Poachers Markets

As I'm not too au fait with the sale of poached / unlicensed landed fish I'd like to know more to see what can be done to make it a worthless occupation. I can't see poachers selling fish through fish merchants nor to the general public via a fishbox in the street. Freshly poached Bass Madam? So who do they sell it to? And if they are selling it for public consumption can we not report the shop / restaurant for selling poached fish?

I'm not 100% on it either.... From what I have heard most of it is sold to restaurants.

Kev

Word has it that a lot is sold local to where it's poached - bars, restaurants etc. I deal with this by not ordering it and steering clear of any place I see selling it.

Another story is that a lot gets sold in the UK - gets shipped over on lorries under a thin covering of white fish by the box-full. Seems nobody checks that the box contents aren't mixed.

Yet another I hear is that is is caught as a by-catch of the herring fishery and it is claimed by commercial fishermen that it is legal to sell it as by-catch - which I doubt, looking at the legislation.

If you suspect that poached bass are being handled by anyone, you could report it.

I was in **** fish shop in **** on Saturday. I am in NO WAY intimating that these fish were poached or in any way illegal however I used my eyes and guesstimated that the fish were smaller than the distance from my elbow to finger tip - 41CM exactly!

Are fish shops allowed to sell smaller fish than those we are allowed to land?

How can they sell Bass if commercial fishermen are not allowed to sell it - must they prove it's origin?

Am I right in assuming that an Irish boat could land Bass in say, France, then the French sell us back our undersized fish? Surely the whole point of a ban on Bass sale in Ireland would be to stop ALL sales and not dodge around the issue.

The bass legislation states that the size limits refer to fish not imported into the state. Most of the fish you see in fish shops/supermarkets are farmed in the Med and imported - so they're ok, legally speaking.

The minimum landing size for most commercial species can be found here:

http://www.bim.ie/uploads/text_content/ ... asures.pdf

That will make interesting conversation next time I'm in **** shop in ****! I'll ask the questions next time I'm in there!!! What are the origins of this ere Bass sir? Have you imported them sir? From Where sir? Cannot be very fresh then sir? Tee Hee!

This may have been covered already but I know of a well known fish monger buying rod caught bass from anglers for resale. Is this legal. :?:
When buying these fish no questions are asked which is what got me thinking in the first place.

I recently (2 weeks ago) emailed The Southern Regional Fisheries Board and asked for contact details for a local bailiff with a view to discussing some issues but never hared back from them. Is the norm :?:
I was surprised as i gave my contact details in case he/she would be more comfortable contacting me. :?

Coaster, I have contacted them a few times but only got a reply once :cry:

Coaster,

It's not legal for anglers to sell bass caught in this country as far as I can tell.

As regards your local enforcement division, nobody I've spoken to has had much joy with them.

Just got a reply to my 3rd email sent. My details were forwarded to a bailiff who does not seem interested in contacting me so they are sending them to somebody else. :? :?

Don't know about ye but IMHO this is beyond belief.
I was just out with a friend of mine who fishes commercially and he informed me that in the last few days french trawlers have taken 200 boxes of bass off the south coast. :?: :shock:
These bass were almost all of specimen size with quite a few shattering the rod caught record :evil:
I know the first thing you will ask is how reliable is this info and all i can say is he has never led me astray before.
As these boats are not aloud fish within 12 miles of our shore but other than that this is being legally. I cant put into words how sick this makes me feel. :evil: :evil:

Sounds like pair trawlers. :(

No wonder Bass anglers in the UK are up in arms about them. http://ukbass.com

Thing is, they're working to get this type of trawling banned, and they're getting close to it too. What're we doing? We not even enforcing the laws we have! :evil:

If the forces of law and order don't want to know, try these:

http://www.rte.ie/about/studios.html

http://www.ireland.com/about/p_letters.htm

http://www.unison.ie/contact_us/

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/Marine/Sea+Fish ... act+Us.htm

http://www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie/co ... tactus.htm

primetime@rte.ie

In the UK new legislation has been introduced to track the sale of sea fish, which applies even to pubs and restuarants.

Any premises with fish, unable to account for where they got it could find themselves in trouble.

See: http://www.defra.gov.uk/fish/sea/manage ... /index.htm


Pair Trawling for bass by UK boats in UK waters is now banned, and UK boats elsewhere have to have a special licence.

And their is growing pressure for an EU ban on targeting bass during spawning.


As regards to the 12 mile limit, some country's boats are allowed to fish within 6 miles in another nation's waters, relating to historic rights before the CFP treaty (us oldies can remember when national waters only went out to the 3 mile limit, as far as a shore-based cannon could fire!)

Who can fish in who's waters is set out at the end of this document which explains all.

http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/ ... 590080.pdf

This is the way to deal with poachers.....

http://www.fishupdate.com/news/fullstor ... court.html

Pity we don't treat poaching the same way here....

I recently (2 weeks ago) emailed The Southern Regional Fisheries Board and asked for contact details for a local bailiff with a view to discussing some issues but never hared back from them. Is the norm :?:
I was surprised as i gave my contact details in case he/she would be more comfortable contacting me. :?

Over a month on and after a couple more emails still no joy from The Southern Regional Fisheries Board. Could someone please help me here. I want to make some noise on this but don't know where to turn. Its ridiculous that our taxes are paying for this services and they could not be bothered to answer an email when you try to do their job for them :evil: :twisted:

It's hard to ignore the phone ringing.....

The Southern Regional Fisheries Board

(The Southern Regional Fisheries Board extends along the coast from Kileen Point just east of Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford to Knockadoon Head in the West (Cork Waterford border?).

Anglsea Street,
Clonmel,
Co. Tipperary,
Ireland.

Web: http://www.srfb.ie/
Email: enquiries@srfb.ie
Tel: +00 353 52 23624
Fax: +00 353 52 23971

A trawler based where I live, caught 300 boxes of Bass as a bycatch while prawn fishing in an area 50 south of Wexford called the smalls last spring. The skipper, a neighbour of mine, did not know what to do with this unusual catch, so over the VHF to another skipper, he was told to take the fish to Milford Haven in Wales, which he did. He sold the fish no problem , but got a poor price for them as his crew had unwittingly gutted the bass. When you live among commercial fishermen some of the stuff you find out, from them would frighten you.

Fish Magnet

Wow! That would be good if poachers were treated like that here. From reading and watching T.V. I've got the impression that Australia have a lot of respect and really value their marine resources.

John D

http://www.dcmnr.gov.ie/NR/rdonlyres/49 ... NE2005.htm

S.I. No. 298 of 2005

BASS (RESTRICTION ON SALE) ORDER 2005



I, Pat the Cope Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 223A (inserted by section 9 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1978 (No. 18 of 1978), as amended by section 4 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1983 (No. 27 of 1983)) of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), and the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1977 (S.I. No. 30 of 1977) (as adapted by the Marine and Natural Resources (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2002 (S.I. No. 307 of 2002)) and the Marine (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 703 of 2004), hereby make the following order:



1. This Order may be cited as the Bass (Restriction on Sale) Order 2005.



2. This Order shall come into operation on 1 July 2005 and shall cease to have effect from 30 June 2006.



3. Subject to Article 4 of this Order no person shall sell or offer for sale bass other than bass that has been imported into the State.



4. In a prosecution for an offence under Article 3 of this Order it shall be a defence for the defendant to show that the bass to which the prosecution relates were imported into the State.





GIVEN under my hand,

27 June 2005



Pat the Cope Gallagher


Minister of State at the Department of

Communications, Marine and Natural Resources



BASS FISHING CONSERVATION BYE-LAW No. 800 of 2005



I, Pat the Cope Gallagher, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 9 (as amended by section 3 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962 (No. 31 of 1962)) of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), section 33 of the Fisheries (Amendment) Act 1962, the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order 1977 (S.I. No. 30 of 1977) (as adapted by the Marine and Natural Resources (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2002 (S.I. No. 307 of 2002)) and the Marine (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) (No. 2) Order 2004 (S.I. No. 703 of 2004), hereby make the following Bye-law:



1. This Bye-law may be cited as the Bass Fishing Conservation Bye-law No. 800 of 2005.



2. This Bye-law shall come into operation on 1 July 2005 and shall cease to have effect on 30 June 2006.



3. Subject to Article 4 of this Bye-law it is hereby prohibited to take and kill or have in possession more than 2 bass (other than imported bass) in any period of twenty-four hours and such bass which may be taken shall be carefully handled and returned to the water from which they were taken.



4. It is hereby prohibited to fish or attempt to fish for bass with any rod, line or weir during the period commencing on 15 May 2006 to 15 June 2006.



GIVEN under my hand,

27 June 2005



Pat the Cope Gallagher


Minister of State at the Department of

Communications, Marine and Natural Resources



EXPLANATORY NOTE



(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).



The effect of this Order is to prohibit the sale or offer for sale of bass (other than bass which has been imported into the State) from 1 July 2005 to 30 June 2006.



(PRN A5/0960)

Published by the Stationery Office, Dublin 2.

(Price: €0.76)























EXPLANATORY NOTE



(This note is not part of the instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).



The effect of this Bye-law is to impose a bag limit on anglers of two bass in any one period of 24 hours and to provide for a ban on angling for bass during the spawning season (15 May 2006 to 15 June 2006).





(PRN)

Published by the Stationery Office, Dublin 2.

(Price: )