Bannned From Taking Eels

[Mike.Haley]

The Environment Agency (EA) has passed byelaws which ban the removal of eels up tp 6 nautical miles out to sea by rod and line anglers ( not commercials). I know not many people target eels, but just imagine if you catch a big eel in a comp and want to weigh it in. The worrying thing is, who is to say that they will stop at eels. They say eels are an endangered species and need to be protected. Are cod not an endangered species?
The other bit that worries me is that the EA says that
" the angling community is fully behind them and thier new byelaws and that the Angling Trust ( who openly supports these restrictions) represents all anglers, including sea anglers, and they provided key input to the consultation and continued to advise them throughout the process".
Did the Angling Trust ask any of you guys out there about this?
Will they stop at eels?
What next, Cod? Bass? Bream? Ray?

[Topfly]

If i want to take Eels i will take them, The A T did not consult with me, and i,m a " Registered Stakeholder of the Sea."

[Mike.Haley]

Are you a member of the AT?

I'm sure they would have consulted members....

Not any more.
The only anglers that were consulted, were freshwater anglers via their license application.
The AT being made up from all fresh water anglers this does not suprise me at all.

Jim, If you take eels you will be breaking the law and can be prosecuted.
Just got my copy of BFM this morning and they have done a big write up about it.
It makes very interesting reading.
Apparrentley its all down to the EU.

[Topfly]

Mike, If i was to fish for them, i would be catching them in saline, not brackish water, and as i have not been notified of any change in the law as far as sea angling is concerned. so the "status quo remains" Magna Carta and all that.

[Mike.Haley]

Jim, It does'nt matter where you take them from unless you are more than six miles from the shore, you are breaking the law.

[northeast1]

I dont mind putting every single fish back i catch as long as i can still fish for them, i chuck back 90% of everything anyway but my fear is they just ban rod and line out right.

[loopy]

Mike, I posted on this last year I had no interest to the post.

"The EA are bringing out some new byelaws mainly regarding coarse fish as a consequence sea anglers will be affected. The Angling Trust I believe is trying to lobby the EA on the sea angling point.

Eels and shad
What will the byelaw do?
The byelaw prohibits the removal of these species by rod and line. They are migratory species and therefore this restrictions applies seaward to 6 nautical miles (the extent of our fisheries jurisdiction

Environment Agency - Proposed new fisheries byelaws - Have your say

Just another update Article 47 is now called Article 55 and will probably affect North East boat anglers"

This is the press release from AT. I have spoken to Mike Heylin and they are still in discussion with the EA it is not a bye law yet. I spoke to the EA rep at Hull, sorry I did not have time to have a chat with you, busy day as you know, he seemed to think that there may be something in the pipe line about keeping them to weigh in competitions then to be returned.

AT press release
"Anglers who for centuries have fished for eels to eat - smoked or jellied or baked in a pie - or to use as bait to catch other fish, may soon be stopped from taking them in English and Welsh rivers and lakes or within six miles of the shore.

The Environment Agency estimates that runs of juvenile eels, or elvers, “have crashed by over 95 per cent across Europe…and if runs don’t improve soon, the long-term future for eels looks bleak.”

The Angling Trust is backing the ban and its chairman Mike Heylin said "Without major steps to protect eels from recreational angling and commercial fishing, they are unlikely to get back to a sustainable level.”

The eels are are seen as “critically endangered” by the respected International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). As a result the Environment Agency plans a new bye-law under which any eels which are caught must be put back immediately unharmed.

Measures to control commercial fishing for eels are also proposed in parallel to the ban on recreational angling. The Environment Agency will stop issuing marine eel licences, reduce the number of licences for freshwater commercial eel fishermen and toughen up conditions for those that are allowed. A closed season will also be imposed to further reduce commercial eel fishing.

The Angling Trust which represents recreational anglers fishing in fresh water and the sea, believe a few sea anglers may try to resist the ban. “I hope they will think again,” said Mr. Heylin, “because the preservation of the eel stock is important for the future health of all marine and freshwater ecologies.”

“All silver eels in Europe are below maturity. When they reach maturity they swim off to the Sargasso Sea in mid-Atlantic to breed and never return.”

But their tiny offspring or elvers, make their way back and typically remain in fresh and salt water for 20 years or more before themselves returning to mate in the Sargasso.

Public consultation on the proposed eel ban closes on January 20. The proposed bye-laws are at Shortcut Administration. Anglers wishing to support or object to them should write to Alexander Kinninmonth at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Marine and Freshwater Biodiversity Division, Area 2D, Nobel House, 17 Smith Square, London SW1P 3JR (alexander.kinninmonth@defra.gsi.gov.uk) "

Our view is that we need to apply very heavy pressure on the authorities to stop commercial netting of eels and that anglers should do their bit by agreeing to return all eels alive to the water. This gives us a much stronger platform from which we can negotiate.

Les

[Topfly]

Cheers Les , should do the same for the cod .

[Mike.Haley]

I agree with what you say Les. What I dont agree with, is the ban on Recreational Anglers from taking any type of fish and No Ban on Commercial Fishing taking the same type of fish.
If a species of fish is "endangered" and a ban is put on taking that species then it should be a blanket ban that covers both recreational and commercial.
99.9% of my catch goes back as I personally dont eat fish. I have never yet kept any eels as I have no use for them at all.

[loopy]

I could not agree with you more Mike if you look into the history of this as some have it is very complex and one sided towards the commercials with elvers being taken by the EA to parts of Ireland to help re stock and guess what the Irish have a large commercial Eel fishery add to the fact this all came through without direct consultation along with all the other things being thrown at RSA an Elephant could of walked through the room and we would not of noticed. As for self-regulation we would all like to think it would work.

[loopy]

Sea Lamprey, Petromyzon marinus, a good alternative Paul , bloody fish.

[anthony stobbart]

silver surfer

simple!ban the trawlers,gillnets etc for a whole year! or give them ideal length of time to at sea? as one boat can wipe out huge areas of fish and the stocks in that area .so why just eels what about cod haddock coalfish whitting etc.

[weefus]

Are you a member of the AT?

I'm sure they would have consulted members....

We at the South Shields & District Sea Angling Club are fully paid up members of the Angling Trust, and the area representative Ben Thompson has my e-mail and telephone number, and NO-ONE from the Angling Trust has been in contact with me about the taking of eels. Like others have said if I catch an eel in a competition I will certainly weigh it in.

[dizzydaz]

i personally have no use for eels ive caught plenty in the rivers and not just small bootlaces ive hadf some belting eels and they can give a really great bit of sport as for taking them i have no use of them what so ever and they are always returned un harmed but in saying that i can see what the match lads are sayin if i was in a comp and had a really decent eel id keep it for the weigh in as its the first time i have heard about the ban

[Joe-m]

From what I have read in the past the eel has a parasite attacking its swim bladder so it is unable to make it back to the sargasso sea to breed hence that combined with taking elvers has made the eel population crash, if any one is interested here is a link

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eeliad.com%2Fnewsitems%2Fnews4.htm&ei=WJ6UU5CpKqrD0QXpg4D4BQ&usg=AFQjCNHy4EmllWtCW2tYCcdwM02rOSm_bg