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Premium bass for a price
Western Morning News
24th February 2004
Controversy continues to dog the bass pair trawling industry which has been blamed for the countless deaths of cetaceans off the Westcountry coast. But as Environment Correspondent Andy Greenwood reports, there is a 'dolphin-friendly' way to catch sea bass
Many forms of fishing are indiscriminate. Trawled or set nets often accidentally catch species unwanted by hard-pressed fishermen.
But no fishing method has attracted more attention than pair trawling for bass - one huge net slung between two powerful boats and towed for hours on end.
A fishery dominated by French boats, in addition to a handful of Scottish fishermen, the consequence has been dead dolphins.
Last year alone, more than 250 dolphin and porpoise carcasses were washed up on the shores of Cornwall. Scores have followed this winter.
But there is another way to catch bass - a fish which has grown in popularity on restaurant tables all over the country - and one that is expertly executed by local fishermen.
No need for expensive nets off huge boats, just one man, a 20ft boat and three lines set with lures. It is as simple as that. And simplicity means no dolphin bycatch.
Newlyn fishermen Andrew Pascoe, vice chairman of both the South West Handliners Association and the Cornwall Fish Producers Organisation, has been handlining for bass since the mid 80s.
His 18ft boat Cynthia can usually be seen in Mounts Bay towing three 150-200ft lines, each with a single lure.
A method which can be used to target pollack, instead of bass, depending on the state of the tides their bass season runs from May to December with the fishing improving later in the year.
"I have caught as many as 250kg in a day which was 167 fish," Mr Pascoe, 33, said. "That's the dream.
"A good day will be between 25 and 40kg, that's a reasonable average although this year the fishing has been a lot better. Last autumn most days were about 50kg but anything up to 100kg."
Unsurprisingly, line-caught bass comes with a premium. Small fish go for £5 a kilo, 1-2kg examples for £7.50 and 2kg plus fish between £10 and £13. Pair trawled bass goes for anything between £3 and £5 per kilo.
"You can't get better than line caught bass," Mr Pascoe added. "It is landed every day within hours of being caught, it is pulled out of the water alive after being on the hook for five or ten minutes.
"With trawled bass, the trawl may have been in the water for six hours and the first bass that went in there is going to be fairly bashed around."
With a shadow cast over the bass pair trawling fleet, handliners are keen to differentiate their catches. And so a tagging scheme has been mooted.
"It's something we thought we'd introduce because there has been so much bad press about sea bass," Mr Pascoe added. "Basically we don't want the general public to think that every bass is caught that way."
Bass handliners are not only concerned about distinguishing their catches. They are also concerned about the level of dolphin deaths and pair trawling's effects on bass stocks.
But Mr Pascoe also pointed out the hypocrisy of the situation, comparing it to the tuna fishery pursued by some Cornish boats in the early 90s.
"Ten years ago there were a few boats out of Newlyn using drift nets for tuna," he explained. "There was a bycatch problem with dolphins but because the Spanish were only line-catching, and held most of the market, it was shut down almost immediately.
"The major players here are the French and while I don't want to stop anything they have done for a long time, if the situation was reversed and they were handlining and we were trawling then we would have been banned long ago."
An outright ban is something environmentalists have been demanding for years. The Government has so far resisted such attempts, preferring to put its faith in so-called dolphin-friendly nets which provide the marine mammals with an escape route.
A unilateral ban, Ministers have insisted, would also be wrong when bass pair trawling is an European issue.
The EU, for its part, only recently voted in favour of a monitoring programme to assess the level of dolphin deaths.
Campaigners have lobbied hard for both the EU and the Government to take action. But now there is a growing feeling that the public may hold the key.
"A lot of people say to me that they no longer eat bass because of the dolphins bycatch," Lindy Hingley, founder of Brixham Seawatch, said. "Or they say they only eat it, if they know where it has come from and that it is dolphin-friendly.
"I would urge everyone to do the same. Ask at hotels or restaurants where it has come from and if they are not 100 per cent sure that it is not from bass pair trawlers then don't eat it. Would anyone want to eat bass knowing that it had rolled around in a net with a dead dolphin?
"Hoteliers and restaurateurs should also be asking the same questions of their suppliers. The public, like they did with tuna, have the power to change things and if enough people do it then they can help stop the carnage that we see on our beaches."
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