suggestions for new marine bill

thought id put this seperate not to interfer with other thread .ok lads we need to get this started suggestions so far .[1] min commercial limit including shellfishing/dredging 6 miles [2] minimum fish sizes put in to law. [3]the re seeding of mussell beds killiney to arklow[ 4] investment in artifical reefs to protect fish stocks.[5] an increase in manpower to police inshore fishing.[6] ???

Fully agree with this!!!!

minium size is definetly needed in ALL Languages, furthermore we could also rally FishFight into helping us drive this forward, I know most of you lads as I do want to see our fishstocks saved for our childrens sake when they pick up the rods .. was reading a very recent and damning report that common fish stocks codline and other targeted species will be wiped out by 2021 and that sub species will dominate such as squid.
This report was compiled by marine biologist which I hold high in regards of respect.
Common EU fishing policies arent workin and hard to police.

2012 Petition NEW MARINE BILL

[1] min commercial limit including shellfishing/dredging 6 miles-- Off shore to protect spawning grounds, and beds

[2] minimum fish sizes put in to law. Minium Catch and Keep size should be made across the board, say for standard fish (whitting, coddling , pollock) minium 15cm, (dont forget some use pin whitin as bait, as some whiting have been deep hooked or torn to pieces by their fellows) the reason Im saying this is just to make sure that when we put this forward I dont want anyone falling foul.

[3]the re seeding of mussell beds killiney to arklow
Recent develpoments, and tidal currents have covered exisiting beds which are vital to fish spawning grounds

[ 4] investment in artifical reefs to protect fish stocks,
to be recouped from any company, individual using foreshore development. Or investment being made through dept of Marine or Eu grants


[5] an increase in manpower to police inshore fishing
and to allow officers the power of search,

[6] Boat spillage? protection of the marine harour habitat (every year we see a shimmer on the surface from boats empting their bilge) easy solution?

These are merely sugestions, on how the document should be put forward, the wording needs to be different and stronger, and your ideas are key! and needed I know theres great journalist out there and hoping they would come on board with this

Some good ideas you've got there creep! Should as many people as possible fill out individual surveys or should all ideas be pooled into one survey? Or perhaps all pooled ideas submitted individually by as many people possible?

The best of luck,
John D.

Some good ideas you've got there creep! Should as many people as possible fill out individual surveys or should all ideas be pooled into one survey? Or perhaps all pooled ideas submitted individually by as many people possible?

The best of luck,
John D.

Wasnt My idea,
Twinkle and me are workin together on this one as all of you's this is OUR project to make sure there a fishin future!!
we'll need to pool all the ideas togther cause if we send in idividual proposals trying to get the Minister time would be a nightmare. but one porposed proper document nailling all the issues would stand a hell of a chance!

Good ideas there lads here's a few of mine!

My view on minimum sizes, they should be 2cm greater than the spawning size of each individual species.

There should be annual closed areas at spawning time with severe penalties if caught fishing within these exclusion zones.

Seals and cormorants MUST be culled, controversial I know, but the damage they are doing is enormous.

Enforcement of quality and handling regulations, you would be amazed at the amount of fish landed in poor condition and end up dumped because of long tows, staying out too long, no ice, poor storage, diesel spillages.Waste ...pure waste.

Fastnet, I do like the idea of the various spawning size. I wonder if theres a way we could simplify it. reason being is too often you'll get people claiming to be innocent as I didnt know..

But I would have to disagree with the cull on seals and comrants, for the simple reason, what about whales, dolphins,porpoise, gannets, razorbills, seriously were does it stop?
and if we want to be taken seriously, both in governmental eyes and public eyes calling for a New Marine Bill whilst calling for an unproven cull without data would be suicide.
and at the end of the day we all know to well where the problem with declining fish stock starts and ends with....... man.
as commercial systems have gotten better and better the quality of fish finders is incredible.. its no wonder the stocks dont stand a chance, years back skippers had to rely on knowledge for a decent haul and not every shot proved true hence giving the fish some sporting chance.. nowadays bang on a computer search the area shoot the net.

lads i was expecting to be flooded with ideas.this is a great opportunity to get somthing done.lets have your ideas so we can put this together on a united front.

I disagree totally with min. sizes for fish. It's fine for anglers, but for boats all it'll mean is dead fish dumped overboard.
I haven't really thought it through so don't know the implications, but would it not be feasable to remove all fish quotas, and replace it with value quotas? i.e. for a given trawler, instead of being allowed land x tons of cod, and y tons of haddock, they're allowed land €1,000,000 worth of fish in a given year, (of any species) one that limit is hit, then it's season over. That way no fish would be dumped overboard as there'd be no advantage in it for the trawler, and species would become slightly less relevant.
Of course fish sales people might complain about it as there'd be less control as to what species they are buying at auction...

the minimum sizes were talking about is for angling. not commercial fishing .its to try and stop all the juvinile fish been taken
there is no law preventing this from happening

Ah. Thats totally different so! In that case agree 100% and sizes limits should be repressively large.
i.e. 30cms for flatfish, 40 for cod species, 50 for bass. 5 per day max bag across all three groups.
20 max pelagics (mackerel, herring etc).

Twinkle & Viper you both made a very vaild point!! (one i over looked) we have to address this as shore & boat ANGLERS seprate from the Commercial fleet.
Regarding the Commercial fleet as reported in another thread, the EU are moving forward with the promise of no discards, meaning the fishing fleet will be allowed to haul their catches in. personaly i think this is great news, but its a wait and see.

We really need to stress a protection for the breeding/spawning grounds a set mile limit on both, nets and dredging mussel and razor. This will make the biggest impact on recovering fish stocks.

well done lads, just a couple of further ideas although may be controversial.

1. Angling License - only introduced after certain guarantees from government
e.g protection of feeding grounds- mussel dredging,unregulated whelk fishing. Set at a realistic and nominal fee and not as an excuse for government to increase revenue but to cover the costs of informing people of new regulations

On receipt of the license the angler would receive a booklet in different languages outlining size limits and regulations.
Prevents the "I didn't know that" brigade as creep mentioned

2. Minimum number of fish to kept by an individual angler over the size limits, in any 24 hour period ( not just bass)
Prevents people from keeping under size fish and others from taking home up to 80 mackerel a day and then realize when they get home nobody eats them. ( saw it a couple of years ago with lads going around the neighbourhood trying to off load them. p**sed me off .
As Creep and twinkle have already said there needs to be an increase in manpower with powers of search.

Just a couple of ideas. Like the majority I enjoy my angling (despite having 3 blanks in a row) and would like to think I'll still be able to do it in 20-30 years time

a few good sugestions there we could debate

possibly something else that needs regulation

http://youtube.com/watch?v=C1jVE5xtg7Y


http://youtube.com/watch?v=LCJSp_QKKjo
nice video but wouldn't take long to spear those 4 bass

Licence is another good idea as well. Not only for the revenue it could generate to employ fiaheries officers etc, but also as a tool for generating statistics on numberf of anglers etc. Very handy information to have for lobby groups etc.

For me though the most important thing is for anglers to lead by example. I hate to hear of people complaining about the trawlers raping the seas while they're on a pier knee deep in mackerel or posing in a photo with a dozen dead cod. Everything contribultes to the problems that rivers, lakes and oceans are facing and everyone has to do their part, either by choice, or by rule.

I think this is a unique opportunity to put forward something constructive inall our interests and that of stocks,I don't know what is involved insuch a document but it would have to be tied up professionally to cover loopholes,I'd gladly put my name to it,for me fishing's not just a pastime,it's a passion.I'd like to protect as best I could,I think we all know where this is headed unless something is done,all good points so far

I think this is a unique opportunity to put forward something constructive inall our interests and that of stocks,I don't know what is involved insuch a document but it would have to be tied up professionally to cover loopholes,I'd gladly put my name to it,for me fishing's not just a pastime,it's a passion.I'd like to protect as best I could,I think we all know where this is headed unless something is done,all good points so far

we are just gathering ideas at the moment the final draft will be attached to a petition. all loopholes covered

Brilliant ideas keep them coming!!!! PLEASE!!!!

I'll have a think about other ideas but one thing I can think of now that could be proposed is something I've seen introduced in the UK. I saw it being discussed in the Sea Angler magazine a good while back. It's MCZ's - Marine Conservation Zones. I think it's just pretty much areas of absolutely zero exploitation of any type by any sector.

John D.