Specimen anglers and species hunters are being reminded to return all bass alive to the sea from now until July 1st 2016 in line with the EU conservation measures for 2016.
The Angling Trust has agreed to implement a ‘measure & release’ rule for anglers who wish to enter bass caught into its popular Sea Specimen Awards Scheme between now and July 1st 2016. This rule will allow specimen fish to be recorded based on the total length of bass allowing anglers fishing from the shore, or without access to certified scales at the point of capture of a specimen fish, to measure fish before returning them alive to the sea.
Specimen weights have been converted into lengths using the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network’s (SSACN) Give Fish A Chance online converter. The changes to the scheme will begin immediately and the rules of the scheme will be amended accordingly.
Credit: Matt Powell, Fishing and Foraging Wales
Anglers competing in the Angling Trust’s popular Species Hunt challenge are also being reminded to return all bass caught until July 1st. Any pictures of bass entered that look to be dead or taken away from the point of capture will not be accepted.
Recreational anglers have always sort to preserve stocks of all species of fish and many years ago formulated a ‘catch & release’ scheme for both boat and shore competitions. More recently the Specimen Awards Scheme introduced a ‘weighed at sea’ category to allow anglers to return protected or threatened species that would have previously been required to be weighed on land to claim a Specimen Award.
The inclusion of ‘measure & release’ in the Sea Specimen Award Scheme reflects a legal requirement for bass caught by recreational anglers to be returned during the first six months of 2016 as well as the hard-fought campaign by the Angling Trust to allow the ‘catch & release’ of bass during this period. From July 1st until the end of 2016 recreational anglers will be allowed to retain one bass per day.
