I received this email today from BASS and thought it worth sharing with readers.
Good evening guys, I hope you do not mind me sending you a copy of these two emails from BASS but I thought I would circulate them in case you were interested and would like to do something to save our bass
The species is at a crucial point in its decline. Anglers have been warning for 50 years that too many bass have been killed and still the politicians have allowed the situation to deteriorate to the present awful stock levels.
The more anglers speak up the better the chance of real success in limiting catches to a level that will allow the species to recover.
It would be great if you could find the time to email European and British fishery ministers and civil servants as BASS suggest. I have already done so.
Kind regards and thanks for reading this.
David Wilson
Urgent Last Chance!
EU Consultation: Fish Sea Bass Sustainably.
View this email in your browser
Latest ICES Sea Bass assessment shows spawning stock at an all time low.
Dear Save Our Sea Bass Subscriber
http://www.saveourseabass.org/en/send-email/
We have some important news for you.
On 30 June, ICES issued a new bass assessment. It warns that the bass spawning stock is now at an all-time low and that there is now a risk that the stock’s ability to regenerate itself is compromised. ICES have therefore recommended a full moratorium for 2017.
We have previously advised the Fisheries politicians and managers that we should restrict the bass fishery to sustainable fishing only: recreational angling and commercial hook and line fishing (excluding long-lines). This advice was not followed and, predictably, the stock is now in deep trouble and so a moratorium is needed.
We are concerned that, even now, the Fisheries politicians may give in to commercial lobbying pressure to allow unsustainable commercial bass fishing to continue. We therefore need to send a strong and clear message to the Fisheries politicians and managers, telling them that their existing policy has failed and that from now on we want the bass fishery managed so as to deliver the greatest long term benefits to society, and that means restricting it to sustainable fishing only.
We hope that a moratorium will create some breathing space for the bass stock to recover. But if it does, will we just see the fishery re-opened to unsustainable commercial fishing, so that the destruction of the stock can start over again? We must not let that happen.
You will see that we have just completely updated the Save Our Sea Bass website. We have also started a brand new campaign to email the Fisheries politicians and managers now that they are digesting the ICES advice and are considering how to react. We would ask you to support this email campaign by sending an email and encouraging members of your family and friends to send an email too. If you can help to promote the email campaign via social media too, that would be fantastic.
And finally, a special word for our French Subscribers and comrades in arms! We understand that your Fisheries Minister, Alain Vidalies, is only interested in supporting the commercial bass fishermen and has no interest in listening to what French anglers or conservationists want. However, he cannot act alone, he has to make his case on bass to other EU Member States and the EU Commission. The more French people send emails objecting to unsustainable commercial bass fishing, the more difficult it becomes for Vidalies to sustain his argument – the other EU Member States in the negotiation will be able to tell him that he is not properly representing the wishes of the people of France. We urge you to take part in the new email campaign and to spread the message widely across France.
Best wishes from the Save Our Sea Bass team.
http://www.saveourseabass.org/en/send-email/
