Bass netting statistics (FOI)

Request

In December 2018, the Environment Minister announced that a limited amount of commercial fishermen would again be allowed to net for bass following a closure to netting due to concerns about the depletion of the stock. The Environment Minister announced that this would be a short term relaxation for scientific research. One year on and the netting continues - no data has yet been released showing what the scientific research has achieved.

A licence condition of those fishermen authorised to net for bass requires that they report the overall length of each bass caught, whether returned or not, using the Fisheries Department size reporting form. They are also required to notify Fisheries officers of each day they intend to set a fixed gill net.

I therefore request details of :-

A

How many bass have been caught in gill nets since December 2019?

B

Of these fish, how many were under the minimum landing size of 42cm?

C

Of those that had to be returned, how many were already dead?

D

How many days were nets deployed?

E

On what dates were these nets deployed?

F

The length of nets used?

Response

A

1539 bass have been caught between 1 December 2019 and 31 January 2020.

B

201 were under the minimum landing size.

C

20 returned to the sea were already dead.

D

Nets were used to catch bass on 24 days between 1 December 2019 and 31 January 2020.

E

Dates where nets were deployed to catch bass were as follows:

3, 4, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 19, 20, 26, 27, 28 and 30 December 2019

7, 8, 11, 12, 15, 20, 23, 25, 27 and 31 January 2020

F

The length of nets used range between 365 and 600 metres.