Heysham Bass Nursery Areas Latest

[divedog]

why is it not a catch and relese zone and no netting

[Padsta Tel]

People can't be trusted to relese there catch if they get one in size they still take them home.

[mush]

It is very admirable that so many anglers have expressed concern on this forum regarding the Morecambe Bay Bass stocks and the very real need to conserve them. Unfortunately I believe that the angling ban at the outfalls is misguided and a complete waste of time and only serves to tick a box IFCA in that they can know demonstrate that they have introduced measures to protect the species.
Yes it was very frustrating to watch unscrupulous anglers catch and retain large numbers of undersized Bass whilst fishing the outfalls with what appeared to be complete immunity from prosecution by IFCA. This may have been due to limited resources within ICFA, a lack of evidence or an unwillingness to prosecute, I don’t know.

What I do know is;

The local Bass fishing is know worse than it was prior to the outfall angling ban,
I can no longer fish for Conger eels at the outfalls or at the base of the extension
The harbour South Round Head can no longer be fished.

Morecambe has always had a number of local gill netting boats that target Bass in the Bay, these boats fish on a part time basis and have done so for many years apparently without much effect on the fish stocks.
Unfortunately gill netting boats from Fleetwood appear to have decimated there own local stocks and are know targeting areas North of Heysham harbour.
These boats use two nets each approximately 500mts in length, one attached to the boat and one drifting free 1000mts of nets per boat over a twelve hour period between the harbour and VVV leisure, and there are often two boats operating. At low water these nets span the whole width of the various channels, probably emptying them of any bass that may be there.
How they found out about our local marks and Bass stocks I don’t know, Internet sites, banter in local tackle shops or a phone call from a local I don’t know, however many of the areas they are know netting require a degree of local knowledge to navigate.
There have even been reports of shore anglers fishing local low water marks whilst wading the various channels out there in the bay coming close to being entangled in there nets as they drifted passed.
Make no mistake these netters have absolutely no regard to the long term sustainability of our Bass stocks, they are in it for the money and will fish until there is nothing left to catch. There are even un proven reports of them drifting there nets through the conservation area at the outfalls as they start to head back to Fleetwood knowing full well that there will be no anglers fishing there to witness and report there activities.
Go for a walk at half moon bay three hours into the ebb and you will most probably see at least one netting boat operating, they look like small angling boats except for the red net marker buoys close bye.
As Paul stated in his posts, it is thought that bass return to the same areas every year, so are these netting boats this is there second year in Morecambe. They are all licensed and apparently operating within the ICFA regulations. These boats will catch more mature breeding fish than all the local anglers put together. Quit ironic really we will soon have a bass conservation area with no undersized fish to protect.