to start writing again?..................