Are all farmed bass still small in length?

[John D]

Hi.

I was just wondering if anyone knows if all farmed bass are still small in length?

The reason I ask is because someone I know witnessed a white van delivering two boxes of bass to staff of a cruise ship in the Dublin docklands area.

Apparently some of the bass were about 60cm in length from nose to tail.

This immediately raised my suspicion that these bass may have been poached.

What are your thoughts on this?

Regards,
John D.

[Sweetwrasse]

I've never seen a bass of that size for sale. Couldn't definitively say if they are farmed to that size but it does arouse suspicion.

[John D]

since you asked for someone's opinion,
i think this is a daft conspiracy theory

farmed bass are very cheap and readily available,
nobody could possibly make money sneaking round and trying to net them,
even if they could, why would any legitimate business engage in a criminal conspiracy for buttons
doesn't make any sense at all, since you asked

[beachbuddy]

since you asked for someone's opinion,
i think this is a daft conspiracy theory

farmed bass are very cheap and readily available,
nobody could possibly make money sneaking round and trying to net them,
even if they could, why would any legitimate business engage in a criminal conspiracy for buttons
doesn't make any sense at all, since you asked

Nobody in Ireland has to net farmed bass as they are "allegedly" imported from abroad!Farmed bass are generally grown to well "under" 60cm so as to keep input costs to a minimum and increase profit margins.Growing bass to 60cm for export would cost too much and basically take way too long to make a business viable,so in my opinion this topic isn't a daft conspiracy theory but a genuine "strange" observation and well worth following up on if possible.Just my opinion on the subject.

[hugo]

Could be they were bycatch wild bass from a trawler, being sold on the quiet instead of discarded as required.

[bogwoppit]

How big is a 60cm bass?

A quick search for farmed bass threw up this page;
http://www.culmarex.com/en/culmárex-imperial®-seabream-and-seabass
1.5kg bass, how long would that be?

[John D]

you cant be serious, the management of a big operation like a cruise ship are going to take the time to contact
some crook somewhere, set up appointment organise cash etc, be known as criminals to their staff
then there is a man who buys a van, puts fuel in it, pays somebody to drive it for the day,
and all because they can undercut the trade price for farmed bass
wouldnt be buying shares in that myself

[John D]

you cant be serious, the management of a big operation like a cruise ship are going to take the time to contact
some crook somewhere, set up appointment organise cash etc, be known as criminals to their staff
then there is a man who buys a van, puts fuel in it, pays somebody to drive it for the day,
and all because they can undercut the trade price for farmed bass
wouldnt be buying shares in that myself

All they'd need is a local fish dealer, I'd be fairly confident they have these in every port they stop.

A quick look on the Internet threw up a couple of links showing farms sell them to about 1.5kg, how long would that be?

[jw]

Total length (cms) weight (lb)
40 1 lb 8 oz
44 2 lb
51 3 lb
53 3 lb 8 oz
56 4 lb
58 4 lb 8 oz
60 5 lb
62 5 lb 8 oz
64 6 lb
66 6 lb 8 oz
69 7 lb 8 oz
71 8 lb
72 8 lb 6 oz
73 8 lb 12 oz
74 9 lb 2 oz
75 9 lb 8 oz
76 9 lb 14 oz
77 10 lb 5 oz
78 10 lb 11 oz
79 11 lb
80 11 lb 8 oz
81 12 lb
82 12lb 8oz

[hugo]

Anything and everything is available QT through the "legitimate" fish trade, they could have been given as "specials" to encourage future business.

[jw]

you seemed to have moved the theory on a bit, from that somebody sold illegal
bass out of the back of a van to a cruise ship to a new theory, that the whole
fish processing and distribution business are crooks, selling illegally anything
and everything, fairly big allegation?

[hugo]

In my younger days I was in the commercial side (52fter in Galway) and witnessed what went on. Later I lived in Co Waterford and it was much the same there. I doubt if it's changed much since, probably worse. Insider trading is not confined to banking and finance.

[jw]

there are well over 4000 people employed in fish processing and ancillary activities, you cant be saying they are all crooks
if you were to set up a distribution business, tell all your suppliers you want to buy illegal bass and anything
else illegal, tell all your customers you are a crook selling black market goods, nobody would deal with you
they would think, this guy will get done by the police or the revenue or simply do a runner some day,
or maybe he will just decided to default on us. Anyway, the main reason i dont believe the original theory
is that there's no money to be made.

[John D]

Thanks for all the opinions guys. I haven't got a clue what went on to be honest. That's why I asked for opinions. I think jw slightly misunderstood what I was talking about.

The thing that made it suspicious was that all the 'normal' fish went on to the ship prior to the small shipment of bass. There were boxes of other fish. The other fish was delivered in such numbers that it was obviously going to be on the menu for the cruiser clients.

The bass shipment was so small that it couldn't possibly have covered as an option on the menu.

Thus my contact's suspicion - it looked very like (but can't be proved) a small little token or gesture i.e. thanks for your business now here's a little something for the captain - get some of this lovely wild Irish bass into you. How many cruise ship captains would know or be aware of Irish bass legislation? There are many anglers in Ireland that don't even know the legislation.

Anyway there's probably little that can be done about it now.

Thanks again for the input.

Regards,
John D.