Sea bass stocks on brink of collapsing, warn conservationists

Call for temporary fishing ban if EU agreement to manage critically low stocks can’t be reached

Friday 10 July 2015 09.56 BST

Urgent action is needed to prevent rapidly declining sea bass stocks from collapsing, conservationists have warned.

A temporary ban on all fishing of wild sea bass may be needed if agreement to manage stocks cannot be reached, the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said after new scientific advice warned the situation for the species was getting worse.

Last year, the scientific experts at the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) called for total catches of both recreational and commercial fisheries to be cut by 80% to stem the declines.

The MCS said the population in the north east Atlantic had been rapidly declining since 2010 and was on track to plummet to levels from which it could struggle to recover.

A failure by European Union countries to agree a management plan for sea bass stocks led to emergency measures to ban pelagic trawling – fishing away from the bottom of the sea in the water column - for the spawning period between January and April this year.

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New Species Of Sea Bass Identified Based On Larval, Adult Specimen

May 14, 2014

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Thanks to a lot of hard work and a little luck – two scientists from the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Institution have identified a mysterious larval fish and the same fish in its adult stage as a new species of sea bass.

Most fish that live in the ocean have a pelagic larval stage that floats inside the surface or near-surface currents, an ecosystem very distinct from the one they occupy as adults. Two distinct environments often call for two distinct physiques and appearances to maximize the odds of survival, leading to larvae that appear very different from the adults of the same species.

The newly identified fish, described in a new report published on Tuesday in the journal PLOS ONE, first came to the attention of researchers via a photograph in a previous study. It was identified as a member of the sea bass family Serranidae, but its seven very elongated dorsal-fin spines made it a very unique looking specimen.

“This feature isn’t known in any Atlantic sea bass larvae, but it is similar to one species of Indo-Pacific sea bass,” said study author David Johnson, a zoologist at the Smithsonian museum. “We initially thought the larva must have been caught in the Indo-Pacific Ocean, but we were wrong.”

However, the fish larva in the photo was identified as being captured in the Florida Straits — the body of water located between Florida and Cuba.

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MAN GUTTED BY FISH BLUNDER

KURT Price was delighted with the huge fish he caught and ate – until he realised it would have been a record-breaker.

Kurt, 25, reeled in the monster sea bass on a weekend trip to Tenby, south-west Wales.

It was only after he had cooked and eaten it that he researched the record books and realised his catch would have been the biggest of its kind.

The record for a shore-caught sea bass is 19lb 11oz. Angling experts who have seen a picture of Kurt’s catch believe it was bigger than 20lb.

But Kurt, of Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, cannot claim the record because he failed to weigh the fish – and has eaten the evidence.

Kurt said the fish was very tasty but added: “I’m gutted.”

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/282164/Man-gutted-by-fish-blunder