When it comes to managing fish stocks, Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) has long been the go-to metric for determining how much fish can be caught without depleting populations. While MSY is a vital tool in managing commercial fisheries, it has a glaring economic blindspot: the value of recreational angling. As fisheries management decisions increasingly rely on MSY, it is critical to recognise the broader economic impact that recreational fishing has, not just in terms of

Bycatch or By Design? How Regulators Failed to Stop Illegal Bass Netting The Uncomfortable Numbers: Bass “Bycatch” in Name Only Nearly 70% of all net-caught bass landed into Mevagissey came from trips where bass made up 90–100% of the catch (henry-gilbey.com). This is plainly inconsistent with the idea of “unavoidable bycatch” – the legal fiction that these Cornish gillnetters were actually targeting other fish and only incidentally catching bass. In reality, they’ve been hauling in

Salcombe Harbour remains net-free to this day, thanks to a passionate campaign led by the Angling Trust and its then Sea Angling Engagement Manager, Grant Jones, now the lead consultant at YourAnglingVoice. In late 2023, a proposal emerged to allow commercial fixed-net fishing in the Salcombe Estuary (a designated Bass Nursery Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest) for six months each year. But an unprecedented wave of public opposition – the largest ever response