New minister is in.Simon Coveney.

[davetilly]

New minister is in.Simon Coveney.
We have a new fisheries minister and John from Irish bass is looking for us all to let him know we are hear for the long haul.
Can we all send him a mail asking him to look after our bass stocks.
http://www.simoncoveney.ie/arc/contact.html
simon.coveney@oir.ie
This is our new fisheries man lets hope he looks at the value of our bass as a sport fish and not a table fish.

[home from the sea]

his late father was a good man who looked after the commercial and pleasure sectors of the marine ...i know Simon will do the same..after all bass are an irish asset for all to benefit both commercial and pleasure

[Tommy B]

Hi Dave

Just did this and I sent him the link to the forum as well
You never know?
Maybe we should all send him the link when writing?

Tommy

[John D]

Nice one Davey lad!

I'll be busy with my pen and paper and keyboard too over the next half an hour or so.

Thanks a lot - good work,
John D.

[John D]

Hi again people.

Just to say it is also important to consider writing to the Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport 'Leo Varadkar' and the Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte'.

Leo Varadkar
http://www.leovaradkar.ie/
leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie

Pat Rabbitte
http://www.labour.ie/patrabbitte/
pat.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie

Yours faithfully,
John D.

[red]

this gives all the cork south central lads a big opportunity. on the downside there will also be a few commercial lads in his constituency too. we just need to heard a little louder.
i already sent an email to mr rabbitte this morning, a few ammendments and it will be on its way to mr coveney too.

he is also on facebook, its easy to ignore an email or send a generic reply. if a post is made on his facebook page he either has to delete it or reply to it.

[John D]

Great point Red!

Thanks,
John D.

[saving private brian]

did this guy say commercial

his late father was a good man who looked after the commercial and pleasure sectors of the marine ...i know Simon will do the same..after all Bass are an irish asset for all to benefit both commercial and pleasure

[Tanglerat]

did this guy say commercial

his late father was a good man who looked after the commercial and pleasure sectors of the marine ...i know Simon will do the same..after all Bass are an irish asset for all to benefit both commercial and pleasure

Yeah. home from the sea is an occasional feature on this site - he turns up every now and again scaremongering and predicting doom and gloom (though not doom and gloom from a commercial operator point of view, obv) and the end of the Bass ban.

He's quite the resident naysayer, at this stage.

[beachbuddy]

For what its worth saving private ryan,if you want to have any chance of having any decent bass fishing down this way when you next visit you had better get writing or e-mailing as you have now seen what the belief's of certain people down here in cork anyway is regarding wanting the commercial fishing for bass reopened"legally",especially in the area you fished recently.
Tanglerat is spot on regarding the commercial fisherman,sorry ex commercial fisherman,ignore him and send the emails asap.His view is representative of most would be commercial bass fishermen nevermind the other type who have been blatantly fishing bass illegally for years down here in the south anyways.

[red]

also when doing up the letters and emails dont forget to quote figures regarding the amount of money spent on Bass fishing in ireland.
this is taken from a survey done by a few forum members of this site

· Irish Sea anglers spend €182.5M approx per annum in Ireland in pursuit of their sport.
· Approximately 45% of all Irish Sea anglers fish for Bass.
· Of those anglers who fish for Bass, approximately 52.45% of their expenditure relates to Bass fishing.


Total expenditure by Irish anglers in Ireland on Bass fishing €43,000,000


Contribution of Irish Bass Recreational Fishery to Irish Economy (Non-Irish Anglers) €8,650,000

Total Contribution of Irish Bass Recreational Fishery to Irish Economy €51,650 ,000

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... 12&t=28204

[davetilly]

Hear is a piece i wrote on how much bass are wort.
Irish Bass Conservation
Good stuff great to see this campaign getting going. I once had the pleasure of meeting Clive Gammon, Kevine Linnane and Des Brennan in Ballydavid and to hear the stories of the early days of their surf fishing exploits on County Kerrys storm beachs is some thing that i will remember for ever they were great Anglers and even greater people. All sadly missed and i can say just as a memory to these three Pioneers of the sport of surf fishing in ireland this campaign should be supported by not just Bass anglers in general but by the entire angling community as a whole. I for one have personally witnessed the total destruction of many well known spots ie, Greystones and the wicklow beaches is one example. So i can safely say that i will do my part and lobby at every given chance. Angling was passed on to me at a very early age by my Father Paddy and i am now delighted to pass this wonderful sport on to my son Conor. It has brought me literally all around the world and to every inch of this island its my no. 1 intrest and i love to be out on the water with nature at its best. It is my duty to ensure that our stocks are handed over to the next generation in a better state than they are in now and i will always do my bit to ensure this happens.
ps angling has also introduced me to many friends and wonderful people its a sport for all so Look atfer it.
Nicky.
This was written by a good friend on the Irish kayak angling site.Here is my answer


Well said Nickey.I like yourself have come a long way in fishing,I rember the days you talked about we as anglers were our our worst enemies .Down to flounders been wiped out in Cats strand ,Dogfish and cod in Wicklow Bass in Kerry and then later throughout IRELAND.The Shad on their way up river were hit and used as pig food.Our eels are in decline our salmon and sea trout numbers are down even with the ending of drift net fishing .Their are other stocks of fish that are in decline but the one making a return is the BASS.

As Nickey said it is up to all anglers to stand up and say we want change .In the time of political change we need to ask the person knocking on the door what are they going to do.Make bass and other fish untouchable by commercial fisherman .

Protect the areas these fish live in .[bring back the 3 mile limit for trawling] no fishing with mackerel nets in shore as these catch all the other fish.Report all illegal fishing you see [to this number 1890347424]

Value to the tourist sector from bass is growing at a great rate ,if a rod caught salmon is worth 436 Euros to the Irish economy according to Suzanne Camoion,Business Development Manager at Inland Fisheries Ireland.So with the allowable catch for 2011at 91,338,the value for tourism market is huge.How many bass are caught by tourists each year and returned for the next person to catch.Add up what bass are bringing to Ireland in revenue in the times we live in.If the same amount of bass are caught in 2011 as salmon bass fishing is wort 39,823369 to the Irish people [hotels b/b shops guides bait bars food] This is just a small thing in a big wheel but it is one thing we can change and bring back the fish stocks that we once had .
And the next time you are catching a few bass put a few back for the ghosts of all the great bass anglers gone by to catch a few when no one is looking.

[home from the sea]

dont we all just love the buzz of bass fishing

[spiral]

Mr Coveney did mention angling and tourism in the same sentence while speaking on 96fm in Cork yesterday. As a consitiuent I will be in contact with him about this. I hope he can see the value that sea angling and angling in general is a big attraction for tourists here. Our sea bass fishing is the envy of many. Giving way to commercial fishing will destroy the attraction and hence a good deal of tourism.

[John D]

Some great posts submitted everyone!

They're some super stats Red - great stuff! While I think it's beneficial to keep our letters to Ministers as short and to the point as possible I would urge people to include as many of those stats that they can fit in.

John D.

[saving private brian]

yes we do but if its wiped out commercially there will never be a buzz again

dont we all just love the buzz of Bass fishing

[red]

They're some super stats Red - great stuff!
John D.

i just copied and pasted , thank Pat and JD, i think it was them who did the work.

[John D]

Well said 'saving private brian'!

Thanks Pat & JD!

[fisher of bass]

i hear simon coveney had a meeting in west cork last week with the commercial men about opening bass for under 10 meter boats,,,, line fishing like they do in the uk,,,,,, did any one hear anything

[John D]

No I didn't hear anything!?

John D.