The bass crisis

I have just learnt that scientific advice in 2013 asked for a 36% cut in bass catches, which was not acted upon and now the latest advice from the International Council for the Exploitation of the Seas (ICES) released June 2014, advises that an 80% cut in catches of bass across the EU is required in 2015! 

I am becoming more and more afraid that increasing commercial bass fishing is pressurising the bass stock rapidly to the point of no return. The estimated six thousand commercial fishermen remaining land £160 million worth of fish 80% of which are of little direct interest to us anglers. Of the remaining 20%, £32 million is made up of those same fishery resources upon which the £1.23 billion sea angling industry is dependent and include £5 million worth of commercially landed sea bass. 

A £1.23 billion recreational angling sector and a £32 million commercial sector? It is immediately clear where the benefit to the UK lies and yet over fishing continues. It is a deeply worrying trend and one that can only be addressed through politics. I'm going to write to my MP and my AM. You should too.