Memorandum submitted by the Bass Anglers'
Sportfishing Society (BASS) Stakeholder Project (W17)
DESCRIPTION OF
PURPOSE OF
OUR ORGANISATION
We are broadly representative of the many companies
whose future prosperity is inextricably linked to the health of
our inshore fish stocks. Our membership comprises of a wide cross-section
of the Recreational Sea Angling (RSA) support industry, including:
Tackle designers and manufacturers, retailers, distributors, the
angling media, boat builders, charter operators and bait suppliers.
The main aim of the group is to encourage and
support changes in marine management Strategies, especially where
the target species of our consumers (sea anglers) are being commercially
over-fished.
TAKING FORWARD
THE PROPOSALS
OF THE
STRATEGY UNIT
REPORT ON
FISHING (NET
BENEFITS: A SUSTAINABLE
AND PROFITABLE
FUTURE FOR
UK FISHING)
EXECUTIVE STATEMENT
1. We would like to see a shift in emphasis,
away from traditional commercial exploitation, in favour of a
revised set of objectives, aimed at achieving best value from
our salt-water resources.
2. The widely acknowledged decline in the
structure of our key fish stocks, Cod, Bass, Wrasse, Flounder,
Plaice and Rays is limiting the potential growth in RSA participation
and any potential sustainable economic growth.
3. Increased leisure time should be benefiting
our industry, but the expected rise in new entrants to the sport
has not materialised. This is undoubtedly due to the current depressed
state of our inshore fisheries.
4. The recreational fishing industry includes
many of the targets identified in its vision of sustainable development.
In the recent Defra consultation into Sustainable Development,
the recreational sea angling industry fits all the criteria perfectly.
5. The BASS Stakeholder Project considers
that current fishery management regime offers little to an industry
that provides services to two million UK Sea Anglers with an economic
output exceeding one billion to the UK economy.
6. In the recently published review into
the sea angling industry within England and Wales, (Drew to Defra
2004) it estimated that 15% or 217,00 sea anglers now travel abroad
to fish instead of patronising local businesses and services in
the UK. These are lost customers to an industry already struggling
to come to terms with a diminishing customer base.
7. While recreational fishermen generally
do not sell their catch, they still rely on a sound business infrastructure
to allow them to pursue their sport. Anglers require boats, bait,
rods, reels, lodging, and all the trappings to make a successful
trip. Likewise, recreationally dependant businesses depend on
fishing activities for their livelihood. In this regard, both
the commercial and recreational fisheries are identical in their
fundamental requirements.
8. The economic importance of the recreational
fishing sector should not be of lesser importance than the commercial
when it comes to its involvement in the fisheries management process.
9. The dominant representation of special
industry groups is the single most common cause of failure within
modern co-managed fisheries. This failure, invariably leads to
the continued degradation of a commonly owned resource to the
detriment of other marine resource users and the general public
at large.
10. The UK Government should consider carefully
the relative merits of all the industries involved in extracting
the resource (fish). Those industries that offer "best value"
and can offer the best possibilities for sustainable growth as
the fishery recovers should be given every support possible.
11. Many other business sectors, notably
the coal, steel and the car manufacturing industries have learned
to adapt to a modern world where society cannot afford to support
them financially on a unsustainable basis forever. This message
needs to be clearly understood by the commercial fishing sector,
which has changed little in its attitude despite the huge quantities
of public money that has been invested in it.
12. Many hold the incorrect impression that
the recreational fishing and commercial fishing industries have
similar economic outputs. The recreational fishing industry develops
its output from a tiny fraction of species when compared to commercial
activities and comparing the two economies without taking this
into account is misleading.
13. In the Drew report to Defra 2004, angler
expenditure in England and Wales was £538 million. Those
species that are a shared target resource are worth only £49
million to commercial fishing.
14. Some important sea angler target species
generate minimal or marginal economic activity within a commercial
fishing context when compared to recreational fishing. For those
species, a very good case can be made for re-designating them
"recreational" on economic grounds.
15. The sea angling industry and its customers
anticipate considerable resistance to the brave and forward thinking
demonstrated in the SU report. There needs to be a radical shake-up,
not only in emphasis but also the focus of fishery managers and
policy makers who have little understanding of an industry than
can offer so much in the modern world.
16. It is quite clear that there is a general
lack of understanding as to what the industry needs to develop
and prosper. Defra and fishery managers should seriously consider
allocating a dedicated team to liase with sea angling representatives
on a far more regular in order to move the SU proposals forward
into policy and action.
24 September 2004
| 
