Responsible angling

[Riprap]

"The power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to produce subsistence for man." Thomas Malthus as far back as the late 1700's!

Whilst this may appear irresponsible, it is considered the norm by sportsmen and woman to target fish (and other animals) when they are easiest to catch or hunt. Some events are for bragging rights because humans are a competitive bunch and some are for fundraising combined with some fun and of course, competitiveness.......

Many bass anglers are of the opinion that by catching and releasing the fish, they are forgiven or excused from the diminishing resource debate. Joe Handline on the other hand believes the resource is infinite and with faith and spurred on by hunger and needs, will take as much as he can before those okes in the boats take them all. We will never win this debate and which is circular and turbocharged with emotion!

The only way to ensure population stability (and growth meaning replacement of what the dam can sustain during good and bad cycles) is to have a certain percentage of the brooding spawner biomass protected from all utilisation such as strategic MPA's in the ocean and terrestrial no take zones. This will result in the "spill over cloud" effect where fish of all age groups will naturally migrate out of such areas and thus become available to catch.

Here’s the catch and excuse the pun. Bass are exotic, why protect them at all…………
Well, they stimulate the economy and create jobs and as far as I’m concerned, have become naturalised and established in SA and must thus feature in the management and sustainability debates and legislation.

There are a few options if we are concerned about the wellbeing of our bass:

• We must agree to control or even eradicate them where they cause the most damage to sensitive ecosystems.
• Closed seasons should be considered during peak breeding times or as an alternative, productive breeding areas should be closed off for at least 2 lunar cycles to allow some mature fish to breed in peace.
• Part of the huge finances which anglers, sponsors and the industry invest should be invested back into sustainability of the very resource which they rely on.
• Fish breeding stations and programmes which have been mothballed need to be re-visited if we cannot control the utilisation ourselves.

To test the theory of Clan going downhill, we need to establish the age class distribution and the ratios of LM vs. SM and the abundance of other species over time. That will answer many questions as a start.