Post by seajunky on Apr 23, 2009 20:26:14 GMT -12
Managing recreational sea angling
Recreational sea angling is widely carried out around the UK coast, but received little
attention until recently, when its profile was raised by a number of Government reports.
There is very little formal information available on sea angling activity and limited past
experience of managing sea fisheries in the face of competing interests from the commercial
and recreational fishing sectors.
Cefas scientists have recently begun a project to improve understanding and management of
species of interest to sea angling such as bass, cod, tope, grey mullet and flounder. They will
be examining past management experience in relation to the status of these species, and will
be collecting detailed catch and effort data from a sample of anglers, as well as historic data
from angling clubs and competitions. The results of competitions held by sea angling clubs
may provide local figures for fish abundance, and information on the distribution of anglers’
catch rates and average fish size (Figure 8). These data will be used to help quantify the
extent and catch rates of sea angling and its potential impact on commonly caught species
of sea fish.
The project will also include an economic study to quantify costs and benefits that might
result from potential management changes for commercial and recreational bass fisheries
using valuation techniques that are comparable between fisheries sectors.
Information on the production of young bass has been extended into the Celtic Sea by
obtaining a new dataset for the numbers of these fish trapped by the Hinkley Point power
station cooling system (Figure 9). Preliminary examination of these data indicates broadly
similar fluctuations as seen in Cefas data for other regions. This will inform scientists and
managers about the potential availability of bass to important bass fisheries in this area.
Figure 8: Distribution of anglers’ catches (number of fish) in a major sea angling
competition. Average number of fish caught per angler by those weighing in was 2,
but this fell to 0.4 if those not weighing were assumed not to have caught any fish.
Recreational sea angling is widely carried out around the UK coast, but received little
attention until recently, when its profile was raised by a number of Government reports.
There is very little formal information available on sea angling activity and limited past
experience of managing sea fisheries in the face of competing interests from the commercial
and recreational fishing sectors.
Cefas scientists have recently begun a project to improve understanding and management of
species of interest to sea angling such as bass, cod, tope, grey mullet and flounder. They will
be examining past management experience in relation to the status of these species, and will
be collecting detailed catch and effort data from a sample of anglers, as well as historic data
from angling clubs and competitions. The results of competitions held by sea angling clubs
may provide local figures for fish abundance, and information on the distribution of anglers’
catch rates and average fish size (Figure 8). These data will be used to help quantify the
extent and catch rates of sea angling and its potential impact on commonly caught species
of sea fish.
The project will also include an economic study to quantify costs and benefits that might
result from potential management changes for commercial and recreational bass fisheries
using valuation techniques that are comparable between fisheries sectors.
Information on the production of young bass has been extended into the Celtic Sea by
obtaining a new dataset for the numbers of these fish trapped by the Hinkley Point power
station cooling system (Figure 9). Preliminary examination of these data indicates broadly
similar fluctuations as seen in Cefas data for other regions. This will inform scientists and
managers about the potential availability of bass to important bass fisheries in this area.
Figure 8: Distribution of anglers’ catches (number of fish) in a major sea angling
competition. Average number of fish caught per angler by those weighing in was 2,
but this fell to 0.4 if those not weighing were assumed not to have caught any fish.