This Is Guernsey

By Joel de Woolfson

FORCING recreational fishermen to record their catches is unmanageable, according to Guernsey Press angling correspondent Len Le Page (pictured).

The European Union wants to change the way fishing quotas are distributed.

Every member nation currently has a quota for commercial fishing but, under the proposal, recreational catches would count against the total allowed.

Recreational sea anglers would need to be allocated a share of the national quota and the move looks set to infuriate commercial and spare-time fishermen alike.

Lobbying against the proposal has already begun in the UK by organisations that do not want to see Britain’s 1.4m. sea anglers have their hobby turned into a laborious form-filling exercise.

Any new rules would automatically apply locally, Commerce and Employment has confirmed, but Mr Le Page questioned how the new regulation, likely to come into effect in 2013, would be enforced.

‘Imagine an angler coming to Guernsey and going out and catching three mackerel,’ he said.

‘Now, is he (a) going to know about the new regulation? (b) Will he bother to record his catch and give that record to someone? And (c) how would you police it to make sure he did?

‘Charter vessels that come to Guernsey could be managed because they are usually 20-30ft long and the captain knows what has been caught. But with the smaller boats, it’s completely unmanageable.

‘The question is, who will it apply to? Will it apply to shore anglers as well? Will it apply to small-time anglers who aren’t members of a club and only go out on nice sunny days? We don’t know the answer yet because it’s too early.

‘The proposal is very much in its infancy and most anglers haven’t even heard about it.

‘The mind boggles at the bureaucracy.’

Many UK charter vessels use Bailiwick waters and Chris Morris, sea fisheries officer at Commerce and Employment, said he expected that to continue even if the proposal came into being.

‘It is unlikely that the completion of a logbook will deter any charter vessels from visiting the islands,’ he said.

But if limits based on the national quota are put on how many fish can be caught, Mr Le Page thinks they will be put off.

‘The big charters that come from the UK probably charge £200 per person and they are not going to carry on coming if they are told that, at the end of their trip, they can take home only a couple of fish,’ he said.

‘This proposal is going to be very messy. It’s a very complex, multi-sided argument.

‘But I think if you added up all of the Guernsey anglers’ catches for a year, you would still get a figure far less than what the big trawlers catch in a week.’

Article posted on 26th January, 2009 - 2.29pm