long term damage by competitions on a marine ecosystem ?

The comp that sparked the question( as with all my posts, I'm open to correction here) will have 90 pegs so 180 rods, and there'll be a fair proportion of these digging Bait too.

I presume its the Master Angler you are talking about.
Yes it will have 90 anglers but they will have one rod out at a time over 3 legs.
As for bait, i might be wrong here but i dont think its a bait supplied competition so anglers will be getting bait for themselves. They are coming from all over the country and I would assume that only cork lads will be digging in cork with the odd exception. The lads have put in a lot of time, effort and preperation to qualify for this competition and i cant imagine many will turn up without bait already dug.
A major plus point is the money it will bring to east cork. 90 anglers and officials from the ifsa will be booking into b&bs in east cork. They will all need feeding too so it is pumping well needed funds into the local economy.

Hi red,
you have provided exactly the type of information and opinion I was looking for when I posted. I wasn't aware that only one rod was permitted at a time . You raised a good point regarding the preparedness of the anglers regarding bait but I will still be interested to see how the lug beds look before and after the weekend.
In terms of the local economy, that is a massive bonus to the area and very welcome in the quiet period before Christmas.
I would like nothing more than for the comp to be a success and for the local fishing in the subsequent months to be equally successful

I am sick of reading these posts.....

if your worried about anglers doing damage then do your part and give up fishing. And dont tell me you strict c&r, some of the fish released die...

did you read all the posts?

the point about fish dying when released is really what the debate is about - not C+R
as sick as you are of reading "these posts"

no matter how good at disgorgin etc. some will die

if 50% die each time theres a comp and theres comps all the time, is there a long term effect in local inshore waters - thats the question

in the thread on the master angler they are marking the tails of dead fish (due to unscrupilous types!) - its a reality

i think its fair debate - as i said before we should be seen to be trying to do our bit, instead of rightly blaming the commercials - but doing nothing about it

I am sick of reading these posts.....

if your worried about anglers doing damage then do your part and give up fishing. And dont tell me you strict c&r, some of the fish released die...

If you're worried about posts of a certain type, why not give up reading them ?

The topic relates specifically to repeated competitive angling at the same mark, not angling in general. I don't exclusively practice catch and release, I take the odd fish for the table if there is a good run, no problem with anyone doing that.

The comp that sparked the question( as with all my posts, I'm open to correction here) will have 90 pegs so 180 rods, and there'll be a fair proportion of these digging Bait too.
I think it's well worth asking members for their opinions as to whether or not that has a lasting effect on the mark. One of those stretches is where I grew up and is the first place I fished as a child and continue to do so.

I'm in no way prejudiced towards competitive angling. The only reason I posted this is to gather as much varied evidence from all viewpoints before forming a concrete opinion

Tight lines

If thats the case then we can assume that any beach is in danger for the joe soap angler.....

An example: Ennareilly is a beach that has been fished for god knows how many years by god knows how many anglers, every single weekend will see atleast 5 lads fishing it and thats not including anyone that fishes mid week. In my eyes thats worse than a group of lads meeting every few months.?


And if thats the case no matter what way you look at it fishing is destructive.

Nobody here is claiming that rod and line angling isn't destructive, we all accept that it is in some small way.
I think everyone also accepts that the commercials are responsible for the majority of damage (99% + in my opinion). However, in the context of current fish stocks/ marine habitat I personally think that anglers can have an impact on a local mark, whether its long term I don't know but anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that a mark can be 'fished out' in the short term at least. All we can do as anglers is try to put back fish that we don't intend to eat as carefully as possible to ensure survival and source bait responsibly. We're all passionate anglers here and regardless of the C&R debate etc. let's do our small bit.

Myworldfishing- you're right, Ennereilly is fished heavily and has fished poorly (for me anyway) the last couple of years with only the smoothys saving the day. Mussel dredging has destroyed the beds and taken most of the fish life with it. You can even see the impact in the colour of the water, even after settled weather it can still be a dirty brown colour as the mussels are no longer there to hold the substrate together and filter the water.

I think the recreational vs commercial debate can be put to bed as we're all in agreement as to who's doing the greater damage there..

Im a competitive angler myself, but this comment is quite funny, a comment on an angling website declaring that 'we're all in agreement as to who doing the greater damage'

The fact of the matter is that commercials have to earn a living, pay their mortgage, feed their children, we pull far less fish outa the water, but we only do it for the craic. Morally were both on dodgy ground, however the politicians are 'trying' to put measures in place to curb the commercials greed. The maths above is also funny, 20 guys pulling out 2 fish each, any beach comp I've been to its more like 20 angklers pulling out 20 to 30 fish each, maybe the Donegal anglers are just better than our counter parts in Cork

[sailnfish]

I think the recreational vs commercial debate can be put to bed as we're all in agreement as to who's doing the greater damage there..

Im a competitive angler myself, but this comment is quite funny, a comment on an angling website declaring that 'we're all in agreement as to who doing the greater damage'

The fact of the matter is that commercials have to earn a living, pay their mortgage, feed their children, we pull far less fish outa the water, but we only do it for the craic. Morally were both on dodgy ground, however the politicians are 'trying' to put measures in place to curb the commercials greed. The maths above is also funny, 20 guys pulling out 2 fish each, any beach comp I've been to its more like 20 angklers pulling out 20 to 30 fish each, maybe the Donegal anglers are just better than our counter parts in Cork

Hi Paddy,

I made that comment as I wanted to keep the thread on topic and avoid it descending into a debate about commercial fishing. By extension, I definitely won't get involved in a discussion about the rationale and justification for commercial fishing as I fail to see its relevance to a debate about the effect of match angling ?
Yes, it is funny to have to make that comment on an angling site. I might be mistaken, but I don't think anyone on here is going to claim that the 'damage' to fish stocks by angling is in any way comparable to that done by the commercial fleet.
By the way, as you mentioned the diifculties of the commercial fleet making living, I was one of those kids being fed by the proceeds of small scale ( half-deckers/small trawler) commercial fishing up until the early nineties !

Maybe us in east cork don't bother with tiny flats when there's bass and cod to keep us busy only messing

Last edited by sailnfish on Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:21 pm, edited 2 times in total.

I am sick of reading these posts.....

if your worried about anglers doing damage then do your part and give up fishing. And dont tell me you strict c&r, some of the fish released die...

If you're worried about posts of a certain type, why not give up reading them ?

The topic relates specifically to repeated competitive angling at the same mark, not angling in general. I don't exclusively practice catch and release, I take the odd fish for the table if there is a good run, no problem with anyone doing that.

The comp that sparked the question( as with all my posts, I'm open to correction here) will have 90 pegs so 180 rods, and there'll be a fair proportion of these digging Bait too.
I think it's well worth asking members for their opinions as to whether or not that has a lasting effect on the mark. One of those stretches is where I grew up and is the first place I fished as a child and continue to do so.

I'm in no way prejudiced towards competitive angling. The only reason I posted this is to gather as much varied evidence from all viewpoints before forming a concrete opinion

Tight lines

If thats the case then we can assume that any beach is in danger for the joe soap angler.....

An example: Ennareilly is a beach that has been fished for god knows how many years by god knows how many anglers, every single weekend will see atleast 5 lads fishing it and thats not including anyone that fishes mid week. In my eyes thats worse than a group of lads meeting every few months.?


And if thats the case no matter what way you look at it fishing is destructive.

All I intended to achive with this topic was to see what opinions were out there regarding how regular competitions or a large once off competition can affect a LOCAL mark. I.E when the mark is fished afterwards will it be noticably 'fished out' ?, will bait quantities be affected? will the ecosystem of the area be affected in the long to medium term ?
The topic is very specific so I don't really see the point in contrasting match angling to other approaches to angling or commercial fishing for that matter ???

you would be lucky with one fish in some of the leinster league comps so I think we are all doing our bit on the east coast to make sure no fish are fatally injured. perhaps we could change the rules in comps to "no hooks permitted" and see how that works.

you would be lucky with one fish in some of the leinster league comps so I think we are all doing our bit on the east coast to make sure no fish are fatally injured. perhaps we could change the rules in comps to "no hooks permitted" and see how that works.

1 hook competitions will solve all problems handy trace making'hand full of bait'

you would be lucky with one fish in some of the leinster league comps so I think we are all doing our bit on the east coast to make sure no fish are fatally injured. perhaps we could change the rules in comps to "no hooks permitted" and see how that works.

Sounds like it wouldn't make a whole pile of difference on the east coast whether ye used hooks or not

you would be lucky with one fish in some of the leinster league comps so I think we are all doing our bit on the east coast to make sure no fish are fatally injured. perhaps we could change the rules in comps to "no hooks permitted" and see how that works.

Sounds like it wouldn't make a whole pile of difference on the east coast whether ye used hooks or not