Inshore Gill Netting.

Hi
I have been visiting Ireland for a weeks bass fishing every year for the last 7/8 years and returned last week from this years trip.

Up until 2002 we had always travelled to Dingle/Brandon but became increasingly disillusioned with the level of inshore gill netting that we saw being carried out and whilst appreciating that gill netting itself is no offence, it didn't take a rocket scientist to work out that the target species was bass. It was our understanding that the catch and sale of bass was illegal under the Bass Orders. Effectively (on paper at least!) there was no commercial market for wild bass in Ireland unless the catch was made outside of a certain limit (12 miles?).

In 2003 we changed location away from the West and experienced bass fishing the likes of which we (the 5 of us) may well never experience again. We caught plenty of big fish but the overall pleasing factor was the large average size of the fish. Certainly it was much larger that the average we see in S Wales.

We returned this year to roughly the same area to see one particular mark effectively cordoned off by gill nets that had to have been set specifically for bass.
We rang the Regional Fisheries Board and have since followed up with letters to the Fisheries Board and a couple of Government Ministers but the question posed in this post is will this make any difference???

Do any posters on here have any experience of the RFB's taking action?
We only saw a small stretch of coastline but netting activity was evident, is this a problem around the entire S & SW coats of Ireland?

Are commercial fisherman openly flouting the regulations of the Bass Orders to the detriment of the sport available to anglers?

It would be good to hear how Irish anglers feel on this issue.

Sorry for the long post
Tight Lines
Bass Hunter

its very hard to police this problem, especially in rural areas like dingle. it is even harder to police this when the local police are making a few quid off it themselves

It is up to all anglers to be aware of the names of their local Fisheries officers/Bailiff's which are freely available from their RFB. There is no reason that any angler who is fishing can not contact them if they see something suspicious.
The law regarding Bass fishing is open to abuse due to the minute fines which they will have to pay if caught. Netting alone is not illegal, the boatman must be caught in posession of Bass. All anglers are required to take only two Bass over a 24 Hr period and they must be over 430mm which makes a joke of the law as the boats are taking all they can get. There is also the problem of the Restaurants and fish buyers/Shops who are buying the Bass from the boatmen. The licence they hold only covers imported bass but how do you prove what is imported. If there was no outlet there would be no need to catch them.
Anglers have been penalised for years and some have made great efforts to protect the species. But the boatman will continue to do what he is doing as long as the law allows him to and he has a buyer to sell to.

Its a shame to read that visitors coming over here to fish have to take action in this manner as locals seem to be ignoring it. This may be a bit harsh on the locals as I think many of us have become disillusioned with the whole implementation part of laws on angling. I have fished for over 10 years and targetted Bass on many occasions and never seen an inspector or heard of anyone who has met one. I think and would love to be proved wrong that such people carry out inspections rather than just administrative work. By the way you can easily tell farmed Bass from wild Bass by there scales and if these people were really interested in fining Restaurants etc for selling wild fish they could easily take scale samples and take action. Again I have never heard of this happening. In my local area thankfully I have not seen drift nets in 3 years but have herd of trawlers targetting Bass inshore during daylight a stones throw away from very public areas. The fact that they so openly flaunt the laws says it all. Maybe we have just become complacent and should petition the fisheries boards, goverment etc. I quess the issue relates to not having enought money to carry out the necessary inspections, but again I assume government are aware of how much money is generated through angling tourism (especially Bass) so why don't they act?

The following information is available on the website of the central fisheries board:

How do I report illegal fishing or poaching?
If you think you have witnessed someone fishing illegally or poaching you should contact the local Regional Fisheries Board HQ as soon as you can.

Eastern Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 1 2787022
Southern Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: + 353 52 23624
South Western Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 26 41221
Shannon Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 61 300238
Western Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 91 563118
North Western Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 96 22623
Northern Regional Fisheries Board. Tel: +353 71 9851435

It may be an idea for anglers to put the relevant number for the area that they fish into their mobiles, for occasions when they are out and see somebody up to no good. Perhaps it may not be much use as fishing hours rarely coincide with office hours, but it may be better than waiting until you return home, when the indignation may have worn off and the details may have faded.

As to the first poster's question of whether or not it will do any good, I suppose the only way that can be answered is to try calling and find out. Personally, I have witnessed inspectors at work, but so far only on salmon rivers and not bass beaches. I'm a newcomer to shore fishing myself though so hope it's only a matter of time before I see that swrfb jeep on the job.

(let me just clarify that last post by adding that the last two grafs after the list of numbers are my own comments, not those of the cfb)

I heard a rumour there were inspectors at Tarbert power station in Kerry a well know spot for undersized bass to be killed. Obviously enough people were complaining about what was going on and they investigated.

Donagh

http://www.ukbass.com/


Perhaps our visiting anglers could help out a little bit laterally with this problem?

If they make complaints to the Minister for Tourism as well as the Minister for the Marine, that might exert additional pressure on the RFBs to act.


Just an idle thought.

What we really really need is an Irish Leon.......... :D

Please I would love to know of anybody who has seen or met an inspector actually checking anglers regarding Bass or taking action against illegal inshore netters or trawlers regarding Bass or anyother sea species apart from Salmon or sea-trout?????

If you go fishing in any of the main pike fishing venues around the country you will see fisheries board signs outlining the pike fishing regulations/restrictions.

Anyone ever seen the bass fishing restrictions signs at any shore fishing venues?

I'd love to hear that they are out there.

Donal.

They do have them down in Clonakilty. I read them with interest as they were the first I had seen.

I think what is needed is a tagging system similar to sea trout and salmon.

To my knowledge, it should be quite easy to establsh whether a bass found in a shop or restaurant has been imported or not in that all you will have to do is look at a scale under the microscope to examine how rapidly or slowly the fish has grown. Irish fish are slow growing fish (lots of rings close together - the basic principle is very similar to tree rings) whereas most imported sea bass come from the middle east (epgypt) and have much higher growth rates. As with all issues it comes down to the resources available to the RFBs and the level of political will and interest in protecting a fishery present in the government - if they will not buy out the salmon netsmen, what hope for bass? I know that lots of bass, including two specimen fish over 10 lbs, were taken in the closed season in Tramore this year - but when has anyone seen a bailiff on the sea shore. Delighted to hear about Tarbert power station...

I think all of the authorities has to be assisted rather than criticised, in that you will only get action from people willing to act...

FWIW

putting up 'bass signs' similar to the pike ones sounds like a good idea. i think anglers themselves would be happy to put them up at designated spots. they will at least spread an awareness. i know that when i was a kid i killed an undersize bass. had i have seen a sign or known any better the fish would have been released.
the grown ups seem to do more damage anyway. remember lampoon's report of five bass caught at redrock in sutton of which ALL where killed? maybe i am wrong but is there not a code of conduct to abide by when we cast a line into the sea?

Very good point about tagging. That really is worthy of serious consideration. Some local anglers rod and line commercially for bass. These guys have done this as did their fathers. Personally - I follow the 2 fish per session limit. That is if I catch any :o
Certainly the RFB are active out in Galway Bay and keep a keen eye on whats going on. Never met any of them on the shore though.
As for supermarket bass, they look different to the ones that I catch! Those on the slab seem to have smaller scales and are generally lean. They all look as if they are the same weight - about 1.5 lbs each. Perhaps farmed ?


Peter

As it was me who started this thread I thought I’d add a follow up on a couple of comments made in other people’s posts.
First of all, it’s good to hear that some anglers have seen evidence of the Fisheries Authorities maintaining a presence to protect certain stocks and therefore, angler’s interests.

I have seen bass specific notices sited at fishing marks but only in a specific region of Kerry. I think they may have been put there by the Dingle Peninsular Bass Centre. These were put there to advise anglers of the close season and bag/size limits. I can’t remember if they contained contact numbers for RFB’s, Garda etc.

Whilst over last week I read in the Irish Mirror that a report had highlighted that angling holidays (sea, coarse & game) were the fastest declining sector of the tourist industry. Several factors were cited with one of them being declining fish stocks but it didn’t specify any particular species.
On the trips I’ve been on there have normally been 4 or 5 of us and over 7 days we spend a fair amount of cash in a local bar on Guinness & food (one & the same really!). Although it’s only a minute drop in the ocean in terms of the overall tourist spend, the money that we used to spend over a week in a particular bar (e.g. O’Sheas in Brandon) is now no longer being spent over their counter. Many an October night in their bar has seen the customers made up almost entirely of anglers
I know of several other anglers who no longer make an annual trip to Kerry and our places at the bar may well have been taken by other anglers but if they haven’t then that business may well be noticing a difference in their takings.

The sole reason for not going to Kerry – NETTING ACTIVITY.

Rockyb23 hit the nail on the head exactly in his post when he said that action to report suspected illegal activity needs to be taken before the indignation on the anglers part wears off. Although the RFB answer machine was rung on the day we saw the nets, I was still indignant when the ferry got back to Wales on Sunday and still indignant on Monday when I wrote to RFB, Minister for Tourism and Minister for Marine. I have written a couple of letters to UK Government and MEP’s in the past but I readily admit (to my shame) that I am no active campaigner. My motivation was simply because I saw clear evidence that someone was probably making a good few Euro by breaking the law and depriving me and my mate of a chance to potentially enjoy again the excellent sport we experienced last year.
My motivation was as simple as that but I didn’t half feel better after spending 30 mins knocking up a couple of letters!

i am a usual poster on here but am going anonamus for this one. after reading the posts above it spured me into action. i rang up the cfb for a particular area. i have to admit he didnt exactly instill confidence with his knowledge of bass. basicly there r 3 r 4 lads who are nearly pros r at least semi pro bass fishing ie. they r on the dole and supplement it with the money from selling their bass. they fish rod and line usually, getting 11 bass mostly undersize the other week, if they r not catching using rod and line they change to nets and i know for a fact that 1 of them took 70 bass in one night in the last 12 months. now i am a man who loves to eat fish and defend the right to do so but this is taking the piss so i told the bailif exactly where and when these lads are likely to b next fishing and how they bury the bass and mark them with stones. so the bailif assured me he would arrive on the night i suggested in r around when these lads r finishing up gave descripions of what they look like and their cars and he will check the bags as they leave the beach. he reckons if they have undersized r more than 2 a peice that he can take tackle any gear assiocated with fishing, mobile fones and a court appearence. i reckon most ppl here know if it is goingon in their area and the call can b anonomus. we have no right to complain here if we r doing nothing about it, we r the eyes on the beaches up and down the country so lets start protecting the bass. if after being given this information the cfb dont do anything about it well then it is an easy enough task to kick up a fuss. i am tempted to ring up and tip them off about the next time i go fishing and see if they come, if they dont i will be on the fone to their superior next morning. i for one would not only not mind a bailif coming up to me on the beach but would actively encourage it and would b glad to c him doing his job! As i am sure any fisherman with nothing to hide would b too.
lets stop whinging on here and get calling. it is all of us who will suffer in the long run. the bass are protectable due to their habits and haunts as are they vunreble. if illegal fishing is going on the chances are real fishermen will b trying the same spots at the most productive times!!!
if everyone on the forum made that call it would give the poor old bass a much better chance than talking bout it on here! i hope u realise why i have withheld my name from this post as i would rather not b identified in the pub on sunday night as i hopefully hear the tales of woo about gear being taken. well at least it makes a difference from listening to the stories about taking 10 r 15 bass and how much they got for them!!!!!

Fair play to ya. Glad to hear of someone (possibly) getting their come upance. I make an annual pilgrimage down to Courtown and Cahore each June to fish the Fish rich waters there for Thornback and Tope. Each year i see 4 - 7 trawlers dragging nets between them targeting the Ray that the KNOW are coming into spawn. I have witnessed big captured females shedding meremaids purses onto the boat. The Ray come in in numbers and the trawlermen know this. These guys are not from Courtown as the nearest fishing fllet is in Wicklow town and Howth and Kilmore. These guys know they are in a remote area harbour wise and are getting away with murder. this year I harrassed them on the radio and went unanswered. When I got close enough to one of them and got his number and called it out over the radio he moved out to sea. Last year 'dtsac' from this website was also down there with me in his boat and he told me one of the trawlers did a scare mock ramming to scare him off. Obviously he was in the area he wanted to drag his nets. These trawlers are opperating illegally within 12 miles of the shore and using illegal netting practices. Ireland does not have a propper navy fleet to patrol Ireland. Our gun boat can only be in one place at a time and these guys know where it is. They are getting away with murder and it seems there is nothing that can be done about it. :evil: :evil: :twisted: :evil:

Very small point. Theres no fishing fleet in wicklow town never really was but there always was one in Arklow. People from wicklow always called people from Arklow "herrin chokers". In the past few years theres been a big influx of shell fish boats from all over the place into wicklow harbour.

Donagh

sorry about that. you're quite right. I forgot about Arklow... ahem. I did not know that about Wicklow. That whole area of coast from Greystones - Blackwater an maybe even beyond, is whelk territory. All the pots you see are not lobster pots- they are whelks. Might explain your shell fish boats. Maybe the catch is not as good elsewhere. Many fishing boats have moved over to whelk and crab as there are no fish! Bullock harbour in Dalkey used to have a few fishing boats way back when but now is only a pleasure boats harbour. There is only one guy opperating out of there now for crabs and the odd lobster. Tells me he makes a living but can't beleive how things have gone.

another small point - the signs as to rules and regulations for bass fishing (similar to those said to be visible at pike waters) are also clearly posted at Garrettstown beach in Cork, at three or four points, usually where people park their cars. They give details of size limit, close season and bag limits etc.