When is a bass not a bass but a sea bass? part II

After @CoastalK91's few choice words over the correct identification of the term bass in this part of the world it appears that the message has not filtered through to Brussels just yet. However, we can safely assume that to all intents and purposes the term sea bass in the story below does indeed refer to the fish caught in numbers around the UK coast and better known as bass to those for whom the fish provides an income - like these fishermen here.

RECREATIONAL anglers will be limited to killing a maximum of three sea bass per day, after the EU's Council of Ministers decided to adopt measures to help the species recover.

Sea bass is a very valuable fish, on which many fishermen, especially small fishing enterprises, depend. With over 1.3m recreational anglers in France and another 800,000 in the UK, many thousands of jobs also depend on recreational fishing.

However, recent scientific analyses have reinforced previous concerns about the state of the stock, leading to calls to urgently reduce fishing by 80%. It appears that the species is experiencing a rapid decline, which risks leading to a collapse if no action is taken.

Recreational anglers currently account for 25% of sea bass mortality and the new daily limit on recreational catches complements the emergency measures which the Commission adopted earlier this year, and which introduced a closed season for pelagic fisheries during the sea bass spawning season.

The Commission has previously taken similar emergency measures to protect vulnerable stocks, most recently with anchovy in the Bay of Biscay.

Full story from FishNewsEU here: