Sea Bait

[Charlton]

Sea Bait have announced that the amount of bait to be delivered to shops is to be cut by more than fifty per cent and that the price will also be going up. They are finding it more lucrative to send the bait abroad. This is after they have won awards and grants in this country after they said that they will be able to sustain the bait needs of local anglers after the closure of Budle Bay. Obviously now they have no intention of doing so and this after one of their directors helped to get Budle Bay closed with a damming report into bait digging activities. It also seems that two of their directors had wind of this as they sold their tackle business not long ago. I would like the NFSA to look into this matter, whtehr they get the government to stop the export of the bait, ask for the return of the grants or the best possible solution would be to re open Budle Bay.

[sless]

get tony anderson on the case of buble bay
he fought hard and strong a few years ago for it
its like every thing
abroad for the money


i know its not nice to say
but if alcan closes
would sea bait close aswell

or if they stay open
put their rent up

[DazT]

well said alan and sless, god only knows what effect it will have on the tackle shops you need bait to get people in and with a shortage of lugworm going around i think this will make life a bit harder for anglers.

[Doc]

Bit of a difficult one this, I don\'t know enough about Seabait to comment on their business, other than there are much better options available in terms of ragworm. Many anglers stopped using it down here quite a few years ago and the Welsh farmed rag is superior in quality.

The Welsh farmed ragworm is pretty reliable and I would think that local dealers would look to this to fill any gaps vacated by Seabait’s downsizing of their UK operation. I suspect that once anglers get used to using farmed ragworm other than Seabait, they would probably prefer it and the local tackle dealers would almost certainly order just the Welsh rag, so this sounds a bit like commercial suicide for seabait.

The NFSA cannot interfere with privately owned businesses, nor should they. If Seabait have broken company law or are in breach of any grant or subsidy requirements then clarification from the issuing body will be needed. However, I would be extremely surprised if a company of Seabait\'s standing would wilfully and knowingly breach any such regulation or grant condition. Downsizing operations in a specific market and moving the emphasis to another, is in itself not an illegal manoeuvre.

If they were instrumental in getting Budle Bay closed to bait digging, I’m surprised that anglers were so willing to use their product, as it appears to have been an obvious business tactic. From what little I know about the Budle Bay bait digging case, English Nature and the RSPB were also heavily involved. Does Budle Bay not abut the Lindisfarne Nature reserve?

If directors are selling off their assets, and closing a market to satisfy another market, it seems to me that they are unable to compete and maintain the supply in the UK and are having to put all their eggs into one basket, it sounds like they are in trouble.

To be honest Alan, unless there are health or live transportation issues, the government will not prevent Seabait from exporting live ragworm. The fact that they have decided to source an alternative market, is not a valid reason to prevent them from doing so. The grants I’m sure will be non-refundable, or if they are, given the time the company has been in business, they are likely to have been paid back in any case. Finally, there is a cold day in hell’s chance of getting Budle Bay opened again, it is an intergral component of SAC,s SSSI and SPA (in others words an area of high nature conservation importance), from the conservation bodies perspective to give open access would be a significant retrospective step and one which they would fight all the way, and supported by the government.

We are far better off putting all our energy into fighting for issues which we have a reasonable chance of winning and to protect access to areas which may be put forward as conservation or protected areas in the future.

For what its worth, it is possible that Seabait cannot compete with other farmed suppliers in the UK, given its strong base in the NE, other suppliers have not had an opportunity to exploit that market, however, they have expanded in all other areas of the UK squeezing Seabait out and restricting it now to its home base. Having lost a significant proportion of its market, Seabait appear to be having a last ditch attempt to survive, resulting in putting all its effort in to overseas markets, as the UK market has gone.

I will pass on the message to HQ but don’t expect any significant response in terms of financial assistance for solicitors and or lawyers fees.

Cheers



Doc.

[Charlton]

cheers Doc, have e mailed Frank, he knows the situation about Budle Bay and sea baits promises to supply NE anglers after its closure. Anglers had no choice but to use sea bait as there was really no other reliable source for shops to get it from. Is the ragworm farmed in Wales not a franchise of sea bait as like most other farmed baits around the world.

[Grommit]

Many anglers stopped using it down here quite a few years ago and the Welsh farmed rag is superior in quality

I couldn\'t agree more. I have used a supplier of welsh rag for 2 years now and have never been able to fault the quality or availability.

I stopped using Seabait for my supplies 2 years ago because they wouldn\'t supply me with the rag I wanted, only what they would sell me to reach \'sales quotas\'

Alan, as far as I am aware the Welsh rag is independent of Sebait. My supplier certainly has no connection with them.

[alan]

Is there many dealers in the North East using Welsh Rag Ian ?

[ollie]

yep i think my local tackle shop i use in saltburn gets theirs from wales ,in comes in trays of peat

[Grommit]

Cant speak for all of them but I think I am the only one in Northumberland using it.

I get mine in the trays of peat too. Keeps the worms for longer than the vermiculate stuff and also seems to \'harden\' them off a little bit

[gazzawill]

iff this carries on whats next \'\'artificial bait\'\' it needs sorting now . put a stop to it

[rod-the-cod]

my local shop gets there rag from holand and its much better than sea baits worm

[alan]

It might have come from Seabait Rod
Heard that theres some nice Rag coming from there as well

[MartyMusther]

I was in the new tackle shop in Sunderland (Grangetown) the second week they opened and i witnessed a delivery of ragworm from Seab--t
of 14kg which were mush.when i spoke to the assistant he told me that they had recieved the same amount of \"Mush\" the day before and the reason the reason that the Bait was in that state was that the company used a delivery company (TN_) and that all orders were sent to a main depot (i think they said Liverpool) the day before delivery, and then (stored overnight before being sent back up north the following day.
it seems to me that the company is either very badly run or they are trying to lose custom ?
Anyway it worked because the assistant told me that the company (who have at least 1 other shop i know of in the North East) had arranged to have worm delivered from abroad (i think he said Norway) and added that it was better worm anyway.

[ollie]

i know a lot of the southern tackle shops get theres from holland ,but this seabait company needs taking to the wall and reported for this ,its shocking the way they have treated dealers and anglers alike .and the devious exploits should be pushed to a paper or mag .should generate some intrest

[peter.m]

I was down Portsmouth a couple of weeks back and they have any amount of rag as the Solent is one big bed apparently. Good worm but their lug was from Holland. Not bad stuff mind. pity the second match only produced 10 fish for the 160 anglers and most of them were mackerel off a beach in November!!!