2018 Sea bass catch and release January - December.
Maybe 1 bass per angler per day July - August
E.U. Council agreement on 2018 fishing opportunities secured at 07:40 (CET)
Sea bass
Also after ICES benchmark exercise in 2018, the Commission will consider if there is a basis for reviewing the measures in place for sea bass and allowing for any landings of sea bass in recreational fisheries.
Sea bass
- Gill nets – 10 months of 1.2 tonnes per year (Wales’ red line: 1 tonne)
- Hooks / line – 10 months of 5 tonnes per year (Wales’ red line: 4 tonnes)
- Recreational – 12 months catch and release (but with possibility to authorise a bag limit of one in July and Aug in the light of benchmarking in early 2018)
Also after ICES benchmark exercise in 2018, the Commission will consider if there is a basis for reviewing the measures in place for sea bass and allowing for any landings of sea bass in recreational fisheries.
Bluefin Tuna Restriction Notice
2017 Sea bass catch and release January - June. 1 bass per angler per day July - December
2017 EU recreational fishing restrictions for Sea Bass (including fishing from boat and shore)
- From 1st January to 30th June catch and release only
- From 1st July to 31st December one bass per angler per day
- Minimum keep size of 42cm still applies.
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Government response to the petition on bass stocks conservation measures
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Sea Angling 2016 - A major new UK wide study of sea angling
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Dear Alan Duthie - Chairman of PAKA
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Sea Angling 2016 Research-Welsh Anglers Wanted!
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The Government has responded to the petition you signed – “The decision to water down the recent European decision on the bass stocks”.
Government responded: The petition title misrepresents the EU process. UK Government successfully ensured anglers could fish for sport and the derogation for gillnets excluded driftnets that take most UK netting catches. The UK Government has not sought to water down the EU decision to protect bass stocks agreed in the EU fisheries Council on 15 December 2015, as suggested in the petition title. The terms of the petition are either a misrepresentation or misunderstanding of the EU process and the UK Government’s approach. It is actually the UK Government that has consistently pressed for EU action to address the decline of the stock, and we secured emergency action in 2015. We were not the authors of the recent proposal for 2016, however – this was a Commission proposal – nor indeed of the derogations offered in the compromise deal tabled at Council. However the agreement for 2016 is tougher on most sectors than that for 2015. The UK Government did manage to achieve some key outcomes to adjust both the proposal and the related compromise deal. These help to protect the EU bass stock’s progress to sustainable fishing and the interests of both recreational and small scale commercial fishermen as EU bass fisheries move towards that goal, as follows. We fought for and secured continuation of a recreational catch and release fishery for recreational sea anglers during the 6 month moratorium on bass catches, which was under threat in the Commission proposal wording. This means that anglers and charter vessels can continue sport-fishing activity throughout the year, subject to the ban proposed by the Commission on keeping bass during the first six months, coupled with a single fish daily bag limit per person in the second half of the year. While accepting the principle of the proposed 6 month moratorium and a subsequent catch limit of 1 tonne per vessel per month for most commercial fisheries, we aimed to avoid disproportionate impacts on the lower impact, small-scale inshore hook and line and inshore fixed gillnet fisheries during the first 6 months. But as the UK Government position was for a more modest derogation than that offered on the day, we sought to reduce the impact of this on bass stocks. Our negotiating position was based on different fisheries’ relative impacts and reflected several factors. Hook and line has the highest degree of selectivity for the right size of bass taken – though gillnets also perform well compared with other fishing methods. We also needed to consider the proportion of the bass catch taken by UK vessels using these methods: although the nets gear group has previously accounted for half of the annual UK bass total landings (46% average from 2011-2013), drift-netting is estimated to account for up to 90% of this, as the Commission are aware, and drift-netting was not agreed for inclusion in the derogation. In the final compromise these two commercial fisheries (hook and line and fixed gillnets) were given identical derogations for all Member States fishing for bass (February-March moratorium and 1.3 tonne catch limit all year). The UK Government negotiating position in advance of the Council decision had been to press for lower – and differentiated – catch limits for derogations to apply for these two EU fisheries (excluding drift-netting) during the moratorium. But while the compromise offered higher monthly catch limits for netting, matching the limits for hook and line, these are not applicable to the majority of UK netting activity and are combined with the complete closure for two months. It was necessary to agree EU-level measures for bass in this way because we share the fishery with other Member States who need to be fully signed up if we are to achieve stock recovery. We now at least have a firm timetable with Member States’ and Commission agreement, to achieve sustainable fishing of bass by 2018, and the EU’s interim management package will increasingly be complemented by regional measures, including in the context of multi-annual management plans driven by the Member States concerned, as well as national ones. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Click this link to view the response online: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/116747?reveal_response=yes The Petitions Committee will take a look at this petition and its response. They can press the government for action and gather evidence. If this petition reaches 100,000 signatures, the Committee will consider it for a debate. The Committee is made up of 11 MPs, from political parties in government and in opposition. It is entirely independent of the Government. Find out more about the Committee: https://petition.parliament.uk/help#petitions-committee Thanks, The Petitions team UK Government and Parliament |
Dear Sea Angling Club,
We are writing to you to ask you to complete a very short questionnaire about sea angling – and we need to hear from you whether you have been sea angling a lot recently or even not at all! If you would like a Welsh text version of this email, then please click here. To do the survey please click here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/seaangling2016 We are also asking if you would distribute this email to your club members and any other contacts and display it on your web page or at our club. The survey will only take a maximum of five minutes to complete and will ask you some very basic information about whether you have been sea angling recently or not and whether you are likely to – we really need to know either way! It also asks whether you are interested in taking part in an exciting new angling diary scheme next year. We are particularly keen to hear from sea anglers in Wales as these are currently a little under-represented. So please click here to take part! Sea Angling 2016 is a follow up to the Sea Angling 2012 project, which showed the huge economic and social importance of sea angling in England, and helped sea angling bodies and government to make better informed decisions on policies for promoting the long term conservation of our valuable fish stocks. You will also get access to a unique online diary tool and fish ID kit provided in conjunction with www.britishseafishing.co.uk. For more details about the project, please see: www.substance.net/seaangling2016 Confidentiality ALL information you provide will be treated in strictest confidence. No details will be passed onto a third party and the information you provide will only be used in aggregate. You may give us permission to contact you and to enter you in the prize draw – but that is entirely up to you. Who is the Survey for? The project is funded by all the UK governments (including Welsh Government, Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive) and will involve hundreds of anglers to provide accurate data on what they catch and what they spend on angling. This will help inform the management of fish stocks and to demonstrate the value of sea angling. The survey is commissioned by Cefas and undertaken by Substance. Contact If you require further information or have any problems completing the survey, please email: anglingresearch@substance.net Regards, Dr. Adam Brown, Substance www.substance.net/seaangling2016 www.resources.anglingresearch.org.uk Regards Dr. John A. O'Connor, (Pembrokeshire) |