HOW many fish anglers are permitted to catch might appear to be an issue that pales into insignificance in comparison with matters such as the effects of the recession or the £350 million development of the Waterfront.

In reality, however, proposed bag limits for that most sought-after of sea fish, the bass, cast a great deal of light on present political trends, the tendency towards excessive, overbearing legislation and, frankly, the sheer idiocy of some initiatives.

If legislation currently in the pipeline is passed by the States, non-professional fishermen – a category which includes those who wet a line over the back of St Catherine’s Breakwater as well as those who spend a small fortune to pursue their pastime – will be permitted to take only five bass. This, you might say, is fair enough.

Who, as an amateur fishing for pleasure or the pot, could possibly want or need more?
That is indeed a perfectly respectable argument, as is the idea that making large amateur catches illegal might help to stop the restaurant back-door trade which may damage the economic interests of a few Island professionals who target bass.

Unfortunately, this is not the end of the story. As Peter Double, the well known conservationist who is also an angler, has pointed out in a letter to this paper, an absurd target has been chosen for a new fishery law when it is quite clear that far greater problems exist in the fisheries realm which are not being addressed.

While it is true that a small number of alleged pleasure fishermen illegally sell their bass catches, any difficulty that this causes is eclipsed by the need for measures to control the wholesale destruction of stocks by commercial boats – admittedly not from this Island – which take not five fish but five tons and often far greater quantities in a single trip in Channel Island waters.

But what is the token effort that is now being planned? It is an utterly disproportionate law in the making which will do nothing in terms of conservation but – and can you really believe this? – threatens fines of up to £20,000 for anglers who exceed the bag limit. Compare that, if you will, with the present level of fines for, say, drink-driving.

What we are witnessing is symptomatic of law-making that is not only misguided and a fundamental waste of time but also ludicrously over the top in terms of the sanctions planned for what, in the scale of human perfidy, is a very small matter indeed.