Marine Bill

[headless]

Has anyone seen the marine bill?

It states that all Zander are not to be returned to any waters

Angling clubs can not state as part of their club rules that all Zander have to be returned as they will be in breach of the new regulations

The worrying thing is it will give the green light to the Polish etc... anglers to remove what Zander they want as clubs can not do anything if they purchase a day ticket and have a rod licence

As far as I am concerned I will be returning every single Zander I catch

Darrell

[tjnorton]

Don't want to sound daft as there are no zeds near where I live but why are they not to be returned?

tj

[headless]

Below is part of a quote from Steve Younger (Zander speciaist) there is more which I will add if people are interested

I have just been informed that the new marine bill, which becomes law in 4 weeks time will clearly state that all non indigenous species ie zander must not be returned to the water after capture & must be killed. This amendment was put forward by guess who, Natural England, the anglers number 1 enemy, & was accepted by the EA. If you are caught returning zander after capture you will be liable to criminal prosecution & for fines of up to £5,000 !! Where in hell were the angling trust when this amendment was tabled, & if they did know about it why firstly didn't they oppose it & secondly why weren't we informed ??
This is outrageous & must be fought by as many of us as possible because this will just be the thin end of the wedge & more laws discriminating against angling will surely follow. Lets see what anglings saviours "the angling trust & the magnificent 7" can do for us now shall we

The closing date for sending objections to the bill was 20th Jan 2010

Darrell

[philipn]

looks like someones gonna get reamed over that so someone catches a record zanda puts it in for ie fish of the month then kills it ouch its gonna hurt

[fullcreel]

As I understand it, Zander were first introduced into this country smetime in the 19C, (1878 at Woburn), and into the Creat Ouse Relief Channel in 1963and have had plenty of time to adapt, and the ecosystem has had plenty of time to them.
Its releases of more exotic fish from private collections, was there something about some odd forign? Asian? Gudgeon which chomped though eggs or somehting. I may have made a mistake on the species, but these could be more harm. Zander seem to be very well settled into European ecosystems.
Is there anyone on the forum who has studied ecology on an academic level.

[blackwater]

Originally Posted by headless

will clearly state that all non indigenous species ie zander must not be returned to the water after capture & must be killed.

Carp are a non-indigenous species brought over from france... why are we returning them to the water?? They need to re-adress this issue i think! its a ridiculous law if you ask me!

BW

[barbelblanker]

Zander and catfish are excluded from the list of coarse fish that it is now illegal to remove from a water without the owners permission as they are classed as illegal stockings. Trouble is there are far too many people making laws who have no concept (or care) for what is going on "by the water" (reminds me of working IT). Small pike can also be removed too. I still think that we need to see if we can get river pollock added to the list just to show how totally out of touch these beurocrats are.

[JustMark]

The trouble with beurocrats is they know they are totally ignorant of the facts, but they are making money by just being there. If you suddenly make them look like the dickheads they are in the public light, they react with a kneejerk that hurts everyone. Fox hunting ban anyone?

[barbelblanker]

Justmark, boy that was soooo cynical and right on the money too. Food for thought.

[JustMark]

I've been doing some research on this, and although this may not be a popular statement, it's not entirely down to Natural England. It is a European directive that is also on the verge of causing the destruction of Zander in places as far afield as Portugal and Spain.

It doesn't stop there. Wels Catfish and Widemouth Bass among others have also been identified as non indiginous species and this directive could lead to their destruction as well.

This leads to another dilemma. We are all happy to destroy for instance the signal crayfish as non native and catastrophic to our native crayfish and also for the damage they do by eating native fish spawn and fry. What is the difference with Zander? They too have a significant impact on native waters.

Do we want to keep an introduced specie because it is good sport? Of course we do. That is the basis of a sound argument. After all, rabbits were introduced by the Romans and their rearing kept many a community alive for hundreds of years.

Pheasants are no native either, but if it wasn't for their introduction,our countryside would look very different today.

Rainbow trout too were introduced from the Antipodes at about the same time as pheasants. They now form a huge slice of revenue for both rural areas and the country as a whole.

Can you see the locals of say the Ebro valley standing by while the Eurocrats destroy the industry and income that has grown around Wels Catfish holidays? I think not, and this is the tack we must take in resisting this ill thought and clumsily planned legislation.