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 (
[email protected]) "
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
