You may well have already heard the fantastic news about the implementation of Emergency measures banning midwater trawling for spawning aggregation of bass in the areas they shoal up in prior to breeding (see here: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/cf/mare/itemdetail.cfm?item_id=20186&lang=en )
This is the response of Nigel Horsman, the man who has led the the BASS campaign:
“This is a great day for Dicentrarchus Labrax, the fabulous European Sea Bass. This news is what we have been working so hard and waiting so long for. We very much hope the measures to be taken on other commercial fishing methods, together with the proposed restrictions on recreational sea angling will add up, with the ban on pair trawling of the pre spawning aggregations, in total, to the 80% cut in catches advised as necessary by ICES. We also look forward to the production of a long term management plan for bass, which will lead to healthy stocks of all sizes of bass for the benefit of everyone who uses this stock sustainably.
I would like to pay tribute to the fantastic work of everyone in the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society (BASS) who campaigned for this for many years before me and for everyone both inside and outside BASS who have helped me over the last 4 years that I have headed up this campaign for BASS. The strength and breadth of that support has been invaluable in achieving this amazing result and I would, if I could, like to thank everyone who has helped personally. This proves that we can achieve great things together when we really put our minds to it.
We know that recruitment to the adult stock will be weak for the next few years, but I hope these measures will ensure that the current stock remains broadly stable until environmental conditions allow a full stock recovery, which we can cherish and then enjoy great British Bass fishing for many years to come. I very much look forward to that.
Nigel Horsman
Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society