Sandmans Fish Conservation Letter

"Many of our commercial trawling fleet will trawl close inshore, seeking to scrape up what few fish may be seeking a last refuge there. These vessels know that they do wrong, hiding as they do their registration details, running at night without navigation lights in the hope that none will notice them."

I think it's a brilliant bit of work. This particular paragraph caught my eye.
What is the law for inshore fishing at the moment as I see this happening regulary in Dublin Bay?

There doesn't appear to be one that anyone can tell me about. That'd lead me to believe we really need that 3-6 mile limit to keep some sort of a reserve/nursery are free from getting plundered by trawlers/gilnetters.

That'll take a change in the law - which is why ALL anglers, as a group, need to pressurise the politicians into taking action. And there appear to be very few of us actually doing this.

The first stage of this process needs to be a sustained campaign of letter/email address writing, plus writing to the letters page of as many papers and angling periodicals as possible.

Once it's a visible issue with some public interest, we might get invited to talk to the policy makers - like anglers in the UK have. They get to meet
their fisheries minister regularly. You've all seen Leon's letters and responses from Joe Borg's office.

The difference is the guys in the UK have seen the writing on the wall and banded together and got the thumb out. Over here, apathy and laziness is rapidly going to land us with no fish.

If anyone thinks the smaller commercial boats fish too close in at the moment, just wait for the next hike in oil prices. If the boats can't afford to go out, they'll make sure they sweep inshore waters clear in an effor to make a pound.

As I see it we are all affiliated to our clubs and our clubs to the IFSA and so perhaps each club should canvas it's members in terms of either a petition or a form letter.

Maybe the IFSA has a conservation committee member, if it does not it should have. This person should then ensure all affiliated clubs have a conservation representative whose task it is to whip lazy gits :D into action. After all most action as Sandman says is writing letters etc. This is typically true for "ordinary" members.

I also believe that any clubs who have any interest in the Sea should be making noises. Diving clubs, Ramblers, An Bord Failte, tackle shops etc.

Maybe with each application or renewal the clubs should ask for permission to shout conservation on that members behalf. i.e Letters could be signed on behalf of the X amount of Anglers of the Y Club.

However this is done it MUST be organised from the top down to gain credibility and strength. We at the bottom need to nag the guy next to us to make sure that he is doing his bit by representation if not participation.

Good thinking quarter flounder.
John D