2021 BASS REGULATIONS
Last updated: 26/02/2021
It has been announced that the 2020 rules for recreational bass fishing have been rolled over for 2021 for both recreational and commercial fishing. The following statement is from the Gov.UK website.
The current Bass Measures 2020 as per Article 10 of Council Regulation (EU) will carry over on 1 January 2021. Landings limits in 2021 will provisionally stay the same until further notice into the new year, once annual negotiations for 2021 have been completed, and any implementation steps to be taken at UK level to take any changes into account have taken place. Current bass authorisations continue to be valid, please continue to refer to the Bass Fishing Guidance 2020.
A summary of these measures is set out below. To read the full information on the rules, regulations and restrictions for bass fishing in 2020 published by the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), please click here.
Commercial bass fishing
It is prohibited for commercial vessels to fish for bass during February and March 2020. Commercial fishing from the shore is prohibited throughout 2020.
Commercial fishers must have an authorisation (issued by the MMO) to catch, retain, tranship or land bass. In 2020, commercial fishermen will be authorised to catch and retain bass with certain gears, in accordance with the specific limitations for each gear.
From 1 April 2020 until 30 December 2020 catch limitations dependent on gear type will apply, please refer to table 1 below for more information.
The demersal landing obligation does not currently apply to bass in 2020. This means that you must discard all bass unless you have an authorisation and are fishing with the correct gear type for that authorisation.
Table 1: Commercial bass measures from 1 April 2020 – 31 December 2020
| Authorisation required | Daily by-catch limit | Maximum Catch Limit
(kilograms/kg) |
|
| Demersal trawls | Y | 5% | 520kg per two consecutive calendar months |
| Demersal seines | Y | 5% | 520kg per two consecutive calendar months |
| Hooks and lines | Y | – | 5700kg per year |
| Fixed gillnets | Y | – | 1400kg per year |
| All other gears (including drift nets) | All bass catches prohibited | All bass catches prohibited | All bass catches prohibited |
Recreational bass fishing
Recreational fisheries, including from shore, are limited to catch and release from 01 January to 29 February (28 February in 2021) and 01 December to 31 December 2020.
From 1 March to 30 November 2020, not more than TWO bass may be retained per person per day. Any additional bass caught must be returned immediately to the sea.
The minimum conservation reference size for bass retained is 42cm.
No bass can be taken by fixed nets.
Printouts
Please follow the links below to download printable posters for the 2020 bass measures:
These posters can also be obtained from the Eastern IFCA office on request – see the contact us section to get in touch.
Please see the minimum sizes section of the website for information on other species in our district and more printouts.