BFMP – 1
The Bass Fishery is actually quite complex in many ways. It’s a ‘non-quota species’ which means it’s not subject to any significant controls but is VERY important to the Commercial Industry – particularly the under 10 fleet, in certain areas. Bass are very slow-growing fish, showing strong site fidelity – this means groups of fish will live and feed in very defined areas, returning year after year to the same spots. This makes them vulnerable to overfishing and spots can be wiped out easily, taking years to recover. On top of this, they tend to move to spawning areas such as the South West, during the winter, where Pre Spawning, Spawning, and Post Spawning aggregations are targeted by the netters, doing a lot of damage. During this time, landings go up significantly, which ironically drives down the value of the fish. So prime spawning fish including ‘BOFFFS’ are not only killed but worth considerably less in value to the commercial fleet. Taking the prime fish out of the stock like this is detrimental to not only RSA but the commercial fleet themselves….
When you also consider that at 42cm – the current MLS, which took years and years of work by BASS to get it raised to, ONLY 50% of Bass at that size have had a chance to reproduce!
The current logic of the Bass Fishery Management is seriously flawed, like many other species, and needs a total overhaul.
The other irony to all this is the Commercials will fight to change all the way, BUT more and bigger Bass means they will eventually be able to land less fish and get more money for them (bigger fish are more valuable) and use less fuel doing so, so a ‘win, win’ for the Environment too.
Hopefully, the BASS Proposal Doc below, which is a work of art IMO, will work.
Reading this through will give you all an insight into the species as a whole, and the many issues in managing the stock moving forwards…..
Bass FMP Survey Response
Maximum Sustainable Yield
