Why do people kill undersized bass?

IFI response from query I made. My reading is that the close season remains in force and you may not fish for bass between May 15th and June 15th

Hi John,

As you are aware the EU has imposed new regulations pertaining to Bass and these have not yet been transposed into Irish law. The current state of the nation also means that time frames around amending regulations are a little unclear and it is our parent body the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources that actively manages new regulations for angling and these need to be drafted by the relevant section of the office of parliamentary counsel.



It is my understanding that any regulation to address the Bass issue will need to be done by Statutory Instrument. – as these are national byelaws.

There will need in my view to be two S.I.’s one that addresses the two halves of the year – i.e. January to June catch and release and July to December and to permit the retention of only one Bass in a 24 hour period in the second half of the year.



The second regulation would need to address the proposed size limit for the one fish that can be retained and this is proposed to be 50 cms. – which is more conservation than the requirement of 42 cms set down by Europe but in line with the existing adopted Inland Fisheries Ireland bass policy – this can be found on the IFI website.



In this case the existing byelaw 368 will have to be revoked – this will remove the current 2 fish bag limit as well as the existing close season.



That is my understanding of the position of these regulations.

I trust this answers your query.

Regards

Greg Forde



Greg Forde

Ceann na n-Oibríochtaí
Head of Operations

When a chap says "this is my understanding of the position" I suppose that this cannot be regarded as IFI's definitive statement?

When a chap says "this is my understanding of the position" I suppose that this cannot be regarded as IFI's definitive statement?

I've sent an email to the department querying all this
Inland.Fisheries@dcenr.gov.ie

'Morons' springs to mind...

Now that the bass MLS is being increased to 50cm perhaps IFI should consider banning spear fishing for this endangered species.

Now that the bass MLS is being increased to 50cm perhaps IFI should consider banning spear fishing for this endangered species.

It would be a great move although I could not see it happen!
IMHO IFI should bring a slot size for bass, say 50cm-60cm and anything above or below should be released. That said, the bass policy document is around since 2014 and the 50cm has not been brought in yet. IFI are meant to be reviewing the policy.... maybe they'll think of a slot size!

Now that the bass MLS is being increased to 50cm perhaps IFI should consider banning spear fishing for this endangered species.

It would be a great move although I could not see it happen!
IMHO IFI should bring a slot size for bass, say 50cm-60cm and anything above or below should be released. That said, the bass policy document is around since 2014 and the 50cm has not been brought in yet. IFI are meant to be reviewing the policy.... maybe they'll think of a slot size!

That's something I totally agree with.
I would be happy to put them all back TBH