As you know we have a closed season here in Ireland and have benifited from it greatly please look after your fishing and adopt a close season. All over the world it has been proven that recreational angling is worth far more to the economy that commerical fishing. DO THE RIGHT THING.
I now live in Western Australia, and while the saltwater fishing here is fantastic, i miss my bass fishing badly. Great fish such as this need respect and protection - lets help maintain the stocks for future generations!
The authorities must realise that the long term interests of tourism should rank higher than short term fishing interests. Note should be taken of other areas of the World where the seas have been cleared of fish to non sustainable levels, there is only short term profit in such activity.
I went there last year to achieve a personal goal of a fish over 9 and half pounds. I achieved it on the second drop and left. I only wanted the one fish and I only caught one. One fish, one personal best, One happy angler some would say. It was for the pot however, so i opened it up to find it was a female full of eggs. I felt sick in to stomach.The personal achievement thing went straight out the window. Its no different in some ways to Crabbers getting lobsters in their pots and scrapping out the eggs from the females, and i've seen that done. Lets leave them to breed, they'll be lots more later for everyone don't you think, I now I will never be going back, personal best or not.
The potential for Guernsey tourism as a centre of excellence for bass fishing is seriously undermined by allowing unsustainable short term exploitation as a commercial fishery.
The fish, like the angling tourists, will not return.
Our family have visited Guernsey several times before and are keen anglers. We spend a lot of money on accomodation, food, car hire, gifts, bait, tackle etc.
We will choose to go elsewhere until this short sighted, unsustainable practice is stopped.
A group of friends and myself regularly visit Guernsey for its fishing ,but have all agreed until this needless slaughter is stopped we will not be returning
This slaughter of bass at their most vulnerable is bound to affect the number and size of bass available to anglers and therefore their wish to fish for them (anywhere). It is also leading to carnage for dolphins.
The availability of fish stocks for recreational use is a big factor in decisions regarding my annual holidays. If the powers want my £1200-1500 (thats how much I spend on my fishing holiday), then they must earn it...I had to, so must they.
Healthy stocks of fish and bass in particular would certainly encourage me to visit Guernsey. Currently I travel to Ireland because of their protction of bass.
I never want to hear the words "What were Bass Dad" 'Cos I never want to reply that they were fish that those people in power and those who fished for them, who could protect them just didn't care if they existed or didn't.
i used to fish in the channel islands twenty years ago and the bass fishing was awesome,i went back last year and i was appalled at the lack of fish,not only bass, the fishing in general was terrible.
so unless we do something soon the fishing is only going to get worse.
You wouldn,t shoot a nesting bird, so why decimate Bass when they are breeding.These are one of the slowest growing sea fish and deserve all of the help they can get!
Don't let bass go the way of so many others that have been overfished. I don't want to be telling my grand children about how they were wiped out through overfishing in 40 years time.
Save them! It takes years to grow decent, seconds to devastate. Save them, or sooner will just exist rock fishing.... A new sport were we are supposed to catch rocks with a rod... HELP THEM! Exist lots of bass in Portugal too...
My support to protection of the Bass! This sportfish have in recent years started to appear also in Denmark as a guest, and we do support these kind of moves to protect sea fish as well.
Peter
You have my support and i hope you achieve your goal. All species need time to rest and time to spawn, allowing the fish to do so can only benefit all in the future.
Anglers matter to your economy. As several others have said, look to Ireland and see the measures they have introduced to protect their valuable bass stocks.
Like others I travel to Ireland every year because of the bass fishing. If Guernsey could offer the same quality of bass fishing then I would travel there to fish.
I would love to come to the Chanel Islands for my fishing holidays but will carry on going to Ireland instead until you sort this mess out.
Listen to the scientific advice and follow Irelands lead in bass conservation and you will see massive increases in angling tourism.
Bass fishing has the potential to generate tourist based income far in excess of the value of comercial explotation. It would be a short sighted and ecologically disaterous act to allow bass stocks to be endangered by this thoughtless action
I am a Bass angler. I spend a lot of money each year on my Bass fishing. I will not even consider visiting Guernsey while the despicable act of pair trawling for spawning Bass is allowed to continue off off the Guernsey coastline
Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will we realise that money cannot be eaten.
- Cree Indian saying
