TV tonight @7:30pm

[Paul J]

Adam just called to tell me that on BBC1 @ 7:30pm a programme called inside out is covering illegal taking of Bass from Langston harbour.

 

Might be of interest

 

PJ

[Sinbad]

Yup, just missed it

 

Was it good? - Dont tell me, its eastern block bass anglers with gill nets ??

 

Paul

 

 

[Paul J]

It was good

 

Here goes

bbc

[great white]

We missed the first couple of minutes but It was interesting to see so many people openly fishing and taking fish

 

You would think that if a BBC reporter with limited night viewing and a cam corder could see 5 boats returning at night with not only fish taken from a nursery area but also undersize.

 

Surely the Sea fishery guys have only to mount a proper observation, take some evidence and arrest a few people and the message would get around the chinese community.

 

Bit of a bloody cheek, one of the "Fisherman" complaining that his catches were down.

 

Charlie

[gjb]

Don't order bass for your meal stick to the stir fry don't give them the chance to sell them

 

graham

[Newboy]

No excuse for it, all criminal activities must be stopped. It doesn't take many bad people to give the rest a bad name, but I must stress, most are law abiding people.

 

I have never taken any under sized fish, and all skippers I went out with stick to the law. I have known people who keep all their fish, but end of the day, as the skipper say, if they caught it they are entitle to keep it, as long as they are not sold on.

 

 

 

 

[great white]

Kam

 

The program last night showed 5 different small inflatable tenders powered by small OBMs leaving the beach and returning an hour later with a bucket of undersize bass. deliberatly targeted for some sort of commercial gain.

 

regardless of the fact that they were unlit in a harbour entrance hence endangering themselves and others

or that all were being used by people of chinese origin [No racism or offence intended]

The real message is they were not anglers they were poachers of fish protected by the nursary area and something more than taking pictures of them for a BBC program should be done.

 

Charlie

 

 

[Sinbad]

Once again, we British are shown to be a soft touch... just because you stick a sign up saying 'no fishing' we think the whole world abides by rules (our rules).

 

You've only got to watch the british abroad, queuing up to wait their turn, only to have Johny Foreigner pile in at the front of the line to help himself first.

 

We put the saungat refugee camp at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel, and wonder why the poor migrants keep trying to smuggle themselves onto trains.

 

Again no Predudical or Racial tone is meant by this, only that we are the most stupid and gulible People on the planet, and dont understand that not everyone thinks like us...or plays according to our way of thinking.

 

Does make you wonder how the fisherys man has been doing his job all those years and hasnt twigged what is bleedingly obvious, that if the demand for Bass in the shops goes up, then there will be someone ready to supply it.

 

I think I need a holiday....

 

Paul

 

 

[petesnr]

My experience over the last 45 years is that nothing has changed. As a kid I witnessed boxes of undersized bass being loaded into lorries at Ferrybridge near Weymouth. The miracle is that there are any left at all. I'm sure that there are more anglo saxons engaged in this kind of activity than foreigners and that their catches are bigger than theirs. They just dont choose to get caught on camera!

The problem is always going to be enforcement and until that is addressed I'm afraid it will be business as usual.

I resent the thread of racism and would remind members that the majority of people plundering the seas in our territories are English and proud of it.

 

Peter

[TomBettle]

Once again, we British are shown to be a soft touch... just because you stick a sign up saying 'no fishing' we think the whole world abides by rules (our rules).

 

You've only got to watch the british abroad, queuing up to wait their turn, only to have Johny Foreigner pile in at the front of the line to help himself first.

 

Paul

 

Both of those statements really are pretty cack mate.

 

As Petesnr pointed out, there are just as many (more) Brits very happy to break the rules if they feel they can get aways with it. Often foreign fishermen may not understand the rules and will normally change their ways if the error is pointed out politely.

 

As for Brits abroad. We are often some of the most ignorant, nasty, anti social thugs you'd ever not want to meet.

And.... abroad, Johny Foreigner is us.

 

Tom

[Adam F]

On a slightly different tack, but still on Bass... I was looking among Al's vast trophy collection this morning, and in particular the Bass specimen trophy. The sizes that have won it have increased every year. It started with an 8lb fish and it was 4 years before a double won it, culminating in Al's magnificent 18lber last year.

 

So - is bass fishing really on the decline? Are we getting better as anglers? Do we have more knowledge as a club now?