ANGLING for success in the House of Commons was North Cornwall MP Scott Mann — he led a three-hour backbench debate highlighting the unfairness of the current bass measures on recreational sea anglers.

The debate was entitled ‘Conservation of sea bass and the effect of related EU measures on the UK recreational fishing industry’.

Mr Mann moved the motion, which was agreed without dissent, that: “This House believes that the recent EU restrictions on recreational sea bass fishing are unfair and fail to address the real threat to the future viability of UK sea bass stocks; and calls on the Government to make representations within the Council of the EU on the reconsideration of the imposition of those restrictions.”

Anglers are at risk of criminalisation if they try to keep the self-same bass that a netsman is free to kill during the January to June moratorium.

The Angling Trust has been lobbying MPs to support the introduction of revised measures that reduce bass mortality by restricting harmful commercial harvest methods and instead promoting sustainable methods such as hook and line fishing for both commercial and recreational sectors.

The recreational bag limits are said to be, in comparison, unfair and they fail to acknowledge recreational sea angling as the more sustainable form of bass fishing, which also delivers the best economic return.

Mr Mann said: “I lead this debate on sea bass conservation not just as an MP, but as an angler.

“I see recreational sea anglers and fishermen as part of a collective community. Both need healthy fish stocks. Both activities benefit the economy in different ways and in differing amounts and both have the same passion for catching fish.

“The current situation we find ourselves in is grossly unfair on anglers. Both fishermen and anglers want to see bass stocks preserved and grown, but one party shouldn’t have to suffer when they actually have very little impact on stocks.

“We need to have a different approach to this, and I hope my debate will highlight to the government why change is needed. It’s only fitting that the source of these qualms for anglers is at the root of problems for fishermen on a wider scale too — the EU.”

“The reaction I’ve had to securing this debate is amazing. Within hours I was getting emails from anglers around the country expressing their thanks and showing their support, and I’m honoured to be fighting for the angling community.”

Martin Salter, Angling Trust’s National Campaigns chief, said: “The Angling Trust has put a huge amount of effort into getting this debate and briefing MPs so that they understand the genuine anger and frustration of recreational sea anglers at the appalling way they were treated last year by the EU fisheries ministers.”

The vast majority of MPs who spoke were in favour of calls by the Angling Trust and the Bass Anglers’ Sportfishing Society (BASS) for bass to be managed primarily as a recreational species alongside a sustainable hook and line commercial fishery.

The Angling Trust will be writing to thank all the MPs who spoke up for angling and to ask them to keep up the pressure on the government ahead of this year’s European Council Ministers’ meeting in December.