[size=75:1vgenwgc]novnite 29 January 2010

Bulgaria Govt Imposes Wide-Ranging Fishing Ban for 2010

Bulgaria’s Fishery Agency has imposed stringent measures banning almost completely fishing in the Black Sea and freshwater basins in the country.

The ban has been ordered by Minister of Agriculture and Food, Miroslav Naydenov. It will be in force until the end of 2010, and is aimed at preserving the biodiversity in Bulgaria’s water basins by restricting fishing practices threatening to exterminate entire species.

The measures are expected to lead to a restoration of many of the fishing populations so as to make their commercial fishing more feasible in the future.

Thus, all fishing activities within 1 km of Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast are banned. Commercial fishing can take place beyond that area. Only several small commercial fishing zones are not excluded.

All-out bans are imposed on fishing in most of Bulgaria’s lakes, rivers, and water reservoirs, including in most of the Danube River. The specific list with the banned fishing sites is rather extensive, and can be obtained from the Fishery Agency.

Oh dear, they will have some angry locals [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Oddy

And hungry ones to

There are a good many Bulgarians who rely on this as their main provider of food so yes as you say Ashley they will go hungry unless they start poaching but I don't think a Bulgarian would poach ? would they ?

I am not a fisherman,but on any day of the week in Yambol you see scores of Bulgarians with their rods on their push bike,and i think your right they rely on this as one of their main food sources,i think its a shame.



Mike

I think your right here its a real shame dont they realise that some of the Bulgarians will be pushed even more into poverty [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I suppose they can still fish in the lakes as they must be owned private,but then they would have to buy a fishing licence,and i cant see the Bulgarians doing that



Mike

I'm sorry but I think the fishing ban is necessary. You have to have a fishing licence to fish here anyway, and at the lake near us there are rangers who enforce this strictly, thank goodness.

Our first rental was close to Bourgas alongside a lake - this lake was overfished beyond belief - lots of the people fishing it were using multiple rods - nice kit and not cheap either - so I can well understand the need to suspend fishing. Some of the fish I saw were about 4 inches long, but they took them, and there goes your young stock, the bigger breeding stock had already been fished of course.There has to be a respite for fish to breed and mature or you fish the source to extinction.

I don't doubt that for some villagers a few fish from the local lake/river etc are a needed suplementary food source, but from what i've seen close to Burgas, many people fish on what might be described as a semi commercial basis, not just putting food on the table for their family. Like I say, totally deplete the fish stocks and then NOBODY has any. If the lakes etc are managed properly there will always be fish there both for sport and for those who need the supplementary food.

The fishing ban on it's own probably won't be enough, I expect that a lot of these lakes etc will have to be re-stocked too if the size of the little fish i saw is anything to go by.

As far as the private lakes are concerned, if I had paid for a licence to operate a private lake then of course I would want to receive a fee for fish caught in my lake as I would be paying to stock it and look after the welfare of the fish till they were big enough to be fished.

I read last year about a guy who operates a private lake who was visited by some pretty scary sounding poachers who netted his entire lake in the night - again, that's not some poor sod putting food on the family table, that's commercial fishing - totally illegal commercial fishing at that.

Karen

I think you have a fair point here karen I would think from whats been said if the government don't step in the the long term out look could be quite bleak so I guess its a case of acting now for the future and to sustain the fish, makes sense really but I don,t think the Bulgarians will see it that way???

Thanks Asley.I don't suppose for one minute that village policemen are going to stop locals fishing if it's just for the pot, after all the village police have to interact with the villagers day to day, but if there isn't some control over the wholesale depletion of the rivers and lakes one day there will just be no more fish....

If the ban results in the large scale poachers and catching - to -sell fishermen being stopped, at least that would be a start.

My brother is a very keen (sea) fisherman and is well known around our local area for his bass fishing skills. He is very close mouthed about where he fishes because he feels very strongly about over-fishing, and bass need a lot of years to grow to a decent size.

Also, where in the UK you get sport fishermen who catch and return, here it seems to be that people keep what they catch - regardless of size - causes a problem in the long run.

Karen