Illegal Bass Fishing

Just read this report on World Sea Fishing forum.... Ireland section.

heads up on future bassfishing in east cork
Just a heads up to anyone who fishes this area for bass or for anyone thinking of visiting.Just been informed that 2 weeks ago 17boxes of bass were unloaded in ballycotton,a further 6boxes last week and more nets have been set again tonight.These fish would have been taken from the ballybranigan/balyycroneen areas.
Fishery officers ,commercial ban on bass in ireland me eye

If it is true this is indeed very bad news

has it been confirmed theres nets out there now

Heard very similar story the other day but no suprise if you knew the people involved.Unfortunately the common consensous down here is that "salmon rule supreme" nuff said.Its been a slowly dying fishery in east cork and anyone who has fished it down through the years would agree and if they don't they should take the rose tinted glasses off.
An absolute disgrace especially since the dogs on the street know the culprits.Its gone past the old lack of manpower story from the fishery boards ,many an "honest" livelihood on the line now due 2 or 3 very greedy and selfish individuals.If the main culprit was properly fined and prosecuted then im sure it would send out a real message but it will never ever ever ever ever happen.
Last night there were nets-confirmed

For the people who spend time and money developing and promoting angling tourism in the area its a complete kick in the bollocks. Its very frustrating trying to develope a legal recreational fishery only to have it being undermined/destroyed on a regular basis by illegal activity.

Everybody should ring the fisheries board 1890 34 74 24. An email should also be sent. This is the only way to deal with this.

Maybe we need to track down whos buying them,rather than the poachers,a fish wholesaler or resteraunt wud have more to loose than the poacher

Some years ago I was in Easkey salmon fishing in late August after the salmon drift netting season finished.
I photographed three boats netting the bay and then rang the NW Fisheries Board and reported what was happening.
The reply was that the Inspector was off Donegal with the Navy on patrol and would not be back for five days. I informed them that they
could read about what was happening and see the picture in the national press, which I would be contacting on return home. The following day
two boats were apprehended by fisheries staff.

In the current climate all state agencies need to be performing their duties otherwise serious questions will be asked concerning waste of tax payers money, or more correctly money we have to borrow. The Fisheries Board should be told that evidence will be collected and the press tipped off.

It should also be remembered that under the Fisheries Act the Garda can search without a warrant eg:

1980 Fisheries Act
41. (b) at all reasonable times to enter upon and have free access to search—

(i) any premises in which fish is or is believed to be sold, or kept, exposed or stored for sale, or

(ii) any premises in which poison or explosive intended for the destruction of fish is or is believed to be kept, or

(iii) the premises of any person engaged in the business of carrying goods for reward, or

(iv) any aerodrome, pier, quay, wharf, jetty, dock or dock premises, or

(v) any ship, boat, aircraft, railway wagon, motor lorry, cart, or other vessel or vehicle used for the conveyance of goods;

We need to get more proactive on this issue but it is difficult because people living in a community do not want to provoke these thugs who will threaten their families.

Poaching seems to be a understatement for the area i would say massacour.Since 2007 this area has been hammered, at one stage the area was netted for about 4 to 5 months like the net was never pulled.Every time you go to the beach there it was and it had a devastating impact on the area.Now in the last 12 months has not seen as much netting activity and this year has seen a major increase in bass numbers and in the size.

Reading this now has me thinkng that its going to take a very long time for the area to recover now again.We can do plenty to conbat this netting but when the people doing the netting are a law on to them self what can you do.At this stage now something really has to be done to stop this activity or as they have said them selfs they will wipe the whole south coast out of bass .As for doing that wipeing the whole south coast out of bass there are doing a good job fair play men give them a few weeks and they will have achived that no problem.

Its difficult to know what to do really - its a shame.

[cortaz]

When i joined this site over 6 years back the same problums existed.....i said back then that the only way to get the C.F.B./I.F.I to act was to protest outside there head offices...............why dont few of us get together and orginise a protest outside the I.F.I head office in clonmel.....we av nothing to lose......and an lot to be gained............i b a man of the world and know first hand that,... Actions Speak louder...........
I also said that the C.F.B. shud be disbanded (and jailed ) most are farmers sons that havent a clue about fish or fishing............ask em. , how or why they were put in charge of fishery protection is a joke..............i know most of the officers in the S.R.F.B..............headless chickens/wasters/gyers..if anyone from C.F.B./I.F.I would like to comment on this?????????????? but they wont cos there wasters.
PROTESTS...................ONLY ANSWER.

Rant over,,,,,,,,,,,,for now

http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironm...n__6.12.08.pdf.

Last edited by cortaz on Mon Dec 12, 2011 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My experience in other fields is that tackling officialdom head on wont spur them into action, but public shame will. You do that by getting the media on your side. I'm sure the Examiner and others would run a story about how the greed of a ruthless few, and the lethargy of the fisheries people, is threatening to kill angling tourism on the south coast, with the consequent loss of income and jobs in B@Bs, hotels, pubs, shops etc etc etc.

If press and TV were alerted about the picket proposed by Cortaz, coupled with an email carpet-bombing of Ministers Coveney (fisheries) and Varadkar (tourism), it would stir things up.

When i joined this site over 6 years back the same problums existed.....i said back then that the only way to get the C.F.B./I.F.I to act was to protest outside there head offices...............why dont few of us get together and orginise a protest outside the I.F.I head office in clonmel.....we av nothing to lose......and an lot to be gained............i b a man of the world and know first hand that,... Actions Speak louder...........
I also said that the C.F.B. shud be disbanded (and jailed ) most are farmers sons that havent a clue about fish or fishing............ask em. , how or why they were put in charge of fishery protection is a joke..............i know most of the officers in the S.R.F.B..............headless chickens/wasters/gyers..if anyone from C.F.B./I.F.I would like to comment on this?????????????? but they wont cos there wasters.
PROTESTS...................ONLY ANSWER.

Rant over,,,,,,,,,,,,for now

http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironm...n__6.12.08.pdf.

Its good that people are getting emotional over the topic..it shows they care!!!

Why don`t you (cortaz) contact the CEO of the local Office...make your report and ask them what is happening to tackle the problem...then come back and report to us?....sounds like a better plan than sitting on the fence and making very general comments....what do you think?

My experience in other fields is that tackling officialdom head on wont spur them into action, but public shame will. You do that by getting the media on your side. I'm sure the Examiner and others would run a story about how the greed of a ruthless few, and the lethargy of the fisheries people, is threatening to kill angling tourism on the south coast, with the consequent loss of income and jobs in B@Bs, hotels, pubs, shops etc etc etc.

If press and TV were alerted about the picket proposed by Cortaz, coupled with an email carpet-bombing of Ministers Coveney (fisheries) and Varadkar (tourism), it would stir things up.


Great idea. If anybody on the site has contacts in the media maybe they could get them into action. The Examiner, the Echo, Dungarvan Leader or Observer, RTE, TV 3. Anybody got contacts?? If so I suggest that you use them. Get B&B's , hotels, etc involved.

can these not be sabotaged while in the water? couple of divers maybe?who happen to get tangled and have to cut there way out or a couple of lads practicing there grapple hook throwing that just happens to be attached to their jeep.where theres a will there is a way.

Funny you should mention that Derek

You have to be careful going this route though... The IFI use this method to remove nets at spring low water. I have reported a few nets this year and what I can't get over is that these poachers are mostly known as are the areas that they put the nets out..... Now I know it's difficult to catch a fella in the act and sometimes court prosecutions yield little. Simple solution and I can't for the life of me sea why the IFI, CFB, who ever don't just simply put a serious patrol effort in, remove and destroy every net found..... Simple, you make it not worth the effort for the poachers. If they are loosing valuable gear on a consistent basis, they will start to think twice

can these not be sabotaged while in the water? couple of divers maybe?who happen to get tangled and have to cut there way out or a couple of lads practicing there grapple hook throwing that just happens to be attached to their jeep.where theres a will there is a way.

story that's going around ,,the company,, read between the lines,,have the boats the manpower the fishing nets,,the government even gave them a grant of three quarts of a million,,so tell me who are we going to tell mr coveny ? fishon fishon

same old story with the CFB IFI.
on one hand they will say they can't remove the nets until they catch the culprits in the act. yet in the same breath they tell us they don't have the manpower or resources to stake out a net with a few officers until the offenders return to bring it in.
what a load of nonsense.
it's frightening to think that these are the people responsible for protecting the stocks.
mabey the "name and shame" idea is the way to go.
a bit of media publicity might get them to get off their lazy butts and actually do the job they are being paid to do

When they had the manpower & resources they still didnt do anything, grrrrrrrrr

Like a lot of things in this country not everything is what it appears to be - there are many hidden issues here.

When i joined this site over 6 years back the same problums existed.....i said back then that the only way to get the C.F.B./I.F.I to act was to protest outside there head offices...............why dont few of us get together and orginise a protest outside the I.F.I head office in clonmel.....we av nothing to lose......and an lot to be gained............i b a man of the world and know first hand that,... Actions Speak louder...........
I also said that the C.F.B. shud be disbanded (and jailed ) most are farmers sons that havent a clue about fish or fishing............ask em. , how or why they were put in charge of fishery protection is a joke..............i know most of the officers in the S.R.F.B..............headless chickens/wasters/gyers..if anyone from C.F.B./I.F.I would like to comment on this?????????????? but they wont cos there wasters.
PROTESTS...................ONLY ANSWER.

Rant over,,,,,,,,,,,,for now

http://www.friendsoftheirishenvironm...n__6.12.08.pdf.

Its good that people are getting emotional over the topic..it shows they care!!!

Why don`t you (cortaz) contact the CEO of the local Office...make your report and ask them what is happening to tackle the problem...then come back and report to us?....sounds like a better plan than sitting on the fence and making very general comments....what do you think?

Still waiting for someone invovled to take up my suggestion...meanwhile the comments become more one sided!!!