The Commission published a proposal Wednesday (4 September) , which, if adopted by the ministers, would reinstate the one bass bag-limit as from the 1st of October.
We have pushed for this to happen since December last year when it was decided that only catch and release would be allowed this year. More force was added to our lobby efforts in July when a revised ICES advice showed that the recreational bass fishing mortality estimate should be about ten times lower than what it was in the original advice from last year, which formed the basis and the justification for this year`s retention ban.
We are awaiting the ministers adoption of the proposal, which could be very soon - surely in due time to take effect from the 1st of October.
We would have liked to see this had been processed and put into effect earlier (1st of July) but the revised
ICES advice came out too late for that to happen and vacation time kicked in too.
If we could decide there should be a three bass bag limit in October, November and December, which we find would be fair to us without harm done to the bass population everything considered. The ministers can still decide that bag limit, if they want to - but don`t hold your breath.