Weymouth Skippers Back Recycle Fish

Since the mid 1990’s charter angling has naturally changed. With routes that started in the commercial fishing industry – trawlers netters and other commercial vessels alike used to be locally licensed to take anglers. Since then it has been an up hill slog for angling skippers to have their businesses and, in turn, angling afloat taken seriously and treated differently from commercial fishing.

Towards the middle of the 1990’s, it was clear that fish stocks in general and certain species were in serious decline and something had to be done. Commercial fishing and charter angling had to go their separate ways. Local licensing was swapped for a National Code of Practise and boat angling customers started to demand more than just fish; they wanted fast comfortable boats, with deck space that was specifically kitted out for rod and line fishing, and a good day out. This meant that skippers had to invest in state of the art and safer vessels instead of using commercial trawling style vessels to do the job. Chartering started to break free from its commercial fishing routes and a new day of British Sport Fishing was born! The mind set of skippers also changed, realising that although the sea fishing in the UK was still good, something had to be done to safeguard the future of fish stocks, not only for anglers but for future skippers and boat owners too.

No longer do competitions and competition committees support bringing dead fish to the scales just for points, and no longer do many skippers allow groups to take more fish per day than what is morally right for the table. But as yet, this has not been enough and the British Charter Fishing community still doesn’t have a big enough voice despite its necessary and voluntary changes. Today British charter skippers find that they are still subject to rules which were designed to govern commercial fishing.

Political correctness and appeasing the general public reigns high in our society, and although angling groups have lobbied parliament, are now frequently involved in national DEFRA meetings and have RSA {recreational sea fishing} representatives on most local SEA FISH committees - it still remains an up hill slog with Charter Angling, with the revenue it creates for the UK economy still not being taken seriously. Recent battles include increasing the MLS {minimum landing size} for bass! The battles between visiting angling boats and commercial fishing in the Channel Islands! Sea angling rod and line licences which, if fees are used properly and put back into the sport and they do not become another tax, that’s fine! But now the South Coast, in particular Weymouth, boats have come under serious threat being caught in the backlash of a local bylaw, which has not only been poorly written, but one which was clearly intended for commercial fishing and not rod and line angling! And this doesn’t even take into consideration rising fuel prices which are putting less booked skippers out of business daily!

Weymouth is the UK’s leading angling port, with many of the countries top skippers, and is also home to the UK’s top charter angling directory website www.deepsea.co.uk which has over one hundred conservation minded skippers advertising on its pages. A group of proactive skipper members from deepsea.co.uk, the Professional Boatman's Association & Weymouth & Portland Licensed Skippers Association; along with many other UK skippers have kicked back and started their own conservation campaign called “Recycle Fish” which is open to anybody who loves fish. The Recycle Fish team had this to say:

“We’ve come along way in the last decade but recreational sea angling and its contribution to each local economy is still not being taken seriously enough against commercial fishing. The rules created to protect commercial fishing are not helping us. Today’s skippers are conservation minded and it’s about time that UK boat angling was taken on its own merits and not governed by the same rules that govern commercial fishing. We do not fish commercially, therefore we shouldn’t come under the same banner or rules that our commercial fishing colleagues do and it’s about time somebody recognised this! As anglers and skippers we have a vested interest in the future of UK fish stocks as without this we have no future. We use rods and reels, not nets and trawls, and we can only catch fish that are feeding unlike our commercial counterparts. In light of this we have now decided to launch our own campaign – Recycle Fish!

Recycle fish is a campaign to show governing authorities and the general public that we, as charter skippers, small boat owners and boat anglers care about our future fish stocks and we want that recognised. Recycle fish has no catch and release rules and no minimum landing sizes - it is a campaign to emphasise that whoever supports us and uses our logo, be it a skipper on his boat, or an angler on his car or tackle box, that they understand that fish conservation is paramount and that they understand catch &release/minimum fish sizes relative to the area in which they fish. We could write fish size and fish keep rules, but as each sea area and it’s native species are so very different, we’d rather leave it down to the conviction of each and every angler and skipper to do what they know is right, because in this day and age most do. If they wear the Recycle Fish logo, we know, and the general public know, that in simple terms they know what is right and they know and support what has to be done to see the future of our sport grow !It need not be said for those that don’t support ‘Recycle Fish!’ End of story! We hope then that people will see that we are serious. Hopefully the tackle trade will support us too! If we don’t all group together now – what will be next…?”

Deepsea.co.uk is the UK’s leading charter angling website and charter boat directory and Weymouth is clearly the UK’s leading sport-fishing port, with catch and release being a priority of all its skippers. By example Weymouth skippers, their anglers and the Deepsea.co.uk website, along with the support of the Weymouth & Portland Licensed Skippers Association will now use their voice via the “Recycle Fish” campaign to enforce that all UK charter skippers, all anglers and anybody else with a passion for fish alike support conservation for the future of our fish and fishing, including legal fish take sizes and voluntary catch and release limits, as long as rules that are written specifically for commercial fishing take into account rod and line anglers (RSA’s). The Recycle Fish team went on to say…

“We have no problems with any rules that are written for commercial fishing to protect and promote fish stocks, as long as they take angling into consideration. We want to see fish stocks stabilise and increase! But we cannot come under the same banner as our commercial fishing colleagues – our personal licensing is different, our boats come under more stringent rules and inspections and are fitted to different standards. We catch fish by different methods, from different places and we cannot have the same impact on fish stocks that commercial fishing does, so we need to be governed differently. We do support conservation, and we do support rules, so we would now ask that ALL skippers from around the UK, all boat anglers and everybody else who has an interest in fish to support us in our quest to see angling governed differently or at least treated on its own merits. Its time we had a sport fishing industry and fish protection like other countries and we urge to you to help us change this. We urge everybody to join with us and help. This is the people’s campaign for the people’s fish!”

Recycle fish is a silent campaign which will use a cleverly designed logo derived from the European recycle rubbish logo. The idea and the motivation behind this campaign is to get every conservation minded charter skipper, boat owner, angler and anybody else who supports sea fish conservation including shore anglers, divers and the general public, wearing the logo on their boats, cars and tackle boxes. Then everybody will clearly see just how many people support fish conservation. What a voice!

www.deepsea.co.uk, who is leading and sponsoring the promotion of “Recycle Fish”, will be giving away free recycle fish logo stickers via the deepsea website, There are small stickers available free of charge for anglers, divers, private boat owners and the general public who love fish or fishing; and larger versions for the wheelhouses of charter boats for charter skippers. All you have to do is log onto deepsea and sign the online petition. If you don’t have access to the internet perhaps you could get somebody to do this on your behalf. This collection of names is imperative to the “Recycle Fish” team and will form a list of registered supporters for all conservation networks when fighting for our fish conservation at higher levels.

Sign up at http://www.deepsea.co.uk/forum/recycle_fish/recycle_fish_forum.htm

When you have registered on the petition, all you need do is send an A5 size S.A.E. to Recycle Fish, 10 Portwey Close, Weymouth, Dorset, DT4 8RF, for your free Recycle Fish logo stickers for your tackle box or car. Skippers: Please sign up too! Send an A4 S.A.E. to the above address for your free large wheelhouse stickers. Your stickers will then be posted to you free of charge.

Recycle Fish is the UK’s only ‘FISH ONLY’ campaign to protect fish stocks and promote boat angling for future generations. Please get on board today, sign the petition, wear the logo and do your bit to stop bureaucracy, support our angling related businesses and safeguard the future of our sport for generations to come.