* You Didn’t Expect Them To Go Quietly Did You? – Bass 2017

You didn’t expect them to go quietly did you?

The proposals adopted by the EU fisheries ministers at their December council did not exactly mirror the proposals put forward by the EU commission before the meeting.

Anglers were fairly excited by the proposition of gill netting being banned and bass only being targeted by hook and line fishing only. In fact the Hook and Line commercial fishermen were also quite excited at the prospect of gill netting being banned too. They would wouldn’t they – commercial fishermen have a track record of targeting the competition, any perceived competition.

It was never going to be an easy fight. The commercial lobby is strong, persuasive and professional.

We would look at it this way: The bass situation was never going to be a sharp shock to commercial fishing. The EU tends not to work that way. No, they funnel the effects year after year while monitoring the outcome. If the outcome is not satisfactory, they go again. What you are seeing is realpolitik in action. What you are seeing is commercial bass fishing running out of room and road. If the measures to protect bass do not yield the desired result in 2017 then you can now begin to see where we are heading in 2018. The road is getting very narrow for netting. The wriggle room is disappearing. You didn’t expect them to go without a fight though?

The proposal for anglers to be allowed to retain 10 fish per month rather than the current 1 fish per day was well received by some – certainly the south coast of England based charter skippers that have a bass track record were in favour. The 10 fish model was not going to suit the Irish model. More importantly the proposal would create an enforcement headache. While most measures are self-policing such a measure was likely to be well-nigh impossible to police. The old method was simple and enforcement is simple (The level of enforcement being questionable anyway). The EU acted to form here: It left well enough alone. While this might not suit some south coast of UK charter skippers it has to be considered as one part of the overall scheme of things. The UK skippers may need their lobby group to fight for a better outcome if they reckon their businesses are suffering as a result of the 1 fish per 24hrs rule. (The 2.8 million loss purported by the Angling Trust seems excessive without further explanation)

Anglers took their heavy lifting early in the game and therefore it is unlikely that further pain would be inflicted. If people can come up with an easily workable plan that might make something like the 10 fish per month plan seem attractive it might be adopted. We think you are straying into licence territory to make a salmon type scheme work in a bass environment.

Anglers in the UK created a .gov petition. It could (should) only be signed by UK citizens and residents It was signed by 14500 (14/12/2016) people. It was not effective.  Was it not effective because the commercial lobby is just plain stronger? Who did the UK minister support? Did the UK argue for netters? It is possibly the case that the UK minister has lost any real power or sway in EU matters due to imminent brexit.

Whatever the reasons for the decisions taken at the December council we think that anglers can be fairly pleased with the outcome with regards to bass. In simple terms there should be less bass commercially caught in 2017. That can only be a good thing for bass stocks and therefore good for anglers. The incredibly destructive pair trawling and drift netting for bass is a thing of the past. Gill netting is restricted. There have never been so many protections in force.

In Ireland we will continue as we have for years: Fishing away, keeping one fish if you want, but the committed release the majority of what they catch. Do matters bass in the UK affect us in Ireland? A bass that was tagged by an angler in Cork in October was caught at Land’s End in Cornwall in late November. Was that bass an exception or is there lots of mixing of bass from different stocks?

We know so little about bass and their habits….

 

 

The amended EU regulations are as follows:

 

Eu Regulations	What It means
1. It shall be prohibited for Union fishing vessels to fish for sea bass in ICES divisions VIIb, VIIc, VIIj and VIIk, as well as in the waters of ICES divisions VIIa and VIIg that are more than 12 nautical miles from the baseline under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom. It shall be prohibited for Union fishing vessels to retain on board, tranship, relocate or land sea bass caught in that area.	There is no commercial bass fishing allowed in Irish waters.The is no bass fishing allowed in the Irish Sea out beyond waters that are in the control of the EU. (UK waters are up to 12 miles)The Isle of man prohibit commercial bass fishing in their waters.
2. It shall be prohibited for Union fishing vessels as well as for any commercial fisheries from shore to fish for sea bass and to retain on board, relocate, tranship or land sea bass caught in the following areas: (a) ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIId, VIIe, VIIf and VIIh; (b) waters within 12 nautical miles from baseline under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom in ICES divisions VIIa and VIIg. By derogation from the first subparagraph, the following measures shall apply regarding unavoidable by-catches of sea bass in the areas referred to in that subparagraph: (a) a Union fishing vessel deploying demersal trawls and seines may retain on board catches of sea bass that do not exceed 3 % of the weight of the total catches of marine organisms on board in any single day. The catches of sea bass retained on board by a Union fishing vessel on the basis of this derogation may not exceed 400 kilograms per month;(b) in January 2017 and from 1 April to 31 December 2017, Union fishing vessels using hooks and lines , may fish for sea bass and retain on board, relocate, tranship or land sea bass caught in that area not exceeding 10 tonnes per vessel per year. Union fishing vessels using fixed gillnets may not exceed 250 kilograms per month. This derogation shall apply only to Union fishing vessels that have recorded catches of sea bass using hooks and lines or fixed gillnets from 1 July 2015 to 30 September 2016.	There is no commercial fishing for bass allowed around the Uk (East and Channel coast), continental coast channel coast of France, Netherlands  etc.There is no bass fishing allowed on the UK west coast in UK waters up to 12 miles       There is some “get out of jail” situations:       Bottom trawlers and seiners are allowed to retain bycatch not more than 3% of all on board. At no stage can this this bycatch exceed 400kg per month.       Hook and line fishing commercial fishing is allowed except for the Feb & Mar closed season. Catches for hook and line cannot exceed 10tons per vessel per year.   Netters may not catch more than 250kg per month   You must have a track record of netting or hook and line to avail of the “get out of jail” – there will be no new entrants to the fishing.
3. The catch limits set in paragraph 2 shall not be transferable between vessels. Member States shall report to the Commission catches of sea bass per type of gear not later than 20 days after the end of each month.	No transferring quota between boats –  use it or lose it.Reporting quickly after each month.
4. From 1 January to 30 June 2017 in recreational fisheries in ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIIa and from VIId to VIIh, only catch-and-release fishing for sea bass, including from shore, shall be allowed. During this period, it shall be prohibited to retain on board, relocate, tranship or land sea bass caught in that area.	Anglers shall be catch and release from Jan to June in almost all waters around the UK, Holland, France (Channel and mid east coast) and most of Ireland
5. In recreational fisheries, including from shore, not more than one specimen of sea bass may be retained per fisherman per day during the following periods and in the following areas: (a) from 1 July to 31 December 2017 in ICES divisions IVb, IVc, VIIa and from VIId to VIIh; (b) from 1 January to 31 December 2017 in ICES divisions VIIj and VIIk.	From July to Dec (Inclusive)Anglers may retain one fish per 24hrs in almost all waters around the UK, Holland, France (Channel and mid east coast) and most of Ireland  Anglers may retain one fish per 24hrs all year round in West Cork and Kerry
6. From 1 January to 31 December 2017 in recreational fisheries in ICES divisions VIIIa and VIIIb, a maximum of five fish per fisherman may be retained each day.	Catch limit for anglers in the Bay of Biscay – 5 fish in 24hrs.