Europe proposes bass ban, anglers upset; confused

The European Union Commission has proposed a complete ban on bass fishing for the first half of 2016 with stringent restrictions thereafter.

This was, of course, met with strong opposition at first. Now recreational anglers think they may be off the hook (sorry, couldn’t help making the obvious pun).

According Angling International:

The European Anglers Alliance (EAA) has identified that the technical detail in the Commission’s proposal does not make it clear whether the January to June ban covers recreational fishing or just commercial interests.

EAA Secretary General and EFTTA lobbyist Jan Kappel said that both organizations were working on input for the European Council of Ministers meeting on December 14th and 15th, where the proposal will be adopted, amended or dismissed.

The Trust, an EAA member, published a response to the EU proposal saying that while it welcomed further restrictions on the commercial harvesting of bass, “it is monstrously unfair to lump all forms of bass fishing together” and that the Commission “is picking the wrong target.”

The Commission introduced new bass fishing management measures less than a year ago and followed this by enforcing catch limits as recently as June 2015. It says that it is now building on those measures to further slow the dramatic decline in bass stocks.

– See more at: http://www.angling-international.com/confusion-reigns-over-european-bass-ban/#sthash.4vlj4ePT.dpuf