size limits

[Chris Mc]

I am continually dismayed to see the size of fish on disply in the larger supermarkets around the country. After trawling through the legislation I found the table below. I personally have seen bass and cod well below these figures.


S.I. No. 109/1976: UNDERSIZED SEA-FISH ORDER, 1976.
I, MICHAEL PAT MURPHY, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 225 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), and the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and Ministerial Functions) Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 83 of 1965) (as adapted by the Agriculture (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 146 of 1965)), and the Fisheries (Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order, 1973 (S.I. No. 93 of 1973), hereby order as follows:
1. This Order may be cited as the Undersized Sea-fish Order, 1976.
2. This Order shall come into operation on the 7th day of June, 1976.
3. (1) Each kind of sea-fish mentioned in the second column of the Schedule hereto which, when measured in the manner directed by sub-article (2) of this Article, is less in length than that specified in the third column of the said Schedule opposite the mention, in the said second column, of such kind of sea-fish shall be, for the purpose of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 (No. 14 of 1959), undersized.
(2) The length of each kind of sea-fish shall, for the purposes of this Article, be measured between the tip of the snout and the extreme end of the tail fin, or, if any portion of the snout or of the tail fin has been removed, between the extreme ends of the remaining portion of the snout and of the remaining portion of the tail fin.
4. The Undersized Sea-fish Order, 1951 (S.I. No. 44 of 1951), is hereby revoked.
SCHEDULE.


Ref. No.
(1) Kinds of Sea-fish.
(2) Minimum Length (3)

1 Cod (Gadus morhua) ... ...Centimetres 30
2 Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) ... 28
3 Hake (Merluccius merluccius) ... ... 30
4 Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) ... ... 25
5 Witches (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) ... 29
6 Lemon Soles (Microstomus kitt) ... ... 25
7 Soles (Solea solea) ... ... ... 24
8 Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) ... ... 30
9 Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) ... ... 30
10 Megrims (Lepidorhombus whiff) ... ... 25
11 Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) ... ... 25
12 Dabs (Limanda limanda) ... ... 23
13 Saithe (Pollachius virens) ... ... 30

[squalus]

A lot of supermarkets sell farmed fish.

Are they still governed by size limits ?

[ray]

no size limits on farmed fish they slaughter them at the most economical size

[x]

Any bass you see for sale in Ireland should be imported farmed bass, usually marked as being from Greece or the likes, about 36cm snout to tail. Anything else is likely to poached. Especially anything over that size.

If you feel that undersize fish, or fish protected by law, are being sold or served, drop a dime on them. Plenty contact numbers on this site.

[corbyeire]

Another fine example of legislation not worth the paper its written on

seen loads of plaice over the years under 25cm

very Sceptical as I am but good none the less to make people aware of the problem and to look out for it

[quarterflounder]

I do not get this...

If a fish is undersize (whether Bass, Plaice etc.) being SOLD in Ireland (by a fisherman, wholesaler, restaurant or shop is the law not being broken? And how can we prove farmed fish is being sold........

And what are Bass doing being sold in Ireland at all? I refused to eat Bass in the Ferrycarrig hotel in Wexford a few months ago and told them why.
I will not give my kids Cod fish fingers either - even though that is the only fish they will eat.

I love fish and that is my main reason for fishing but I put them back all the time, one for me and the rest go back - unless deep hooked or other.

[Ganoz]

Chris Mc, I used your letter to send an e-mail to my local supermarket who has a few boxes of undersized plaice and lemon sole on display every Thursday and Friday. I hope you don't mind, I'm French and I couldn't have worded it better, just added a few words like "Waterford" and "Tramore Road" to make it more personal...

[x]

Good on you. Every push at a toppling wall helps. Fortunately, some supermarkets seem to be wising up. Sainsbury's is the latest to take positive action on not selling endangered species. Keep up the good work.

[x]

On the same theme....

http://www.sea-angling-ireland.org/bull ... php?t=4933

[Ganoz]

If any of you have a few seconds to spare... The e-mail is manager.waterford@superquinn.ie


Dear sir, Madam,

I am continually dismayed to see the size of fish on display in your
Waterford supermarket. Please take a look at the applicable piece of
legislation below. I personally have seen plaice and lemon sole for
sale in your shop (repeatedly) well below these figures.


S.I. No. 109/1976: UNDERSIZED SEA-FISH ORDER, 1976.
I, MICHAEL PAT MURPHY, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Agriculture and Fisheries, in exercise of the powers conferred on me
by section 225 of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 (No. 14 of
1959), and the Fisheries (Transfer of Departmental Administration and
Ministerial Functions) Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 83 of 1965) (as adapted
by the Agriculture (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of
Minister) Order, 1965 (S.I. No. 146 of 1965)), and the Fisheries
(Delegation of Ministerial Functions) Order, 1973 (S.I. No. 93 of
1973), hereby order as follows:
1. This Order may be cited as the Undersized Sea-fish Order, 1976.
2. This Order shall come into operation on the 7th day of June, 1976.
3. (1) Each kind of sea-fish mentioned in the second column of the
Schedule hereto which, when measured in the manner directed by
sub-article (2) of this Article, is less in length than that specified
in the third column of the said Schedule opposite the mention, in the
said second column, of such kind of sea-fish shall be, for the purpose
of the Fisheries (Consolidation) Act, 1959 (No. 14 of 1959),
undersized.
(2) The length of each kind of sea-fish shall, for the purposes of
this Article, be measured between the tip of the snout and the extreme
end of the tail fin, or, if any portion of the snout or of the tail
fin has been removed, between the extreme ends of the remaining
portion of the snout and of the remaining portion of the tail fin.
4. The Undersized Sea-fish Order, 1951 (S.I. No. 44 of 1951), is
hereby revoked.
SCHEDULE.


Ref. No.
(1) Kinds of Sea-fish.
(2) Minimum Length (3)

1 Cod (Gadus morhua) ... ...Centimetres 30
2 Haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) ... 28
3 Hake (Merluccius merluccius) ... ... 30
4 Plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) ... ... 25
5 Witches (Glyptocephalus cynoglossus) ... 29
6 Lemon Soles (Microstomus kitt) ... ... 25
7 Soles (Solea solea) ... ... ... 24
8 Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) ... ... 30
9 Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) ... ... 30
10 Megrims (Lepidorhombus whiff) ... ... 25
11 Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) ... ... 25
12 Dabs (Limanda limanda) ... ... 23
13 Saithe (Pollachius virens) ... ... 30

Regards,

[corbyeire]

any response ganoz?

[John D]

I sent an e-mail today. However, because I am from Dublin I just added 'dismayed to hear of the size of the fish....'

John D

[coaster]

I just sent it also. Made a few small changes just to personalize it.

[John D]

I got an undeliverable message back???

John D

[Ganoz]

no answer yet...

[Ganoz]

but your man must have received about 20 e-mails so far, not including yours lads

[Ganoz]

Got a reply!

Sir,
Having received your e-mail concerning the size of fish in my store, I took
two immediate actions.
1. Plaice on sale was measured as per specification and was found to be over
the required 25 centimeters.(LEMON SOLE WAS NOT AVAILABLE)
2. I contacted our supplier who has assured me that ALL seafood delivered to
our store is fully compliant with the 1976 legislation.

A most unusual enquiry I must say! In fact I received three quoting the same
legislation in the one day!

Regards,
Enda O'Reilly,
Manager.


To which I replied:


Dear Enda,

thank you very much for your quick reply. This is certainly an unusual enquiry but you will understand that with serious overfishing and dwindling fish stocks customers will become more aware of what is being sold to them. Prehaps I should have taken pictures on the 3 or 4 occasions when the fish was clearly undersize, but I am satisfied you will monitor this issue more closely in the future.

Best regards,

[x]

See? Write enough letters/emails and eventually we get somewhere.....

[Chris Mc]

I have also had similar replys from Tesco. They won't admit to selling under size fish but if we remain vigilent and bring it to the attention of management when we come across clearly undersize fish it can only help.

Keep up the good work

[John D]

That was a nice reply back to the manager Ganoz!
John D