GUERNSEY angling needs a louder, unified voice if its concerns about the overfishing of bass are to be heard. Huge catches of spawning bass in the Channel over the past three months have caused a furore that shows little sign of abating.

But Guernsey’s recreational anglers are too fragmented, according to local angler Len Le Page.

‘The problem is that angling in Guernsey is too easy,’ he said.

‘Some of my mates in the UK have to get up at 4am, drive for a couple of hours, fish and then drive back the same length of time to get home. I could, if I wanted to, just pop home, get my rod and be fishing within a few minutes.

‘People here think that fishing will go on forever. It’s led to apathy.

‘All the clubs get along by mutual consent. If one club’s fishing off Herm one weekend, another will do it the weekend after.

‘There’s no overall body like the Guernsey Football Association or the Guernsey Cricket Association,’ he said.

‘It means everything goes fine until something serious happens, such as the bass complaints.’

Bass have been brought ashore in huge numbers, prompting concerns that the stocks were being over-fished.

‘The bass landed by Guernsey’s commercial fishermen and anglers proved to be a very small percentage of the total overall catch, for it is known that trawlers even came down from Scotland to join the English and French boats who were taking full advantage of the large shoals.

‘Hundreds of tons have been taken into ports in the UK and France. On one day alone, 21 tons were brought into Plymouth, which caused the price to slump to £1.40 per kg,’ he said.

The situation has brought a sharp reaction from both commercial and angling organisations.

The South-West Handline Fishermen’s Association, which represents commercial fishermen’s interests, has called for a ban on mid-water pair trawling inside the 12-mile limit not only to stop the plunder of spawning bass but also to reduce the death of an increasing number of dolphins.

The Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society is calling for a close season from 1 January to 31 March, with the ban applying to both commercial and sport fishermen.

In addition, it wants a phased increase in the bass size limits from 36cm to 55cm.

The Cornwall Federation of Sea Anglers is demanding an immediate closure of offshore mid-water pair trawling by the larger fishing vessels.

And the National Federation of Sea Anglers has told the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs that conservation measures must be taken in the interests of both recreational sea anglers and the commercial fishing industry.

‘Representations have already been made up to British government level in a bid to introduce some form of restriction on the catching of spawning bass,’ said Le Page.

However, he warned that anglers should not get excited about a quick solution to the situation, for strong opposition from the commercial fishermen would be certain.

‘It will take a considerable time for the government and EU bureaucrats to take any action and it’s extremely unlikely that any decisions will be made before the 2005 spawning season begins,’ he said.

‘Locally, there has been much informed discussion, but no requests have been made to the States on the possibility of any Bailiwick restrictions.