Sale of Bass

Message

#1 Post by **hush1** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:23 am

Lads,

Looking for some thoughts. My parents were in Howth yesterday and bought some plaice and some bass. I was looking at the bass last night...firstly it was only 34cm which is fine if imported but the fish was not gutted........I would have thought if the fish was caught away from Irish waters it would have been gutted and frozen?

The fact they sold an undersized bass which was not gutted raised an eyebrow. They had it listed as a wild bass.

Thoughts?

teacher · #2 Post by **teacher** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:35 am

I've seen whole imported bass in the likes of Tesco and Superquinn. These are usually labelled as farmed/imported in Greece. So I wouldn't rule out that the fish you saw could have been imported.

Still, it's always good to be a little sceptical. ;)

By the way, does anyone know what the paperwork requirements are if you are selling bass? What documentation is needed to prove that the fish are imported?

SeaShark · #3 Post by **SeaShark** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:40 am

Whats all this noise about supermarkets and Bass, Theres no supermarket stupid enough to sell Irish Bass & why would they, they couldnt make it worth their while anyway.

teacher · #4 Post by **teacher** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:44 am

SeaShark wrote:Whats all this noise about supermarkets and Bass, Theres no supermarket stupid enough to sell Irish Bass & why would they, they couldnt make it worth their while anyway.

Don't think there's much noise in relation to the supermarkets. In fact the larger chain stores seem to be falling over themselves to label the source of their fish.

#5 Post by **hush1** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 8:55 am

Not bought at supermarket...bought at a dockside fish store

#6 Post by **hush1** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:14 am

How long has it been since the fish was caught and is alright to eat seeing as thought the guts were left in?

I know if I am keeping a fish I clean it within two hours as I dont want enzimes from the guts being released.

Also what about the charge for the weight of the guts??

SeaShark · #7 Post by **SeaShark** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 9:29 am

hush1 wrote:How long has it been since the fish was caught and is alright to eat seeing as thought the guts were left in?

I know if I am keeping a fish I clean it within two hours as I dont want enzimes from the guts being released.

Also what about the charge for the weight of the guts??

I wouldnt want to be paying extra for the guts of 34cm Bass......!!!!

#8 Post by **fenitbob** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 9:49 pm

hush1 wrote:How long has it been since the fish was caught and is alright to eat seeing as thought the guts were left in?

I know if I am keeping a fish I clean it within two hours as I dont want enzimes from the guts being released.

Also what about the charge for the weight of the guts??

the only way you would know is if the other fish on the stand were gutted and the bass was not. most fish in a shop are gutted afaik

I wonder if you could get the time of death from the guts? if it showed to be only a couple of hours dead could you make the claim that it had to caught locally?

#9 Post by **stevecrow74** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:36 am

have seen plenty of undersized bass full body guts included, when enquired, the response was ' they are all farmed in Greece'..

i have got this same answer from a few fishmongers and supermarkets..

it only takes a couple of days for the fish to be transported over on ice so freshness is not an issue :wink:

#10 Post by **EoinMag** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:48 am

I don't think you're going to find too many whole Irish bass on sale in Ireland in markets etc, those deals will be happening at the back doors of restaurants, if they're happening at all.

SeaShark · #11 Post by **SeaShark** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:09 pm

This really gets up my nose, Why would any restuarant or any supermarket want to buy Irish Bass, For a start, even if they do manage to get enough of it, there going to have to charge an arm and a leg for it, and secondly, they cant say its Irish Bass anyway so it defeats the purpose of paying an Irish Bass price for it in the first place. Common sense would tell anybody that there is no sense in it for any restaraunt or supermarket - Its like buying geuine rolex watches and selling them as fakes for a genuine watch price.

teacher · #12 Post by **teacher** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:46 pm

SeaShark wrote:This really gets up my nose, Why would any restuarant or any supermarket want to buy Irish Bass

No idea why they would, but they abviously do:

Unfortunately there is a market for bass caught illegally in Ireland. There are plenty of reports of bass being sold out of the backs of peoples cars. I assume they're not paying "Irish" prices for bass because with no legal commercial fishery there's no such thing.

SeaShark · #13 Post by **SeaShark** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:10 pm

"Chef who worked for the restaurant" "In possesion of" Nowhere does it mention the restaurant being involved - It doesnt happen with restaurants because there is NO POINT - Granted, people do sell them, But its to joe public who likes a bit of bass and wouldnt buy that trash in the supermarket...And I do believe theres no harm in anyone eating bass they catch assuming its of a decent and legal size, people get too consumed with all this nonsense

SeaShark · #14 Post by **SeaShark** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:15 pm

And as "Bought it from a man in a van" How many times has someone said that when they got caught with something they shouldnt have had -

#15 Post by **MAC** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 3:04 am

SeaShark wrote:This really gets up my nose, Why would any restuarant or any supermarket want to buy Irish Bass, For a start, even if they do manage to get enough of it, there going to have to charge an arm and a leg for it, and secondly, they cant say its Irish Bass anyway so it defeats the purpose of paying an Irish Bass price for it in the first place. Common sense would tell anybody that there is no sense in it for any restaraunt or supermarket - Its like buying geuine rolex watches and selling them as fakes for a genuine watch price.

Same reason why they bought Poached Salmon for years. A Bass, even farmed at 40cm will cost about €20ish is a fish mongers. So if they are getting them out of a van for €5-10 quid they are saving 50%. Simple economics, especially when you consider that there is very little policing of this illegal activity. Sea Bass is Sea Bass, I was in Galway Wednesday and Sea Bass was on the menu for €28 quid and this is just a single portion, not the whole fish.

Kev

#16 Post by **roger de dodger** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 2:28 pm

600 euro in fines for two bass and one sea trout thats 200 for each fish maybe not much but better than i was expecting i wonder is the judge a salmon angler ,some judges wouldnt give that much for no tax and insurance 8)

#17 Post by **coaster** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 7:03 pm

SeaShark wrote: It doesn't happen with restaurants because there is NO POINT

Seashark, you obviously have no idea what goes on in the real world.
I have been asked on a couple of occasions to bring bass to a restaurant because they were short for the night.
I have also been told by a few people who supply said restaurant that you can get a better price from x restaurant or z hotel.
Bass is regularly bought by a large amount of people every day for sale and re-sale.
I know a couple of people who make a pretty penny from it but the problem is to catch them at the right time. The powers that be know these people well but cant be every place at once.

600 euro in fines for two bass and one sea trout that's 200 for each fish maybe not much but better than i was expecting i wonder is the judge a salmon angler ,some judges wouldn't give that much for no tax and insurance

€600 might be steep for 3 fish but if a person is doing this every day / week they will save a lot more than that over a year. :wink: