sea fishing license

Guest

what do you think? will they work or not ???

cheers from will

Guest

Good question. I think they would if they were used correctly, instead of just a way to impose another stealth tax or burden on the angler.

If the money was used to safeguard the sport and help protect fish stocks then great, but unfortunately, like all licensing, it just ends up benefitting the councils and treasury and nobody else.

If licenses could also be revoked for offinces such as littering etc, then it may make people think a bit harder about the consequences of their actions.

But, the revenue would probably only go to the commercial fishermen, who would continue to devastate the fish stocks in the same way they are doing now.

Will it work? Nice idea ... but no.

Guest

Bob Cox had the right idea. Use the money raised by licences to buy out tue commercial guys. I fully believe that if this government introduced a licence that they would squander the money on asylum seekers and so forth, oh and running big gas guzzling cars love struck

Guest

concrete wrote:

Bob Cox had the right idea. Use the money raised by licences to buy out tue commercial guys. I fully believe that if this government introduced a licence that they would squander the money on asylum seekers and so forth, oh and running big gas guzzling cars love struck

Agree on the Bob Cox idea, but what then?

I think we should just get out of Europe and protect our on waters like the Norwegians do.

Posted: Tue Mar 27, 2007 8:23 pm

It sounds like a stealth tax to me, I'm afraid!

Member Joined: Aug 24, 2006 Posts: 75 Location: durham

if it did actually improve the fishing, i would be all for it, but theres all ways a but, how would/could they enforce it. me thinks o would be impossible

Guest

How many wardens would be needed to patrol the entire coastline including the estuaries? It just isn't viable unless they charge us a grand a year. Mind you we don't want to be giving them ideas. They'll soon be taxing us for breathing out CO2. B4$tard5. love struck

Guest

I think the only place where I have actually seen it working properly is Southwold Pier. They regularly check the fish caught by the anglers and chuck you off the pier if there are any undersize. Also, they charge a fiver for fishing there, and record your name and address before entering the pier - so if caught, you're banned for life.

They even patrol the beaches, but it is mostly volunteers that do the patroling. I think they are all from the Southwold Pier Angling Club, but I stand to be corrected on that one. I think most piers have license fees because most of them are privately owned, but the beaches are a different story.

Guest

concrete wrote:

How many wardens would be needed to patrol the entire coastline including the estuaries? It just isn't viable unless they charge us a grand a year. Mind you we don't want to be giving them ideas. They'll soon be taxing us for breathing out CO2. B4$tard5. love struck

How about giving that job to the commercial boys after scrapping their boats.!!!

Guest

A controversial question maybe but does everyone (seriously) think the commercial fleet should be scrapped?

If Commercials were scrapped- how much would I have to pay for cod & chips on a Friday night? Would it be £20 a pop like Rick Stein charges in his la-di-dah restaurant ? Maybe I'd get it for free if the stocks improved? Who knows

I'm no authority on fisheries policy at all but I find it a difficult question because at the end of the day it's blokes' jobs and livelihoods that we're talking about as well as the future of fish stocks- I know the commercials have fairly aggressive policies and feelings towards recreational anglers because we're seen as a threat and some of the skippers are irresponsible in their methods but I'm sure there must be some reasonably minded commercial fishermen out there who can see a viable future where commercial fishing and recreational angling can co-exist; or am I being naive? Maybe.

LikeI say I find it a difficult question for those reasons- just wondered what others think

Regular Joined: Jan 13, 2005 Posts: 449 Location: Norfolk

The only thing that I tend to think of when they mention a license is the case of car tax. There are billions raised by that and I heard somewhere that between 5 and twenty per cent of car tax is spent on roads. Would not have thought that this would be any different.

Guest

Ok, theoretically the government cannot introduce a license for fishing off the beach as (as has been stated on the subject of bait digging) the right to fish from the shore is enshrined in Magna Carta which is as near to a constitution as we have in this country. That means that if the government wish to introduce a license scheme, they have to have it put to referendum rather than just through due process in the house as it is a constitutional issue. Any attempt to subdure this process would be liable to a challenge in the High Court and would almost certainly win. That said, it has not stopped this government from riding roughshod over process before.

Mr C is right; who will administer this? Who will police it? Where will the money go?

As a scheme, it might have some very small merit but will only result in the total decimation of the sport as people leave in droves for having to pay for no real benefit.

Here endeth the lesson.

Guest

stuartdv wrote:

A controversial question maybe but does everyone (seriously) think the commercial fleet should be scrapped?

If Commercials were scrapped- how much would I have to pay for cod & chips on a Friday night? Would it be £20 a pop like Rick Stein charges in his la-di-dah restaurant ? Maybe I'd get it for free if the stocks improved? Who knows

I'm no authority on fisheries policy at all but I find it a difficult question because at the end of the day it's blokes' jobs and livelihoods that we're talking about as well as the future of fish stocks- I know the commercials have fairly aggressive policies and feelings towards recreational anglers because we're seen as a threat and some of the skippers are irresponsible in their methods but I'm sure there must be some reasonably minded commercial fishermen out there who can see a viable future where commercial fishing and recreational angling can co-exist; or am I being naive? Maybe.

LikeI say I find it a difficult question for those reasons- just wondered what others think

No Stuart I dont think Commercials should be scrapped, despite my last comments.
My whole stance when it comes to commercials is keep Europe out of our waters and maybe our home grown fleet would stand a chance.
As for a sea fishing License, NO! you couldn't police it for starters and the money would just get wasted.

Guest

Having had friends who have fished commercially and having done a bit of it myself in the Channel Islands I cannot totally slate the commercial boys. What we need is to rid our waters of the europeans. All commercial fishing should be banned within 3 miles of the shore as this would leave a large undisturbed area for fish to flourish and also a nice lot of fish for us lot to catch. If there were plenty of fish to catch it would entice more people to fish, resulting in increased tackle and bait sales, therefore providing a nice wedge in tax for the government.

For the record the fishing I did in the Channel Islands was handlining for bass with Rapala lures. This fishery was a closely guarded secret for 20 odd years and gave a select few people a reasonable living during this time. Unfortunately a Jersey charter skipper followed one of the people and spied on him from a distance. The greedy b*st*rd then went in with gill nets and completely wiped out the fishery in one season. It is possible for people to earn a living from the sea without destroying stocks, but there will always be the people who don't give a sh*t about sustainability and just want everything for themselves.

Rant over.

Posted: Wed Mar 28, 2007 10:30 pm

OH NO! NOT POLOTICS!

But if you insist, this is the way I see it:

Native British fisherman, be they commercial or pleasure should be able to fish anywhere they damn well like and anybody that does not fit that criteria should be told to Foxtrot Oscar, then we might be able to construct and implement a conservation of fisheries policy, THE UNFORTUNATE REALITY IS: Every successive government since WW2 has been selling off the British Isle’s by the pound. I am far from Politically correct or I would of said Kilograms and I think the less Politically correct we are the more British we become. We should all stand together at the bar having a PINT and a smoke, before we all end up two meters under, Bollo* ! I meant six FEET. (The foker’s drip feed it into us don’t they)

As for licences? Well, I tell you what they can do with them……
No not what your thinking, I mean bring forward a justifiable scheme, that would see the funds raised put to good and not become just another tax. (Yeah right! The better Idea was the one you just had at the beginning of this paragraph)

Oh well, back to fluffy bunny land where the economy is going from strength to strength, multiculturalism is a seamless cohesion of humanity and everybody wears a unisex hoody.

I’m not getting involved in this one,
Goodnight,

OCB.