Fishing: Scrap bag limit proposition, says Deputy
Friday 3rd July 2009, 2:59PM BST.
Deputy Green
A CONTROVERSIAL proposed law to impose bag limits on leisure fishermen should be scrapped and replaced with a scheme to ban selling fish without a licence, says Deputy Andrew Green.
He wants the States to ‘reject outright’ the proposals, and back a scheme to regulate the sale of fish.
Earlier this year, Economic Development Minister Alan Maclean lodged a proposition calling for strict new rules for boat and shore leisure fishermen.
Under the new legislation, which will be debated in the States this summer, the number of bass and lobsters which could be retained woould be capped at five per person or per boat. The number of ormers which could be taken home would be restricted to 20 per person or boat.
The department wants to introduce the rules to remove inequalities between professional and amateur fishermen. Under current laws, professional fishermen need to hold a licence, and face restrictions on how many fish they can keep. But no such laws apply to leisure fishermen.
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That’s a far better proposal especially in light of recent hauls – or rather a worrying lack of them – by local anglers. Stocks are in jeopardy. Beyond punishing those selling their fish through the backdoor; there should also be punishment for those buying the wares too. We also really need to introduce a seasonal ban during the breeding period, as well as upping the minimum size limit, as the current one allows for the capture of fish which are still too young to breed.
I’d also like to call out Fisheries and their Protection Officers on this one – I’m sure this sentiment will be supported by many; but I have personally, in nearly 20years fishing over here, never been approacched by them to check my catch. There are a great number of anglers over here keeping well undersized fish and our local stocks are in serious harm. This cannot be stressed enough. It’s a horrible thing to say, and I hope it’s not something that the moderators will reject this comment for, but a disproportionate number of anglers from the European continent over here are responsible for this. It’s not racist, it’s a very sad state of affairs, and again one which will be echoed by many seasoned Local fishermen. Should you really wish I qualify this statement, then please, I emplore you to refer to the local forum of a certain world sea fishing website, in which many, many people have vocalised their upset, disappointment, and even anger with regards the situation.
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Well, someone speaking sense at long last. I therefore would assume that Deputy Green will be completely ignored.
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If they want to remove inequalities between professional and amateur fishermen,why not set the same bag limit to both.
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I am no fisherman, but Andrew Green would appear to nothing but good common sense.
If the aim of the legislation, or regulation, is to preserve fish stock, limiting the size of the catch landed will not preserve anything, any surplus catch will simply be dumped into the sea, dead.
If the sea is being overfished, restrict the fishing, by time, location or method of fishing.
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pjg(3) please tell me how a professional fisherman, feeds his family and pays a mortgage
on a low bag limit.
or will he be performing a miracle with the five fish and five loaves of bread.
fishing for a living is a hard game .
its highly unlikely that the trade in illegal sales of fish will stop, as both parties are tring to put food on the table in good old dog eat dog jersey.
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I am unaware of resrictions in respect of numbers of bass and lobsters that can be retained by commercials. If anyone knows details of said resrictions, please share them. Fishery resources belong to everyone – common property. That licences were handed out FOC to commercial fishers to commercially exploit the commonly owned resource for personal profit was a travesty. The suggestion that those who choose to catch fish for their own family/friends should be restricted whilst those who exploit the common resource for profit are not subjected to equivalent restrictions, adds insult to injury. If restrictions to protect the common resource from over exploitation result in commercial fishers not being viable – tough, the long term wellbeing of the resource is far more important. Had fisheries managers and politicians in Europe prioritised the health of our fishery resources instead of the short term protection of vested interests, we would actually now have a far larger and more profitable commercial fisheries sector, employing more fishermen. As Doug Kidd, Ex Fisheries Minister New Zealand concluded; Fish First – People second. Only when the resources become the priority will we have any chance of long term sustainability.
MG
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David brown 5.
By doing a job that does not need protectionism, to the detriment of all of us who wish to suplement our income so as to feed our family and pay a mortgage.
Should we outlaw decorating your own lounge or digging the garden as it might put a professional painter and decorator or gardener out of business ?
We need to preserve and look after our fish stocks, its the “professionals ” that are landing the immorally large catches and selling them abroad.
Surely the waters surrounding our island belong to us all. No single group of us put effort into stocking them in the first place, why should a group now claim priority for catching them.
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