COMPULSORY CATCH AND RELEASE

[tayspringer]

With the desperate lack of spring salmon. Should beats enforce the rule that all fish must be returned including those that are allegedly bleeding from mouth. It is arguable that those fish that are supposedly bleeding may not survive or is this the obvious answer form the angler who kills everything they catch.

[scottyjock]

Voted no

Compulsory anything should be avoided in my opinion.

[Fruin]

I think that the message is getting across that most of what we catch should be returned. I am against compusory C&R in principle because we anglers are still expected to pay a premium for fishing for a fine eating fish, without the ability to take one home for the table
Does anybody ever hear the owners say - "Let's reduce the angling pressure as a conservation measure" ? No, what we hear them say is - "Let's keep the angling pressure the same, but force the anglers to return all that they catch, if they don't we'll keep their fish, and then we'll put the prices up year on year." Only in salmon fishing

[tynetraveller]

I don't like the word compulsary either, but I agree that spring salmon should be protected- Certainly I would support a strong recommendation that no fish should be killed before the end of April and that no fish other than bright silver fish should be killed at any time of the year. This would protect the springers, that have a 50% plus chance of being caught in many rivers. I believe that the decline in Springers is in a large part due to us fisherman.

[salmonking]

All spring fish should be returned,yes,i'd go with that,say end of April,then sensible attitude after,inc c&r.

[bobrobert]

salmonking said:

All spring fish should be returned,yes,i'd go with that,say end of April,then sensible attitude after,inc c&r.

How do you enforce such measures I have yet to hear of a good scheme
You would need an army of Bailiffs to enforce it An angler said to me the other day Why is it if the fish are scarce that fishing is still allowed If they were an endangered species should we not be stopped from fishing for them Other animals that are endangered are no longer hunted Should angling fall in line?

[bobrobert]

The river that I normally fish has a bad element that fish to sell their catch Does the English rivers that you quote got the same problem

[Sloggi]

Protecting spring fish through C&R is a good step regardless of how plentiful they are. If, in ten years, the spring run matches the autumn run then I still think we should refrain from returning to the days when multiple fish kills were a common sight and even the "norm".

However, if the issue is the lack of spring fish then until serious measures are undertaken to improve sea and river habitats, we can realease every fish of the year and I doubt numbers will improve very much if at all

[windcutter]

Voted yes
Given the scarcity of spring fish I do not understand how killing even one helps the situation.

[tayspringer]

In scotland it is illegal to sell any rod caught salmon. I presume those who state that they sell their fish are not from scotland!!!!!!

[bobrobert]

You are correct but it is very difficult to stop I believe that it isn't illegal for anyone including a fishmonger to buy them

[salmonking]

bobrobert said:

salmonking said:

All spring fish should be returned,yes,i'd go with that,say end of April,then sensible attitude after,inc c&r.

How do you enforce such measures I have yet to hear of a good scheme
You would need an army of Bailiffs to enforce it An angler said to me the other day Why is it if the fish are scarce that fishing is still allowed If they were an endangered species should we not be stopped from fishing for them Other animals that are endangered are no longer hunted Should angling fall in line?

Sensible minded anglers can police situations,,if you have the GUTS to do so.

[juniorspey]

it IS illeagle to BUY rod caught salmon in Scotland, if its on the menu and the police turn up, you must have proof of purchase from a licensed dealer.............or so I believe!!!!

[scottyjock]

salmonking said:

Sensible minded anglers can police situations,,if you have the GUTS to do so.

Hand on heart could you tell another angler that he has done the wrong thing killing humanely a badly bleeding fish.

Jock

[splash]

juniorspey said:

it IS illeagle to BUY rod caught salmon in scotland, if its on the menu and the police turn up, you must have proof of purchase from a licensed dealer.............or so I believe!!!!

I guess the issue is a compound one balancing both compliance and revenue generation. For me, its completely obvious that PC Plod would much rather be hanging around Edinburgh Airport at 11.15pm putting parking tickets on the cars of any person unfortunate to be in the vicinity wanting to pick up their partner, than deal with a "victimless" crime like selling a few chapped wild salmon to the local eaterie. This is Scotland after all, and both precedence, and our history demonstrates that we will never,ever deal properly with issues of this nature. Its like that great quote from the film version of Trainspotting about Scotland, and I paraphrase; "This is Scotland, we will never learn and its completely shite!" I wonder how many restaurants have been prosecuted for this sort of criminal offence in recent years, very few I would venture although anyone who fishes on one of our major rivers is always privy to information that wild fish are being supplied to individual local establishments. Look also at the recent discussions on this Forum around the C&R debate after big fish kills on, for example, the Association Waters of the Spey; a number of posters were in total denial that this had happened and, to some extent, you can't blame for fear of reprisal and ultimately this is really where the problem lies. The US have dealt with this type of issue efficiently in terms of a rigorously enforced state licence system but we are light years away from that in the UK and need to appeal to the individual anglers moral compass to make things work. I'm not too hopeful that this is the correct policy framework to conserve the future of the atlantic salmon in Scotland but hey ho we are Scottish and we never learn.....

Splash

[salmonking]

scottyjock said:

salmonking said:

Sensible minded anglers can police situations,,if you have the GUTS to do so.

Hand on heart could you tell another angler that he has done the wrong thing killing humanely a badly bleeding fish.

Jock

No,but in the past iv'e met anglers with two or more fish,and let them know what i think,,,even had a chancer with three fish off our beat ,,"tell you what he'll not chance fishing there again".
i'm glad to say its one fish per angler nowadays on our local river.

[williegunn]

splash said:

Look also at the recent discussions on this Forum around the C&R debate after big fish kills on, for example, the Association Waters of the Spey; a number of posters were in total denial that this had happened and, to some extent, you can't blame for fear of reprisal and ultimately this is really where the problem lies.
Splash

Define big; I never disputed a few fish had been killed, but I did dispute the fact that everything was being killed. At that time, prior to 1st July, it was permissible to retain every second fish, WLAF secret observer could not have known whether the anglers had already caught and returned fish during the season.

[castlikeaghille]

williegunn said:

splash said:

Look also at the recent discussions on this Forum around the C&R debate after big fish kills on, for example, the Association Waters of the Spey; a number of posters were in total denial that this had happened and, to some extent, you can't blame for fear of reprisal and ultimately this is really where the problem lies.
Splash

Define big; I never disputed a few fish had been killed, but I did dispute the fact that everything was being killed. At that time, prior to 1st July, it was permissible to retain every second fish, WLAF secret observer could not have known whether the anglers had already caught and returned fish during the season.

Emperor "observers" plural. You know they can't have their names posted, and you know fine why. So by all means excercise your privilege and carry on being an apologist for the undefendable. However, there are a lot of very experienced fishers out here who know what goes on; your statements cut no ice with us.

Regards

WLAF (aka CLaG)

[sagecaster]

scottyjock said:

salmonking said:

Sensible minded anglers can police situations,,if you have the GUTS to do so.

Hand on heart could you tell another angler that he has done the wrong thing killing humanely a badly bleeding fish.

Jock

I have done so, it was coloured too, I don't think he gave it a fair chance to recover although it was bleeding from the mouth quite badly, I still think left alone it would have fully recovered

[flee]

I think that catch and release is a good thing but if like myself you like the taste of wild salmon or sea trout I don,t see a problem in taking an odd fish for the dinner table . It's the same old story mans greed is greater than mans need.
"You don,t have to kill everything you catch" is what you need to get through to some people,these are the ones that probably don't even eat the fish they catch but they give them away to Friends, not really the kind gesture that you may be thinking I suspect it is more along the lines of "look at how successful an angler I am" kind of thing.
Anglers no matter what type have a responsibility to help preserve the thing that gives them so much.