Bass being commercially exploited again!?

just looking at the list of signatures on the petition seems desmond tutu, ken dodd, micheal owen, jessica rabbit and her good friend rampant rabbit are getting pretty stirred up about the subject

A member of the World Sea Fishing forum called 'SandTiger' (How about Desmond Tutu, I've just added him at number 279?) was responsible for putting up the piss take names.


Real Mature Lad ..

i do not post much on angling but bass stocks are for every angler .may be a poster in angling shops to show other anglers not just sea anglers .when the rod licence despite was on a lot of sea anglers supported .i have signed ,if their is nee for finical support i am willing to help as we are in the angling industry.

John D

I'm not really sure what the FIF are saying, and I think that's the problem. They probably don't really know themselves.

I think they are saying the stock is healthy, so lets exploit it. So as well as getting that wrong there's the regulation issues.

I agree with you any bass on an Irish boat could conceivably have been caught offshore- proving it isn't would impossible.

In one sweep of the pen by the Minister he'll have opened up both inshore and offshore stocks to commercial fishing.

just had a look, seems that Zippy,George And Bungle are taking an interest too. this is just taking the pi$$. whats the point in doing a petition if people are just gonna make a mockery of it. imagine sending it all off to the ministers with names like that on it. they'd probably laugh and fling it in the bin.

I posted links to the petition on BASS web site and WSF. On the WSF site there is a small band of people opposed to anything to do with recreational sea angling if it tries to give anglers a say in how fisheries are managed. They thought it appropriate to try and spoil this petition. Thay are commercial fisherman in the main. I appologise for bringing it to their attention however many other genuine and concerned individuals signed up. I am pleased to see you have edited out their responses as I did wonder if my well intentioned actions had backfired!

Remember letters carry far more weight than a name on a petition. As a UK angler who visits Ireland twice a year to bass fish I find the proposal a source of obvious concern. I have writen.

Matt

I posted links to the petition on Bass web site and WSF

Good job Matt, that's exactly what we need. To get to as many people as we can.

Does anyone of you know if this issue was raised in Irish Angler? I wrote an email to David Dinsmore yesterday to check and see if he and Irish Angler can help us out in any way.

Again, for convenience of the ones that are just catching up with the topic:

Link to the petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sbbce/

Emails to ministers:
eamon.ryan@dcenr.gov.ie; conor.lenihan@dcenr.gov.ie; brendan.smith@agriculture.gov.ie; trevor.sargent@agriculture.gov.ie; tony.killeen@agriculture.gov.ie; martin.cullen@dast.gov.ie

Email template: (Please put your own subject line.)

To all the above ministers,

I urge you all, to please do all that you can within your powers to reject the recent proposals from the Federation of Irish Fishermen to allow Irish commercial fishing vessels to target sea Bass and land it when caught in offshore waters.

Irish sea Bass are only now starting to make a slight recovery since the introduction of the Bass bye laws some 19 years ago.

Irish sea Bass are slow growing fish. They are a hugely sought after sport fish that attract tourists both home and abroad. Surely the combination of tourism being so important and the fact that so many other sea fish stocks having already been depleted should be enough to leave this precious sport fish in its current protected state.

Yours faithfully,

There are already serious lessons to be learned here - in many ways! Least of all the singular ability and willingness of some to disrupt very simply, a valid attempt to do something constructive in angling.

An open forum is an OPEN forum - forums demonstrate no responsibilities to anyone or anything -hence issues of a serious matter can never be discussed openly. Think inside the box.

Interesting JimH - very interesting indeed. The truth too unfortunately. It does make things that little bit more difficult to get done though. Then again, if something's really that worth doing, it's worth doing right!

John D.

not sure if this is mentioned in another topic...........but it looks like an important petition for us anglers to sign up to

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sbbce/

I think that you are only partially right JimH (or partially wrong ). In my opinion this needs to be discussed in public as otherwise how do you want to get enough audience? How you want to get a critical mass of anglers to actually act and make the difference? Going open is the only way to advertise the issue and advertise that bunch of people actually is willing to act.

In such a situations there always going to be someone who would try to disrupt other’s efforts. Well.. firstly, that’s OK as long as they malicious activity can be easily remediated (like in this case). Secondly, sometimes when you can observe their increased activity it might mean that you actually going in the right direction.

@patk, did you got any luck with setting up the meeting with Dan Boyle?

Hi guys i havent said it to Dan yet. I will if people want to do that. I know he would meet he owes me one but i think for it to have an impact could people commit to coming to cork or dublin to meet him? Who? I believe a cross section of people with knowledge and facts about the ban and the likely consequences. People like jimh padge 73 graham hill kevin brain etc who are dependent on it for their livelihood and know the world of this fish inside out remember he would have to be educated on the matter . A representative of the hotel b&b industry. Someone with a knowledge of marine biology. A proper delegation with every aspect of this subject covered. I promise to set up a meeting once i know that people thinkits a good idea and want to attend

just looking at the list of signatures on the petition seems desmond tutu, ken dodd, micheal owen, jessica rabbit and her good friend rampant rabbit are getting pretty stirred up about the subject

A member of the World Sea Fishing forum called 'SandTiger' (How about Desmond Tutu, I've just added him at number 279?) was responsible for putting up the piss take names.


Real Mature Lad ..

Many thanks Danny M, obviously the point was lost on you...

So I'll spell it out for you. The epetition is meaningless due to the fact that any old noddy can sign it, any number of times from a singular email account. Do you really think your politicians are going to take any more notice of a dodgy epetition than they are of a email template that they repeatedly receive, ad nauseam?

Hope that helps

The epetition is meaningless

Do you have better ideas? Please share them with us or at least put your point of view on the issue here.

[SandTiger]

The epetition is meaningless

Do you have better ideas? Please share them with us or at least put your point of view on the issue here.

Hi Tommy

Firstly it might be just helpful to know just exactly how Ireland's inshore fisheries will be effected by allowing commercial operations to take place in offshore waters?

Also, given that the IUCN Red List class them as least threatened at http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist ... s/135606/0, why should commercial operators not target them?

You'll also note that Dicentrarchus labrax first spawn between 4-7 years which does not exactly classify them as "slow growing" as stated in your template.

Last edited by SandTiger on Sun Jan 17, 2010 1:24 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hi Tiggs,

Welcome to SAI!!

Bass in Ireland equals controversy so you'll love this thread

Hey, SandTiger, thanks for your post – it’s certainly more constructive than typing crap in the petition

I would love to see more opinions about IUCN Red List as I think you made good point there. I bet that this can be subject for separate topic. I’m not sure how reliable this list is. Let’s take bluefin tuna. It’s still in ‘data deficient’ status which means that probably it will be moved straight to ‘extinct’ from there.

how Ireland's inshore fisheries will be effected by allowing commercial operations to take place in offshore

I’m pretty sure that the strongest argument here is that allowing seabass being landed at all means that fishermen going to take them anywhere – most likely in inshore waters (savings on fuel costs) as there is next to none enforcement of regulations. Seabass was severely depleted once and I’m afraid that this could happen again very easily.

Nevertheless I appreciate the fact that this is just talking and we need hard evidence to support our efforts.

Hey, SandTiger, thanks for your post – it’s certainly more constructive than typing crap in the petition

I would love to see more opinions about IUCN Red List as I think you made good point there. I bet that this can be subject for separate topic. I’m not sure how reliable this list is. Let’s take bluefin tuna. It’s still in ‘data deficient’ status which means that probably it will be moved straight to ‘extinct’ from there.

Check the status of the Eastern Atlantic Stock at http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/21865/0 where it is shown as Endangered based on assessment data from 1996. You will also be aware that one of the driving factor behind Article 47 was to prevent Blue Fin Tuna fisheries in the Med. However the assessment on European Sea Bass is dated 2008 and the IUCN Red List is viewed, rightly or wrongly, as an extremely reliable source.

how Ireland's inshore fisheries will be effected by allowing commercial operations to take place in offshore

I’m pretty sure that the strongest argument here is that allowing seabass being landed at all means that fishermen going to take them anywhere – most likely in inshore waters (savings on fuel costs) as there is next to none enforcement of regulations. Seabass was severely depleted once and I’m afraid that this could happen again very easily.

Nevertheless I appreciate the fact that this is just talking and we need hard evidence to support our efforts.

Forgive my ignorance, but is there a complete ban on commercially landing Sea Bass in Ireland?

Hi Tiggs,

Welcome to SAI!!

Bass in Ireland equals controversy so you'll love this thread

Hello Jim

I hope all is well and you made merry with the festive season

I would love to see more opinions about IUCN Red List as I think you made good point there.

See also - http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/c ... l/64/2/346

Forgive my ignorance, but is there a complete ban on commercially landing Sea Bass in Ireland?

That is correct. It is also prohibited to sell or offer to sell and serve in restaurants Irish seabass. The ones you can find are only farmed ones (let's keep outside of this discussion for the moment issues with fish farming).

That is correct. It is also prohibited to sell or offer to sell and serve in restaurants Irish seabass. The ones you can find are only farmed ones (let's keep outside of this discussion for the moment issues with fish farming).

So what happens to the Bass that Irish commercially registered vessels catch?