BASS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES???????

Dear all,

are we fighting in a battle we cant win? every angler is educated on the importance of catch and release especially in respect of the bass, most anglers will now take a photo and put the fish back in the light of mind that it just might spawn and add to the stock.

but although we are all educated on this fact the general public is not.

the number of restuarants through out ireland is increasing and every single restaurant ive been in in the last year has had bass on the menu. were are they all coming from?
as the numbers of restuarants grow so will the demand for bass as it is one of the tastiest fish in the ocean.
it will lead to a situation were supply will not be able to meet demand. now this will have two really negative effects on the bass stocks. one the stocks will really deplete and two the value of a bass will increase,
if the price was to increase due to low stock levels this may see even more people target bass because they would be worth there weight in gold.

the major under lining point i am trying to get across is that if we do not draw the attention of the general public to the topic of bass conservation then we may kiss the bass good bye.

people know that elephants are indangered and if they saw elephant steak on a menu im sure the majority wouldnt buy it purely because its indangered.

could the same be said about the bass?


your views please

your dead right samo - thats exactly what i was saying in the post i made - the bass is turning up everywhere - what is fuelling this demand etc.

i suppose the main factor would probable be the amount of disposalble income people have now a days, if you were a bit tight for cash i dont think you would be letting the girl friend order the steak of POACHED bass i think it would be more like stick to the bread sticks love. i think the restaurant owners know this as well that we have more money to spend now due to the celtic tiger and that we dont really look that hard any more at prices and if we are getting the real worth of our euro. you see the restaurant owner doesnt mind once he makes his money if the bass disapears he will repalce it with an other species maybe mullet the way things are goin, and the person who catches the fish " ive stopped calling them fisher men" he doesnt mind either because they are only in for the quick penny they dont really care about future generations of "fisher men" and what stocks they will catch.

the other thing is that i dont really think that any political party besides the green would take this argument on board because its quit contentous it it might upset to many people.

i suppose its up to us to really do something i know i wont be ever ordering bass form a menu again. and ill try and spread the word on how indangered this species really is

agree with you samo

on another note the reply i was talking about in my last post - was one in reports on the topic of trawling in ballgally


i thought i had posted that here in conservation - just in case your confused :oops:

I have seen undersized bass in my local supermarket and after a conversation with the manager i found out that they are farmed bass, as they are easier to get than wild bass not to mention less expensive. in other words the restaurants could be passing farmed bass off as the real thing and pocketing a few extra quid. i personally wont buy bass at all and only take a odd for the pot, only after it has reached spawning size.

i think those farmed bass are mediterean bass they look very simualr to our bass but there not, also the size limit to sell a mediterean bass is much smaller than our size limit, the next time your in tesco ask are they atlantic bass or meditereanian and see what they say. but to be honest i wouldnt even say they would know

no the lads behind the counter are usually clueless - and have to look themselves when you ask at the price sign to see if it says farmed etc.

that true, that's why i asked the manager and he didn't know where they came just that they were farmed. they even import cod and haddock and its hard to get. PS its not Tescos.

Lads,
I was in my local butchers ( A well known butcher franchise ) in blanchardstown two weeks ago and they had "fresh fish from Howth", they had sold out of Bass as it was the evening, I asked the chap behind the counter what size and he told me 1-2 Ib in wieght. When asked he ensured me that they were Irish caught and sourced from Howth. Hmmm.... It was then I told him about the bylaws etc. and he had no idea and said he would check it out. I will be heading back there this friday to see what he says and if they still have them.
My local labour TD gave allot of feedback and support during the recent driftnet fiasco, I had sent her a few mails regarding the matter. I would love to send off a letter regarding Bass and how they could be endangered a few years from now, but like the salmon, scientific advice would go along way to support pleasure anglers and concervationists views. Acording the the fisheries board bass are making a comeback, this just paves the way for comercials to catch them. Samo, hit the nail on the head on the first post, somehow the public needs to be made aware of the damage to our wildlife and enviroment, but do they really care???

i would also note that bass are makin a come back ive caught more bass this year than i have in the last 10 years, why because there have been some restriction put in place, but we need to keep these restrictions in place and not just let the government change then because there has been a small increase,

my da told me before that dublin bay was a great aera for fishin he said that there was a ban on commercial trawlers trawling and that if you were to fish ringsend you would always catch bass and plaice, then some mongo t.d to gain some extra votes let the trawlers into the bay and they rip it appart, a few fisher men tried to stop them by driving cars out onto the sand flats and leaving them there to snag the trawlers but they got arrested,

so what im really trying to say is, if there is something good in place which is giving rise to an increase in stock numbers we must do everything we can to keep it in place.

When I first started fishing 30 odd years ago catching a bass was a big thing even among hardcore anglers. Until I stopped fishing in my late teens I rarely targeted bass but in those years I did catch about one per year. The thrill of it never left me.
This year I caught another and the thrill was so strong that it is highlight of my fishing this year. My point is that I have a four year old son and I want to share this with him in the future and to do this there have to be bass to catch, so I am in favour of anything that preserves our bass population for future anglers.
Speech over,
Derek

there is much mis information in the above thread. anyone interested in becoming members of the Irish Bass Protection Society please pm myself or any of the other members.

i wouldnt mind becoming a member of the Irish Bass Protection Society as to learn more on current stock figures and the strenght of the stock id also like to learn exactly what is being done to protect the stock and what i could contribute to help preserve it.

regards,

Samo.