Tight lines on Sea Bass

Rebecca Wills
BBC South West Politics Show

Sea Bass command a good price

The region's fishermen are battening down the hatches as a political storm rages on over the minimum landing size for Sea Bass.

Squaring up for the fight are the recreational sea anglers, lobbying hard for it to be increased.

They say leaving smaller Bass in the sea would boost fish stocks and provide bigger fish to catch in the long term.

Fish wasted?

Facing them, the commercial fishermen who claim they would lose a lot of income - and end up throwing back smaller fish, which are likely to die anyway.

Apparently convinced by the anglers, Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw was set to increase the minimum size on 1 April 2007.

However, one month on, the restriction still has not been imposed.

Popular dish

Recreational fishermen are angling for stringent measures

The popularity of Sea Bass has increased in recent years, with it becoming a regular sight on the menus of the region's restaurants, bistros and pubs.

Moreover, this has made it a much more desirable catch for both sea anglers and the commercial fishermen.

But the recreational angling lobby says Sea Bass stocks are declining and in order to counter this they want to see the minimum landing size increased to 45cm.

Minimum landing size

And it seemed in part the Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw agreed, when in August 2006 he announced that from April 2007 the minimum landing size for Sea Bass would increase from 36cm to 40cm.

But one month on, and the legislation still has not come into effect.

Supply and demand do not always match

"The commercial fishing industry has taken forward new arguments to the Minister, causing him to think again," said Dave Pessell, Chairman of the Bass Action Group which represents professional fishermen.

"If we had to go to 40cm, we would have to discard over 100,000 prime marketable fish every year.

"That's completely unacceptable to the fishing industry, to the British public and indeed to the European Commission because they are trying to minimise discards."

Protagonists frustrated

But the delay has frustrated those who are still fighting for an even greater increase in the minimum landing size...

Simon Boeree, Exmouth Sea Angling Association, said: "It's certainly disappointing.

"The Bass season is just coming on now and I think really from a sport anglers perspective higher the minimum size is the better as sports fishing clubs we tend to fish by a higher MLS than the commercial fishermen do anyway.

"But certainly an increase of some sort would be beneficial.

"Whether it's going to happen or not now I don't know."

Size matters

It's all a matter of size

But when it comes to buying fish - it seems size really does matter.

At the Wet Plaice in Exmouth, fishmonger Lee Soloman is concerned by the proposed increase in the size of Sea Bass available from the local fishing fleet.

"Obviously it's down to price and size and if something's too large people won't buy it," he said.

"So yes, to get the right size I would have to source it from elsewhere - from foreign boats or from abroad.

"I'd like to keep it local, but if that's what the customer demands then I'll have to get it from elsewhere."

British fleet targeted?

Feelings are running high in the fleet

And it is the idea that the proposed legislation will only apply to the British fleet which is of concern to many of the commercial fishermen.

But those leading the campaign for an increase to 45cm say this is misleading.

"We honestly believe this is a smoke screen," said John Leballeur, Chairman of the Bass Anglers Society.

"In total there's nearly 9,000 fish that have been tagged.

"As a result of global warming and noting their movements and their recaptures etc, we have shown and the science has shown that for every 10 fish from around the UK - and the South West in particular - only one of those fish would be actually caught outside the six miles.

"We would like to see a united EU MLS increase, but I don't think it is as critical as some people are making out.

"And I think that's more like a smoke screen and blame the French as we've always done for generations for misdemeanours or whatever."

So what now for the minimum landing size?

Defra evidence

Well in a statement Defra said: "In March 2007 the Minister met the National federation of Fishermen's Organisations representatives to discuss their concerns.

The Minister agreed to consider the points raised by the NFFO and any new evidence before considering the introduction of the new rules which, therefore, did not come into force as planned on 6 April 2007.

"We need to ensure that all the available evidence is considered carefully and will confirm in due course whether and when legislation will come into force."

So it seems for the moment at least the commercial fishermen will continue to net the benefits of smaller Sea Bass.

While the anglers will be hoping this issue will not be the one that got away.

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