Topher

Just came across this feature which was posted on Facebook this evening which may interest fellow members Sea Fishing Magazine shared The CFSA - Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers's post. 41 mins · The CFSA - Cornish Federation of Sea Anglers added 5 new photos. Sustainable fishing? These mullet were seine netted last night at Sennen. The mullet have aggregated for spawning and have been wiped out at their most vulnerable and during the most important phase of their life cycle. The phase when they contribute to the future stock. This scenario is not dissimilar from the pelagic trawlers targeting spawning bass aggregations in the Channel. These fish will fetch pennies on the market, maybe less than 50p a fish - perhaps those in the know will be able to inform us of the price these fish fetch. Some of these fish will may well be over 10 years old and at their reproductive prime. Whilst it must be recognised that local fisherman need to earn a living, the targeting of fish when they aggregate to spawn is not allowing for a sustainable fishery for future generations! What would you think of a farmer who sent his sheep to the slaughterhouse a week before they lambed? Some recreational sea angling clubs have introduced catch and release measures into their club structure to promote conservation of fish stocks, but when faced with such photos the number of mullet one club may save in a year seems insignificant.... These photos will no doubt cause the expression of strong views from both anglers and commercial fisherman alike. Please refrain from swearing and any comments with such will be deleted. Perhaps the commercial fisherman could give some insight as to why they target spawning aggregations? Should the netting of spawning aggregations be a thing of the past in an age when sustainable fisheries are needed for long term stability of the fishing industry?

Thought this may be of interest to members Campaign Progress Report: BASS meetings with DEFRA and the EU Posted on 14 February 2015 by Bass.Blogging.Team Meetings and discussions both at an EU and UK level continue to take place to agree better ways to protect our bass. Yesterday at a meeting in Brussels with DG Mare (the Commission department responsible for the implementation of the Common Fisheries policy) BASS were represented by David Curtis and Malcolm Gilbert. The early feedback was the meeting was reported as being “encouraging” and I will provide further information in due course. On Wednesday Nigel Horsman, who heads the BASS restoration campaign, met with DEFRA. His bottom line is although again his meeting was encouraging, things won’t change overnight, so we need to continue to keep the pressure very much on the decision makers through continuing to write and email (there are some suggested people to contact below). A year ago the prospect of around 40-50% cuts in bass landings in 2015 and further cuts in 2016 towards the 80% the EU scientists state need to happen to prevent stock collapse seemed just a daydream. Progress, although not as rapid as we’d like, has been significant and together our letters are making a difference. So we mustn’t let up now – it’s not as if in mid-February most of us can spend our time trying to catch bass anyway! So as we’ve said before investing 10 minutes or so now in campaigning might actually catch you more and bigger bass in the years to come. It’s not as if chances like this come around often! A dream for many: releasing an 11 pound bass This is Nigel’s excellent summary of the meeting with DEFRA: “On Wednesday, on behalf of BASS and with the Angling Trust, I attended a meeting at Defra with senior officials involved in representing the UK in the discussions with the EU Commission and with formulating UK bass management policy. I found the meeting to be positive, constructive and encouraging. However, it was also clear that the road ahead is long and will be difficult. The EU’s pelagic trawling ban is an excellent and essential first step towards a better bass management regime. The UK Government (and others, notably the Dutch) should be deservedly congratulated for this, alongside the EU officials who took this momentous decision. Following on from that the EU Commission are looking at two other elements to make up a package of measures for 2015. The second element is the 3 fish bag limit for recreational anglers that has now been proposed and may come in to force in March. The final element will cover other commercial fishing methods and may include things like an increased minimum landing size (MLS) and vessel catch limits and may be proposed in April. This piecemeal approach is hardly ideal combining both a lack of clarity about what might be on the table (in the final element) and a lack of certainty about timing of measures coming into force. However, on the plus side, this gives us more time to lobby and attempt to influence the outcome of the negotiations around these final two elements, to try to ensure that the measures proposed are sufficient as well as being fair and equitable. It was confirmed that our lobbying (at all levels, by everyone) has had a real effect in making officials and politicians much more aware of the value of recreational sea angling (RSA) and our needs and will lead to a more fair and equitable set of measures than might otherwise have been the case. We were encouraged to maintain the level of involvement and engagement with the process. It was also clear that the full 80% cut in catches will not be delivered in 2015, so further, additional measures at an EU level, are likely in 2016, not least, we hope, making the pelagic trawling ban permanent. Also on the EU agenda is a long term management plan for bass, which should look much more closely at economics and social issues around all the different methods of exploitation. But for now all energy is being directed at measures for 2015. At a purely UK level, additional measures are also being considered. Here, Defra will work with the IFCA’s (and MMO) to decide what could be done and who should best do it. For political reasons, changes at Government level are difficult, partly due to something called the “better regulation framework”. This basically makes it very difficult (not impossible though) to either increase regulatory burdens on small businesses (e.g. by requiring all commercial bass landings to be fully reported) or to adversely affect the profitability of a small business (by restricting how much bass a commercial fishermen can land, for example). In addition, the impending general election gives a deadline for anything to go through parliament of the end of March. After that, it depends on who forms the next Government and what their priorities are!! The IFCA’s are perhaps better placed to bring in local regulation (perhaps the same across several IFCA’s) but that process also is time consuming and resource intensive, when the IFCA’s have limited budgets and many competing priorities. UK specific measures would include any changes to bass nursery areas regulations and perhaps minimum size increases (if the EU don’t sort this properly). It was very clear talking to these Defra officials that to achieve any change, at either EU level or UK level is very much like long distance swimming through treacle. However, I was heartened that the will and energy exists in both politicians and officials to undertake that swimming challenge and to get us, eventually, to the right place. This will not happen quickly, changes may not come in the right order and we won’t agree with everything that happens. But it is also clear that the efforts of so many supporters, over so many years and in particular, the recent huge increase in engagement by sea anglers and bass anglers (and others) on this issue has had a large and positive effect. To see this through to the end will take another three years, I estimate, and over that time the more messages we send to politicians and officials reminding them why this is important and why we are important the more chance we have of getting the best possible result. So, well done everyone for getting us this far, but now is not the time to let up! Keep on talking to MP’s, MEP’s, IFCA’s and everyone else who can influence the future of bass.” Who to contact and what to say? Its the fact you contact them that matters most! Just ask for the full 80% reduction in landings of our bass that the EUs own scientists (ICES) stated has to happen to prevent stock collapse and its job done – though by all means go in to greater specific details if you feel it appropriate! Full details of the people to email at an EU level are contained in a recent blog here: http://www.ukbass.com/eu-soon-to-discuss-further-bass-measures-our-bass-need-your-urgent-help/ At the UK level the DEFRA / Fisheries Minister (George Eustice) contact email is:defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk Dont forget to also send your email to your own MP and your local IFCA.

That is why the Karmenu Vella, 32 Big French, British and Belgium trawlers are this weekend targeting the spawning bass. It is deplorable.

Karmenu Vella, Please Save the Spawning Sea Bass with Karmenu Vella the price down to a level that the 100s of more sustainable line bass commercial fishermen in France and the UK can't make a living. Don't water down the bill just because of the big French commercial fishing lobby is applying pressure. Remember they are already subsidised.

I do not know you Rich but best wishes for your birthday. Topher

Many thanks for your kind words to those who responded to my nervous introduction.

Hi membership, I apologise in advance if this is an inappropriate post...Just something I came across and hopefully will be of interest. Oceans facing wildlife Armageddon: 'We are falling off a mass extinction cliff - but we're not there yet' By Hannah Osborne January 15, 2015 19:00 GMT Oceans facing wildlife Armageddon if industrialisation continues(Reuters)The world's oceans are facing a "wildlife Armageddon" if the Industrial Revolution of the sea continues on its current trajectory. That is according to a report by scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, which found – to much surprise – the oceans are far healthier than thought. But this will not last. The authors warn ever increasing industrial use of the oceans coupled with climate change will mean marine wildlife is driven to extinction in the same way as land animals. Published in the journal Science, the authors compared the Industrial Revolution on land with current patterns of how humans use the world's oceans. They found that in the last 500 years, 500 land animals have gone extinct, whereas just 15 ocean species faced the same fate (that we know of). Lead author Douglas McCauley said: "All signs indicate that we may be initiating a marine industrial revolution. We are setting ourselves up in the oceans to replay the process of wildlife Armageddon that we engineered on land." A sealion tries to escape from a net while fishermen fish anchovy aboard in a fishing boat at the Pacific Ocean.(Reuters)Speaking to IBTimes UK, he added: "We might be falling off an extinction cliff but we're not there yet. We're changing in the way we're using the oceans. We're going through this transition - instead of affecting life in the oceans by directly hunting and harvesting we are altering, degrading and damaging their habitats. "When we underwent that transition on land, we basically pushed extinction rates way up and they skyrocketed in an alarming way." He said the main message from their findings is there are precursors suggesting human activity has the potential to cause an "incredible" amount of damage to the ocean. "Essentially, on land that is well underway," McCauley said about the impending sixth mass extinction of land animals. "How do we not do that in the ocean? If we don't learn from the way we affected terrestrial wildlife, we're going to remake same history and bring this marine wildlife Armageddon upon us in the ocean." Controlled burn of spilled oil off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico(Reuters)As well as the industrialisation of the ocean, the authors say climate change is one of the most "serious threats", in that we are essentially dumping acid into the water then heating it up. McCauley said: "We can all grasp that's not good for fish. If we ignore climate change, we're a bit lost." He also noted that our knowledge of the ocean and how we are affecting it is lacking – we have explored less than 5% of the ocean, so the official number of species human activity has wiped out could be much higher. He said: "In terms of the way we use oceans and what we know scientifically, we're way behind the curve... and it's all the more reason to be double cautious in how we treat the oceans." However, he said we should see their findings as an opportunity to save them. McCauley said: "Because there have been so many fewer extinctions in the oceans, we still have the raw ingredients needed for recovery. There is hope for marine species that simply does not exist for the hundreds of terrestrial wildlife species that have already crossed the extinction threshold. "The opportunity is there now, but it could be slipping away very soon."

What excellent news today.Topher EU bans sea bass trawling2015-01-19 20:44 (Shutterstock) Multimedia · User Galleries · News in PicturesSend us your pictures · Send us your stories Related Links Researchers zap zombie bass Ocean fish stocks low, UN says EU to discuss fishing quotas Brussels - The EU said Monday it will ban open water trawling of sea bass during the spawning season through April in order to ensure the stock's survival. The European Commission, the EU executive arm, said it is working with Britain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands to implement the ban which should take effect at the end of January. "Emergency measures will be implemented to ban pelagic trawling of sea bass during spawning season which runs until the end of April," it said in a statement. It said pelagic, or open sea, trawlers operating during spawning season "make up 25% of the impact on the stock" when the stock is at "its most vulnerable." The European Union said it had resorted to its right to impose emergency measures to protect threatened species after member states failed to agree to act on warnings from experts. The commission said it is also working with the countries involved on measures alongside the ban, such as managing recreational fishing and limiting catches of all other commercial fisheries. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea recommended for 2015 an 80% decrease in catches in the English Channel and the North Sea. French fisherman account for 70% of the haul.

Update I have seen today from George Eustice MP that may be of interest to members George Eustice MP We have secured the breakthrough we wanted to protect Bass stocks as the EU Commission confirms plans to ban the commercial targeting of Bass during the spawning season. At December fisheries council I managed to get a joint statement to consider emergency measures to protect Bass between January-April on spawning grounds (many of which are off the Cornish coast). These fish have been targeted by French pair trawlers before they can even reproduce. Defra negotiators worked overtime throughout Christmas and New Year to move the commitment forward leading to todays breakthrough. Great news for Cornish Bass. (Photo: my brother Giles with a young bass he caught (and returned) off Gwithian)

Hi there, I have recently become a member. Background to me is that I grew up in Kent and used to beach fish at Sandwich Bay. I felt a vocation to be ordained and this happened at Canterbury Cathedral in 1982. Before that worked on a container ship around the world...Took my steering ticket..crossing the line etc. Lived in Australia, Bermuda, USA. In my first parish, Deal, Kent, I drove 2 mercy mission trips to Poland, when the 'Iron Curtain' existed. I just love fishing and am NOT an angler who is competitive. All I want to do is fish...catching any fish is a bonus!! I do not own a boat but am always prepared to crew and contribute towards costs. I went to my first meeting recently. The report about the Surf Reef was so greatly appreciated. WOW what a great club you have and web site. My privilege is to now be a member....although very nervous when I had to introduce myself...Thanks members for not 'Booing'. Always prepared to learn and I kindly ask your patience as I have only been boat fishing the past 4 and a half years. Revd Chris

Does the club want a copy of the responses? An issue which comes to my mind is the wiping out of fish and damage to the seabed by trawlers in the Bay. The trawlers even come so close to the net locations...(Certainly where I live overlooking Poole Bay on the est Cliff, Bournemouth).What chance is there for the rod and line angler!!! Is there anything that can be done about this? One skipper told me there was a loophole in the law which has allowed two larger trawlers to operate...I do not know how true this is? With Bass becoming a species of concern should there not be a revision of the size that a Bass can be kept or as PJ says a 'one bag limit' '