Bass Consultation Underway

[LeonRoskilly]

The expected consultation is underway.

It\'s important that we get as many responses in from Recreational Sea Anglers and those earning a living from us as possible.

Please email SACN at [email protected] if you would like to help.

Details at: http://www.anglers-net.co.uk/sacn/latest/index.php?view=433

Tight Lines - leon

 

[Charlton]

Just recieved this from NFSA

Please see the press release below. If you have any queries please call me.

Regards,

Alan
Alan Brothers,
Hon. public relations officer,
National Federation of Sea Anglers.
7 St. James Street, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 1HR
Tel: 01273 471 496 Mobile 07957 870 616





Information
Issued jointly by Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society (BASS) and the National
Federation of Sea Anglers (NFSA)
Contact: Alan Brothers, hon. public relations officer, NFSA
Tel 01273 471 496, mobile 07957 870 616 [email protected]

November 17 2006

Changes to create UK sea sportfishing

Government action this spring (2006) to prohibit fishermen and sea anglers
from landing immature sea bass could be the first step in developing a
profitable world class British sport fishery. It would substantially expand the
present 19,000-job sea angling industry already contributing £1 billion the economy.


John Leballeur, chairman of BASS (Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society), said
the ban would mean there were more and bigger bass in UK waters. “That could
lead to a recreational fishery as successful as that for striped bass on the US
Atlantic coast.

“When management measures were introduced there in the 1980s, the value of
the fishery soared from $85 million (£50 million) to $560 million in ten years,”
he said.

Proposals just issued (November 16) by the Department for the Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) would stop wild sea bass less than 45 cm long
(weighing about 900 grams) being caught and sold.

Today bass 36 cm long weighing about 500 grams, may be legally sold in
Britain

“Fish that size have not spawned so when we sit down to enjoy them it is as
if we are eating the seed corn,\" said Ted Tuckerman, chairman of the National
Federation of Sea Anglers, which strongly support the government proposals.

“By the time they are 45 cm long many will have spawned at least once,
helping to ensure continued productivity with many more young fish growing and more
larger ones being caught.”

“It will further expand sea angling mainly to the benefit of coastal
communities some of them already suffering from the decline in the commercial fishing
industry.\"

Fishermen would have to use larger mesh nets and other species of fish would
also escape to breed and grow, so improving recreational sea angling all round.

The changes were called for in a bass management plan to the government last
year following recommendations from the Prime Minister’s strategy unit.

Defra wants anglers and commercial fishermen to comment on the proposals by
February 8 when a decision will be taken on the new rules. They should write
to:

Nicola Clarke
Coastal Waters Policy
Area 7E
3 - 8 Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HH
Fax: 020 7270 8097
E-mail: [email protected]

END


National Federation of Sea Anglers
Hamlyn House, Mardle Way, Buckfastleigh, Devon TQ11 0NS
Development Officer: David Rowe
Tel: 01364 644 643 Fax 01364 644 486 e-mail: [email protected]
www.nfsa.org.uk

Bass Anglers\' Sportfishing Society
John Leballeur, Chairman
Telephone 01395 270725
Mobile 07966 532 498
www.ukbass.com

 

[LeonRoskilly]

So, 2006 is now well underway.

Well, long enough for most people who have made a New Year’s resolution to have broken it already.

If you are one of the few that have made a resolution that will change your life and are still sticking with it, you have my utmost respect, and encouragement.

It’s not often that we get the opportunity to make the whole of our future life better, and are prepared and able to put in the effort necessary to achieve that.

For us sea anglers, especially those of us who have been around for a few decades now, 2006 must rank as one of those very special years.

It’s taken a lot of hard work, by many people, over many years, to bring us to a point where we are on the verge of making a breakthrough which will start to reverse the years of decline in opportunities for angling success, and where we can start to look forward to some better fishing in the years to come.

Not just words, intentions and perhaps promises, but real action from the authorities to begin to address some of the issues that are devastating the sporting opportunities around our coasts.

But the future isn’t assured by any means.

The catching sector, long used to fish stocks being managed entirely for their own benefit, even where they are socially, economically, and biologically, the least efficient exploiter of our inshore marine resources, are determined that their needs and interests should remain supreme.

And it appears that the managers and civil servants who have long been involved with the catching sector retain the mindset that the primacy of the interests of the catching sector should be maintained.

They may have adopted the language of equal access, consultation and opportunity for all stakeholders, but old habits and mindsets die hard.

And if through apathy we anglers are not prepared to keep pushing our interests hard, to make every opportunity to be recognised count, then things are likely to quietly go back to how they have always been, as our sea fish get fewer and smaller.

A perhaps unique opportunity will have been lost.

So, I would urge everyone, whether you have been able to keep the resolutions made at the beginning of 2006 so far, to make and to keep just one more.

Makes sure that someone else, who hasn’t yet responded to the DEFRA or Welsh Assembly Government consultation on the new Minimum Landing sizes for bass takes the small amount of time needed to do so.

And remember, it’s not just about bass, it’s about showing that all anglers are committed to their passion for angling, and the huge potential for development of the sector.

This consultation is just a first step along that path, and the politicians who will be watching the development carefully, will use the response from anglers to gauge whether or not this is a sector that can safely be ignored, or must be won over.

So, now is the time to browbeat friends, relatives, and especially those from whom you buy your tackle and bait, those who operate the local charter boats etc to put in their own response to the proposals, thus giving the lie to the catching sector’s claim that they are about jobs and livelihoods whereas angling is just about fun.

Originally a three month consultation, there are just a few weeks left to make the impression needed.


The closing date is February 8th.


Let’s not spend the rest of our lives wondering if things would have turned out different if we had just made a little more effort.


Do it!



Tight Lines - leon



Details of the consultation, and advice on the issues and how to respond etc are available on the BASS website at http://www.ukbass.com