I’m not in the slightest bit surprised that the bureaucrats in Brussels are pushing to have sea anglers included in the commercial catch quotas. The EU has a history of voicing opinions before doing any proper research in to a projects validity and practicality. They look at the quoted 1.4 million UK sea anglers and assume, wrongly as usual, that we’re all killing a multitude of fish.

The proposal by Jo Borg, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, would see every EU state given a quota for each protected species. Independent governments would then divide that quota up between commercial fisherman and anglers. Once the quota is reached recreational anglers would also be banned from retaining that fish for personal eating.

If implemented, as I understand it, and the factions seem well divided on the possible structure at the moment, is that every charter boat, yacht, small cruiser, dinghy, kayak, canoe and self built raft will have to be registered if just once a year you choose to feather a few mackerel for tea off it. There also seems to be some suggestion that they want shore anglers to be part of it as well.

The big worry is for charter skippers who would be subject to modern fisheries inspection technology such as satellite based vessel monitoring systems, electronic log-books and electronic reporting of catch data. How they can justify including charter boats that do not commonly land fish to commercially sell for themselves defies belief. Charter skippers earn money by taking anglers out, not by landing saleable fish, there’s a big difference.

So let’s think about this. To record a catch for inclusion in the quota the caught fish has to be landed ashore I assume. Its fact that most sea anglers return the bulk of their catch, be it shore or boat fishing, alive to the water, so providing they return all their catch, just as commercial fisherman return their dead discards, then there is no need to fill in a catch return for those fish.

On the other hand, if you do take a few fish for tea, then you would need to record that catch.

With the widespread nature of angling ports, slipways and venues, how the heck are they going to police it? Its also going to create a massive amount of paperwork, so just who is going to pay for all this policing and administration? I think with the current credit crunch no Government is going to want to take responsibility for it. Given the small amount of fish sea anglers land, mainly because the commercial fishing industry has fished the sea damn near clean, is it really worth it and justifiable? I think not! Get a half decent time and motion man on the job and he’d laugh out loud just at the suggestion.

It’s ironic that the commercial fisherman obviously kills everything he lands, plus kills virtually all the discarded over quota and undersize fish he catches which can amount to as much as 60% of the total catch, though this may be in the process of change, yet Mr Borg who is quoted as saying discards are “immoral but there’s no clear solution to it” expects recreational sea anglers who rarely take more than one or two fish at a time for the table to be treated the same. He needs to read a few website forum boards and see how little is being caught on rod and line nationally and along the European coast at the moment.

Plus it’s the recreational sea anglers that have been banging on about the over kill of fish stocks by the commercial fisherman for nearly three decades and nobody listened!

Also recreational anglers have been the ones tagging and releasing fish such as sharks, bass, tope, rays and common skate so we can study and preserve them better. Recreational sea anglers realised years ago species such as these, and more, were under threat, which is why the majority of sea anglers return the bulk of their catch alive!

I don’t want to come across as being anti commercial fishermen here, because I’m not, they have a living and a job to protect, but the commercial lads I know are the first to admit that they’ve been over fishing the sea for a way too long hampered by archaic, ill thought out regulations, and are now paying the consequences. Over a quiet pint most freely admit that they can’t keep fishing to the extreme they are now, the technology is just way too efficient.

Any sane person will look at this proposal and instantly see that the facts don’t add up! Most stories on this subject quote the need to protect endangered species. No problem, I can tell you a quick way to protect endangered species, ban commercial trawling and netting, go back to long-lining which is sustainable, and stop European based boats fishing in UK and other waters! I’m not naive, it won’t happen, it’s too logical for a politician! Anybody who needs to witness how a UK/European commercial fishery should be run need only look at Iceland and Norway where fish stocks are protected and healthy!

This has outlined something else though, and that’s how ill informed some of our UK national newspaper journalists and editors are when it comes to reporting angling matters. One paper ran a web story on this EU proposal and had photos of an angler wearing a 1950’s flat cap holding a hickory rod alongside common skate, plus another old photo with boxes of fish on board what looked like a wind driven commercial vessel. The photos must have been 50 years or more old and someone needs to point out that things have moved on a tad since then.

Another tabloid also suggested that many anglers make “massive” catches which are sold for profit. I’d like to see them provide solid proof en masse of this!

 I think they are getting confused with commercial rod and line bass fishermen who do target their catch with rods and reels, but these are commercial fisherman and not recreational “sports” fisherman. I would agree though, that any angler or charter skipper who wants to sell fish, even just the odd one, should be included in the catch quota system. I don’t agree with anglers selling fish and never have. I’ve never done it myself in 50 years of fishing, and won’t condone it now. We fish for sport and the odd fish for personal consumption, nothing more!