Irish Bass Need Our Help - 12/02/2010

For a number of years now, bass in Ireland have been reserved for the recreational bass fishery (subject to bag limits and the closed season).

Although the law has been poorly enforced and with poaching rife, this has still generally meant more and better fish than are available to UK anglers, which has attracted many anglers from across Europe to experience a better class of bassing. But, of course, the commercials hate to see such an opportunity to turn fish into euros wasted and are seeking to allow Irish fishermen to be allowed to fish for bass offshore. This is where the Irish bass go to spawn and, of course, if Irish fishing vessels are allowed to land bass again it will become difficult to know from exactly where they have been caught!

Many small businesses in Ireland have been built around angling tourism, and now face the prospect of those tourist euros being spent elsewhere. Also, a showcase fishery would be lost to European anglers campaigning for better fishing closer to home.

So, your help is needed in resisting the calls that the commercial lobby is making. Please sign the petition at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/sbbce/