Sea fishing - rod license

[falling rain]

There are plans that have been talked about for quite some time now to introduce a sea angling licence...Probably by 2009
There's some bumpf here on it http://www.sacn.org.uk/Conservation-and-Political-News/Sea_anglers_fail_to_bite_license_bait.html
What are your views? should it remain free or do we pay to fish in the sea and have more of a say about the commercial raping of the seas. Only this week 'Birds Eye' announced they are now going to be mixing pollock into their 'Cod' fish fingers because cod stocks have dwindled so badly. I never eat fish fingers but the message is there.
The east coast of Canada 'The Grand Banks' used to be a place where you could almost pick Cod out of the sea by hand at the turn of the century. Massive over fishing caused the Cod stocks to collapse in the 1990's amongst other fish such as Plaice. It's happened here too with the Herring. Great Yarmouth used to be one of the worlds biggest herring fishing ports until stocks collapsed and their are only a few boats fishing for herring now.

Fishing for free in the sea (rod and line) not commercial and being able to keep what you catch (species size limits permitting) has been so since the beginning of time. Now one of the last 'restrction free' rights for us to gather our own food could be about to be taken away.
I personally think that there needs something very drastic to be done and very soon before it goes too far and the fish are gone forever. I don't think that rod and line fisherman hardly make a dint on the stocks but the commercial trawlers certainly do and they're living for today and not caring about the future generations or their own futures. I understand everyone needs to make a living but at what cost ?
Anyway I'm digressing now.
I say yes there should, although with several thousand miles of coastline around the UK coastline it would be very hard to police. But it would allow sea angling organisations a bigger say in the views on commercial fishing. As usual everything is being left too late and in a decade - 20 years eating fish will be an unaffordable luxury only for the rich or on special occasions. It's going to be too late and I can't believe more attention isn't being paid to this looming disaster.
What do you reckon? Should there be a sea angling license for individual rod and line anglers or not?

 

[bloodline]

Definitley NOT I dont sea fish at the moment but I think it would be another financial blow to "Joe Public" I dont belive it would give the man in the street any more say on what goes on. As for enforcing it I think only people who fish in accessible places would be policed (like piers and beaches near towns) Last year I was canoeing and came across 2 orientals fishing from a cheap rubber dingey they were using a nylon gill net I phoned the enviroment agency and they told me to ring a number they gave me if I saw them again. This was on the Medway Estuary and unless you are permitted trawling is a BIG NO NO several anglers had said to me they thought some were using nets as fish stocks had suddenley diminished.If the authorities cant police what is illegal now they wont pursue lawbreakers in the future only finanially burdon the honest.

 

[Angus Og]

I don't have a rod licence now you don't need one in Scotland except on the Tweed and wouldn't get one for sea fishing just wouldn't use a rod.

although with several thousand miles of coastline around the UK coastline it would be very hard to police.?

Don't know the coastal length for England and Wales but Scotland's something like 10,000 miles makes it slightly more difficult.


http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/trends/seas/Seas_Introduction.pdf

 

[ukarcher]

Once again they seek to financialy burden the very people who care about our coastline. I would think that the authorities had their hands full enough, without having to police the beaches for 'illegal fishermen'. They would do better to work with the shipping companies to stop them dumping all their refuge overboard, so that we could walk the beaches without fear of stepping on all the rubbish that gets washed up with each tide. As for giving us a greater say if we were license holders, I don't think it would make a scrap of difference. There is already too much money involved. Fishing with rod and line, as well as groundlining, glatting and shrimp netting have gone on around here for centuries, something that has always encouraged the young to take an interest in their coastline and grow up with a healthy respect for the wildlife and also beach safety. Make it a paid privelidge and that will disappear.

 

[mr dazzler]

the cynic in me sudgests that creating a sea fishing rod licence is just another oportunist tax to pay for more enviroment agency beuaracrat's wages and pensions, and an excuse to issue yet more fixed penalty notices and criminalise otherwise decent law abiding folk as scapegoats and convenient whipping boys to blame for disapearing stocks of sea fish. I dont see how it will do anything to significantly reduce demand on fish stocks (any more than road pricing will reduce "global warming" ). If the fee is high (if rspca/peta types have anything to do with it it will be) then sea fishing may will be an unattainable memory for most people. Meanwhile illegal/factory fishing boats will continue to hoover every thing up, and the loyal eu countries (exept the Uk naturally) will continue to thrive on unrealistically generous terms and subsidies

 

[falling rain]

I think the figure being bandied about is £20 - £25 for a year.
I can't really make up my mind sometimes I think yes and other times no why should we pay for something that's been a right for thousands of years. I would really like to see some detailed arguments from both sides for and against.
All I do know is the illegal netting and massive hauls brought in by trawlers are not sustainable and sooner rather than later something is going to give, and it will be Irretrievable when it does happen. As the population grows the demand for fish will also increase and the stocks will diminish. It's not molecular cell science.
It's all very well having quotas but a purse-seining or bottom trawling net does not choose the size of fish it catches or any illegal fish. It's all very well having regulation size nets too but undersized or illegal fish that have never spawned are still dragged up by the ton and when they've been hauled up from the depths the trauma kills them anyway and they simply get dumped overboard dead for shark feed.
I can't help feeling it's all being left too late and not enough is being done now. I really predict that within 20 years there will be next to no fish left in our seas for ANYBODY to catch neither rod and line fishermen or trawlers, and a nice fillet of fish will be like buying a jar of caviar is today, prohibitively expensive for your average man, only to be eaten on special occasions. And it's not just the UK it's a worldwide problem. The Japanese, Russia and USA have the largest fishing fleets in the world and I wouldn't like to know how many millions of tons they haul in between them each year. I'm sure it would be shocking.
Although hobby rod and line fishermen count for a miniscule amount of fish caught each year If it was part of an overall plan to be required to have a license as well as serious action to ensure trawlers are not completely slaughtering the stocks (that includes shellfish, crabs, lobsters etc) I would be willing to pay. There are supposed to be around a million sea anglers in the country who go out fishing of varying frequency that's £25 million that could be spent on more nursery areas and with a major top up of cash from the government the trawlers could maybe stay at home for a few extra weeks a year allowing the fish to breed. It may mean not so much fish available for us to eat from your fishmongers but if it carries on there'll be none at all. It's a complicated subject that probably would take me several hours to write all about on here, but I think everyone interested in the sea and sea food needs to make a concession and stop the rot before it's too late. Above all the government need to get together with other nations and have a MAJOR conference about the issue. I'm not usually a doom merchant but it's going to happen unless it gets sorted and pretty soon.
I also think that if there was a license there should be massive fines or even jail for your illegal seine netters in estuarys and a heavy fine for anyone fishing without a license. Maybe because there is no license is why people don't respect the fish and the sea as much as they should. At the moment any tom dick or harry can fish and how many fish a year are not carefully returned to the sea if they're not wanted by the person catching them. Maybe a person who has paid for a license cares enough to do his or her best to conserve stocks? Maybe not.

Can I add a poll to this thread or do I need to start a new one? It maybe interesting to have a simple poll. Yes -Sea fishing license or No - No license and people who vote, can maybe briefly state their opinions for or against. If someone wants to add a poll feel free to do so. I dpn't know how to do it in the middle of a thread

 

[Steve R]

Just another government con IMHO, they will collect the revenue and do no more than they do now about overfishing.

Its a 'Green' stealth tax, like so many more.

 

[dave k]

Who is this suppost to stop? the casual fisherman who spends more time lazing about in the sun or people who already break the law using illegal fishing method's?

What is the money going towards? is it ring-fenced? how are they going to patrol this?

Just seems like another pointless tax for `our safety and good`. If you really want to do fish stocks some good, limit the tonnage that professional fisherman can and do catch in high-risk area's (if this is already being done, it's not working...)

 

[spamel]

This is only for rod and line fishing right? Explosive fishing doesn't come into it?!



(PS. That is supposed to be a joke, just in case!)

 

[falling rain]

This is only for rod and line fishing right? Explosive fishing doesn't come into it?!



(PS. That is supposed to be a joke, just in case!)

Yes just for rod and line fishing in the sea. One problem I can see is how about the dad on holiday with his kids from say Brum (Nothing against brummies but it's a long way from the sea) who buys a holiday kids spinning set or handline to go crabbing off the pier. Is that family going to be expected to fork out £25 for a sea fishing license just for a couple of afternoons mackeral feathering off the pier whilst on holiday? Not really fair is it?
There are so many pros and cons for this I can't really decide if it's for the best or not