catch and release

[shanook]

hi everyone is happy we are in the EU and we are the civilised citizens of the world and all others are....................well compare our way of living with these friends of ours from Marocco.
A friend of mine was in Marocc and he wanted to go fishing with the locals. Everything was set and he woke up as we usually do around 4am. He waited and around 9am he sees them coming down the road. (by the way they communicated by sign language mostly) They didnt have anything with them (yes of course they had clothes on silly), no rods, reels or all the bits and pieces we usually take with us. They arrived on the spot and my friend tried to explain what they were going to fish with. One of them led him to a nearby field and cut 3 pieces of bamboo, they walked back and the other took a line and some hooks from his pocket, they tied the line and hook. They dug a bit in the ground and found a few worms which they collected, and started fishing.
My friend (the Maltese guy) was the first one to catch a 1.5Kg sargu. he was ecstatic with joy, he showed it to the Maroccan and to his amazement the other looked at it shook his head and threw it back, the Maltese guy was flabbergasted he couldnt believe that they had thrown it back (good thing he was alone with the other two as I think he would have punched), they explained by gestures that it was too small. They continued fishing throwing back anything below 2 kg. When they had caught 4 nice sized fish in the 4kg range they stopped fishing took the lines and hooks off stored them in the pocket and left the place, they put the bamboo back in the field. They only took enough to eat and didnt glutton themselves with a lot of fish.
Mind you they can afford to do it as the fish are abundant, wish we could do that here I would definitely let go of all fish below 2 kg knowing that I can catch the ones of 4kg.
But with the number of nets all over the bays and shallow waters where the fish nest it is impossible that it will ever be like that.
Oh for those thinking of going spearfishing....My friend above when they were clearing up after fishing took his top off cleared his pockets and took a dive in the crystal clear waters ........he hadnt even hit the water when the Moroccans started shouting and signalling him to come back ashore.....when he got ashore he was told through gestures that there were a lot fo sharks in the area......opps

[markcam]

I've read of spanish spearos going to morroco to spearfish, all you have to have is a special spearfishing liscence.  I also swam in morocco(wasnt warned of sharks), I can confirm that they have a lot of sea life and miles of uninterupted coastline.  Is there a place locally which isnt continually interupted ?  I guess not !! if I stil have pictures of the fish markets I'll upload them.

[placebo]

nice story shanook!

[SPNOTTA]

They only took enough to eat and didnt glutton themselves with a lot of fish.

If only there are more of these individuals with the exact mentality and practices.

[robby017]

Quote from: shanook on May 11, 2009, 14:47:35 CET
They only took enough to eat and didnt glutton themselves with a lot of fish.


If only there are more of these individuals with the exact mentality and practices.

What a lovely bed time story.....

You wake up in the morning and realise that recreational fishermen are still keeping undersized fish....

I think the min size of fish kept (issued in the recent press release) should be published in all newspapers.... forsi 'Cikku Peppi u Spiru' (ficticious names) won't keep those 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc etc etc with the excuse that they make a good fish broth 'aljotta'

[SPNOTTA]

Quote from: shanook on May 11, 2009, 14:47:35 CET
They only took enough to eat and didnt glutton themselves with a lot of fish.


If only there are more of these individuals with the exact mentality and practices.

What a lovely bed time story.....

You wake up in the morning and realise that recreational fishermen are still keeping undersized fish....

I think the min size of fish kept (issued in the recent press release) should be published in all newspapers.... forsi 'Cikku Peppi u Spiru' (ficticious names) won't keep those 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc etc etc with the excuse that they make a good fish broth 'aljotta'

I second your thoughts and may I add the "feeding the cats" excuse. I personally know someone who catches fish that are smaller than the shrimps he cuts as bait. Shame, shame...shame.

[MartinB]

Quote from: shanook on May 11, 2009, 14:47:35 CET
They only took enough to eat and didnt glutton themselves with a lot of fish.


If only there are more of these individuals with the exact mentality and practices.

What a lovely bed time story.....

You wake up in the morning and realise that recreational fishermen are still keeping undersized fish....

I think the min size of fish kept (issued in the recent press release) should be published in all newspapers.... forsi 'Cikku Peppi u Spiru' (ficticious names) won't keep those 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc etc etc with the excuse that they make a good fish broth 'aljotta'

I second your thoughts and may I add the "feeding the cats" excuse. I personally know someone who catches fish that are smaller than the shrimps he cuts as bait. Shame, shame...shame.

Really is a shame too..the shame being that 95% of these idiots don't know how to fish and would S**T a brick if they hooked into anything decent 

[robby017]

Certu nies...... www.xejnsewwa.com ha nghidlek 

[lazyfisherman]

Agreed 100%. It would also be be nice if these 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc disappear from the M'xlokk market too. Professional fishermen are also guilty of the same crime, often at a much larger scale.

[SPNOTTA]

Agreed 100%. It would also be be nice if these 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc disappear from the M'xlokk market too. Professional fishermen are also guilty of the same crime, often at a much larger scale.

Agree 100%. Furthermore IMO doing it recreationally is worse, though on a much smaller scale. My point is that if some cannot control their recreational greed, how are we to expect the commercials to lower their sales?

[robby017]

Insert Quote
Agreed 100%. It would also be be nice if these 3-10 cm Sargi/Xriegen/Pagel/Crien/Dott etc disappear from the M'xlokk market too. Professional fishermen are also guilty of the same crime, often at a much larger scale.

When talking about this matter, one takes m'xlokk market for granted, after all its' one of the main nemises, as, after all.... i've seen many undersized fish, even in big fishshops (whose names i will not mention here for obvious reasons)

[lazyfisherman]

Yes spnotta, catching undersize fish for recreational purposes may be in itself worse, but the impacts of the same crime by the professionals is much worse in terms of impacts on fish populations and the long-term sustainability of fishing, whether recreational or commercial. For conservation to be effective, commercial fishing simply cannot be let off the hook.   

[SPNOTTA]

Yes spnotta, catching undersize fish for recreational purposes may be in itself worse, but the impacts of the same crime by the professionals is much worse in terms of impacts on fish populations and the long-term sustainability of fishing, whether recreational or commercial. For conservation to be effective, commercial fishing simply cannot be let off the hook.  

I second the above, in fact in my post I stated "though on a much smaller scale".

[robby017]

a new meaning to catch and release.... a well known fish shop in gzira, practices this famous catch and release with a passion..... if you happen to catch a 20cm cerna with your speargun, he releases it into his aquarium half dead...... and what about the 30cm dott a fisherman caught in his nets and was still alive that's right.... released in the same aquarium.... and the story goes on..... 11-15cm spnotta, some bobin, ckall and lobstes for sale........ all in one aquarium..... and if im not mistaken, the ratio is 1 square foot of water/aquarium space per 10cm of fish...... were are the authorities........ oh yes...... and the same owner was the one screaming LIAR LIAR LIAR at the film The End of the Line we watched last week........ The Shamless Greedy *&&&***..... Beep!!!!...(for some reason it sounds better Rob!!))...

PS
was there last Wednesday so i hope he had the dignity to remove the cerna, unless it wasn't intended fishfood for the lobsters etc......

[blueskip]

Then why not draw up a list of recommended minimum landing sizes & publish it on this forum? We have Regional Sea Fisheries Committees here in the UK, & they are allowed to pass bye-laws which vary from the national MLS (for example the national MLS for bass (spnotta?) is 36cms, our local MLS is 37.5cms).
The Federations that control sea angling in the UK enforce an even higher MLS on their members competitions etc e.g. spnotta? minimum 40cm before you can weigh it in at a competition, or you can have it witnessed by a steward then returned alive.
I dont know what many of the fish I catch in Malta are called, so if they are big enough for the barby I take them home, if I had a list of MLS drawn up by MFF I could print it off & take it fishing with me. For example what would the MLS for mullet be? or bream? it would be nice to have it in list form.