Long-lived Bass

[Bradan]

Was at a conference today and there was a talk on bass by Ed Fahy of the Marine Institute - some of you may have read his book about sea trout called Child of the Tides...
Very interesting talk, lots of stuff such as why bass are found more on the south coast (temperature related), where they spawn (apparently with southern English and Welsh bass off the Cornish coast), recruitment and growth rates, etc.
Apparently the year class of 1989 ( :shock: ) was very strong, and those fish are just reaching specimen size now, 17 years later. They can live to 25 or so! So that 10lbs fish of a lifetime that you catch could be 20 years old.... all the more reason to conserve these great fish and keep the commercial ban in place... and all the more reason to put back that teenager you caught :D

[JimH]

With the significant cost of angling equipment, transport to and from venues and long hours spent in preparation, plus the uncertainties of success why should any angler practice catch and release? My personal feeling is that apart from the legal requirements placed on anglers there are a number of good reasons why anglers should adopt the practice of catch and release and return many fish alive and healthy to the sea. It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight.

Many of the species that can be caught from the Irish shoreline or from a small boat with normal fishing tackle that are reasonably edible, offer an unquestionably large and most probably a growing recreational fishery. The increasing commercial and poaching pressure plus increasing recreational activity on many species has led to many venues experiencing a lot of anglers but simply no fish! So what’s happened? An enlightened fisheries management policy is one that does more than just managing the regulations regarding the catching of fish within that fishery i.e. size, number and seasons. It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight. And herein lies a problem of resources. To manage means control, direct, maintain, improve and protect. All of the fishery officers that I have encountered from the ERFB strive in their daily jobs to achieve many of these things, the fact is, they simply cant, and they are under resourced.

On two occasions this summer I have felt compelled to contact the ERFB fisheries officer in relation to illegal bass fishing. I reported both instances as they were happening and the response from the officers in both occasions was swift and timely and corresponded to what I had witnessed. And this is where the officers need support, and information - as it happens and not post event. They cannot respond all of the time but as you and I witness what’s happening and report it regularly and instantly something must give.

So as significant commercial and poaching pressure increases and government agencies are often under resourced what is to happen? I feel that as anglers we must begin to think of making a greater contribution to conservation and some ‘management’ of the resources we have in any way possible and as best we can. Remember these are limited resources. It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight. So if you see or witness a knocked down fence, rubbish and litter, illegal poaching, trawling within 100 metres of the shore - do something. By someone continuously taking mature breeding fish illegally or other wise from a locality it effectively removes this resource for other anglers. By not back filling bait trenches they create a hole that someone can fall into. By leaving discarded line and hooks on the shore we create traps for birds and others. Respect for wildlife however small is paramount. This does not in any way demonise anglers or indeed anglers who retain fish within the legal limits. But I would like my son of five years of age to catch a ten-pound bass when he’s thirty.
It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight.
I would like him to think that amidst the time of plenty early in 21st century, modern progressive Ireland, that we did something other than think of getting rich quick and we didn’t let ego get in the way of preservation and conservation!
It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight.
Ireland and its government at least understands the benefits of the legal restrictions placed on our number one saltwater ‘sports fish’ the Sea Bass, and that support provides endless hours of enjoyment for many anglers. Its socio economic factors must also be considerable and immensely valuable. But emerging data suggest that Irish bass, for reasons we do not fully understand, are more vulnerable than their British/continental equivalents. They have not in recent years enjoyed such strong year classes as have been recorded closer to continental Europe and the species' abundance remains depressed. It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight. But there continues to exist a black market in the trade of illegal bass. Everybody knows it’s going on.
If we are to foster conservation ‘ethics’ then a ‘catch and release’ policy must become even more popular amongst anglers than it is already. By ‘catch and release’ I mean much more than returning fish. We must learn the impacts of over fishing and learn to change our ways to help reduce these impacts. We must learn to respect all of the limited natural resources that we so often take for granted. Wherever we see an opportunity to act we must surely do it. Rather than ‘acknowledging the goings on’, rather than giving out about the rubbish, rather than been frustrated about run-off and unsuitable building – do something, say something. The next time you don’t it will only get worse. It takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight.
This of course applies to the commercial aspect of fishing also. The Atlantic salmon is surely an example of this and all anglers I’m sure share in this extremely frustrating situation.

I would like to make some suggestions regarding the best methods for practising catch and release that might help to preserve some species,
· Tackle – Ensure the tackle is matched to your quarry. Playing a fish like a tope to near exhaustion merely results in a later death from oxygen deprivation. Shorten the fight time to reduce stress
· Hooks- Use barbless hooks or hooks with the barbs flattened. This will minimise the time spent trying to remove hooks from a fish out or indeed semi submerged in water. It also reduces the effort in trying to extract the hook from the fish.
· Deep hooking – When bait fishing try and avoid letting the fish swallow the hook too deeply, strike early if you can.
· Handling Fish – always try and leave the fish in water while you are removing hooks, if this is not possible use hands that are wet and try to avoid removing excess slime from the fish as this helps him avoid infection. Never touch the gill area if possible.
· Reviving fish- if a fish needs reviving hold him by the tail facing into the current. Let the water flowing over him re-oxygenate his gills. Support him for as long as necessary in this fashion, once recovered he will swim away confidently. Avoid dropping fish back to the sea.
The benefits of catch and release have been demonstrated on many occasions.
· As much as 98% of carefully released fish will survive the experience.
· As much as 85% of multiple captured fish will continue to survive the encounter
· A recent study in Florida amongst Biologists and volunteer anglers found that 98% of snook caught and released survived the experience. Of the eleven snook that died in the field tests, most had been deep hooked or caught with hooks with barbs.
· Returning a fish permits continued breeding and spawning of the species.
· If you kill and keep a trophy fish it means others can never experience that thrill of capture and the pleasure of release.

If bass and indeed other species are to survive in Irish waters, it will require continued protection from illegal commercial fishing, poaching and recreational overkill. These fish require our help and as anglers, naturalists and conservationists we must provide that help as best we can.
Limiting your kill rather than killing your limit ensures a brighter future for the species and for future generations of young, would be sport fishermen
And remember it takes approximately 25 years for a sea bass to reach ten pounds weight.

Jim Hendrick

[corbyeire]

well done jim, 25 years 10 pounds - think ill remember that now

[Leon Roskilly]

Bass arrive in the inshore nursery areas in their planktonic stage, and stay there for the next 4 or 5 years until they reach maturity at 42-45cm (around 2lbs).

They then head off to the spawning grounds, spreading out along the coast and into deeper water on their return.

The younger bass tend to be nomadic, but soon become localised to a particular area.

Interestingly, they shoal together for life, the shoal becoming smaller as members succumb to the dangers of the ocean and the nets.

So, as individual fish become bigger, so the shoal that they inhabit becomes smaller.

In recent years, large bass have had a reputation of becoming solitary.

They are not, it's just that they are likely to be the sole survivor of what many years before would have been a much bigger shoal.

(The advice used to be that if you landed a big bass, get your bait/lure out again quickly because there was sure to be other big bass there to be caught, but that advice no longer holds good).

Because fish become localised, when someone discovers a place inhabited by specimen fish, and tells his mates, it doesn't take too long before they are gone, and anglers/netsmen will be heard to say, "you use d to get big bass there, but strangely no longer".

Because they are slow growing, it's just that it will take nature a decade or more to populate that area with fish of the quality that were removed.

Another slow growing fish that tends to become local are mullet.

And mullet grow more slowly than bass, taking ten years to reach 3lb in the colder waters of these isles. And it's at ten years old that female mullet first spawn.

Again if you find a place holding large mullet, it's best to keep quite about it, returning fish to be caught again when larger.

In those places where mullet are taken, it's rare to come across fish of any great size.

The value of big fish is that they produce far more spawn than early spawners, and their fry tend to be more viable than the fry of smaller specimens, and more likely to grow to become larger fish themselves.

[John D]

That's very interesting Leon about the bigger fish producing more and better spawn. And please everybody take note of this and all that Jim H. has said. Excellent words Jim. This may sound a bit over the top but your words brought shivers to my spine. You've just motivated an extreme conservationist to become a bigger conservationist.

John D.

[John D]

P.S.

Sorry Leon it's me again. The reason I found your point about bigger fish producing bigger and more spawn very interesting and extremely informative is because I have often confronted people about killing big bass and other fish but they say "ah sure they've done all their spawning". Thanks to you I will now be armed with a defensive fact.

Thanks,
John D.

[coaster]

Hello all.
Maybe I'm missing something here but if

Quote
Very interesting talk, lots of stuff such as why bass are found more on the south coast (temperature related), where they spawn (apparently with southern English and Welsh bass off the Cornish coast), recruitment and growth rates, etc.

Then why do we have a closed season on our beaches to allow them to spawn :?:

[corbyeire]

to let them go and spawn over there - or is your question that the ones still here arent spawning?!

in either case i assume both groups are spawning those here and those that travel - cant imagine the total population going to spawn there

[corbyeire]

should have said total spawning population

[John D]

Good point,

I guess corbyeire's point is fairly valid. I'm sure a certain amount of bass spawn around the Irish coast. Perhaps someone could confirm this?

John D.

[coaster]

To put a finer point on my question. If the bass go away to spawn then the bass on our beaches are
1) not ready to spawn
2) have already spawned
3) not sexually mature
so why stop fishing for them

[corbyeire]

will be interesting if someone can confirm this :D

[teacher]

If I understand correctly, the bass population in Ireland does not intermingle with bass from either Britain or the continent.

This short article is quite interesting:
http://www.marine.ie/industry+services/ ... apr+03.pdf

This is why conservation is so important in Ireland. Our bass grow slowly and mature later because of the colder water. If our stocks become depleted, which they are, they won't be replinished from foreign stocks.

(Although Cortaz mentioned (off line) seeing some slightly different bass appearing on the south coast :?:)

Jonathan

[teacher]

I guess corbyeire's point is fairly valid. I'm sure a certain amount of bass spawn around the Irish coast. Perhaps someone could confirm this?

I believe so, and in some numbers, but Jim H is the expert.

Ladle & Vaughn ("Hooked on Bass") opens with a description of bass spawning. Have to read it again.