Carp on the Menu - Anglers Involvement

beer enigma

Having just returned from a regular London trip - I was stunned to see the number of 'top' restaurants featuring Organic Carp on their Menus.

I understand that there is at least one commercial fishery in Ireland now looking at this with a policy that any fish over 1Kg caught by an Angler is kept out of the water and placed in a holding tank.

I personally dont fancy the idea, but thought I'd throw it open for an interesting vote.

Andi

ps...as one of the Angling Mods I'll be keeping a VERY close eye on this thread. I've taken a chance that we can have an 'intelligent' discussion about it, but will keep a VERY close eye on the thread & any flaming will be dealt with swiftly !!! - to that end there are only two poll options - YES or NO

PLEASE FOLKS - lets keep this to the topic, if it gets incitive I'll close it immediately.

ButcherOfNog

I don't see why not, as long as the fish are sourced via legal and legitimate means. You can buy carp, bream etc in plenty of the new shops that have opened up to cater for the tastes of some of our new residents, Carp for instance are considered the traditional Christmas meal in some countries.

It's fine, as long as the fish are not netted out of our lakes illegally

Noel

beer enigma

ButcherOfNog wrote: »

It's fine, as long as the fish are not netted out of our lakes illegally

Noel

Agree wholeheartedly with that Noel

Maybe its me being old fashioned - just something about Carp being distasteful to me...probably hypocritical in so far as i dont have a problem with salmon or trout

coolwings

My understanding is that in the Middle Ages Carp and tench were bred for food by monks in their abbey stockponds. So there is a Irish and English history of cyprinids for food.

The problem is that catch and release has been around for a long time with regards to coarse fish, and many feel very strongly about it.

To me it depends on where they come from, a sport fishery or a hatchery/stockpond.
Sport fishery : 100% against
Stockpond: absolutely ok with it.
I bet many will feel it is the thin of a wedge which will lead to unpleasantness on fishing lakes in the future.

But can we stop it happening anyway?

A-Trak

Andip wrote: »

I understand that there is at least one commercial fishery in Ireland now looking at this with a policy that any fish over 1Kg caught by an Angler is kept out of the water and placed in a holding tank.

I don't know how comfortably that would sit with me. Would this mean that they'd have some sort of policy of "Any fish caught weighing over 1lb must be kept in a holding net and a steward will collect at the end of your session."

Even if this is not the case, catch and release is a fairly ingrained policy with me, half the enjoyment is seeing the fish swim off after unhooking.
Knowing that they'd end up on a plate woud take some of the joy out of it for me.

coolwings

A-Trak wrote: »

... half the enjoyment is seeing the fish swim off after unhooking. ...

Absolutely.

beer enigma

A-Trak wrote: »

I don't know how comfortably that would sit with me. Would this mean that they'd have some sort of policy of "Any fish caught weighing over 1lb must be kept in a holding net and a steward will collect at the end of your session."

Just spoken to a mate who fishes a commercial carp fishery in Essex, England. This fishery has recently started to supply the restaurant trade in London and have large rigid tanks around the edge of the fishery where any fish over 3lb 'must' be put - its a condition of the day ticket that no +3lb fish are to be released & apparently the bailiffs have no problem kicking people off who dont tow the line.

Interestingly enough, apparently this place used to be booked out months in advance & now you can pretty much turn up on the day, such is the decline in people fishing it.

If thats the impact it has, I wonder whether a fishery in Ireland would be actually be able to 'sustain' a supply policy - can't see the Irish demand being huge even in the longer term.

I'll see if I can get a web link to the fishery.

coolwings

Andip wrote: »

... This fishery has recently started to supply the restaurant trade in London and have large rigid tanks around the edge of the fishery where any fish over 3lb 'must' be put - its a condition .... apparently this place used to be booked out months in advance & now you can pretty much turn up on the day, such is the decline in people fishing it......

I am not surprised attendence declined.
Asking the anglers to catch the fish destined for the table is insulting to say the least.

These are two separate businesses. Providing angling - providing fish for consumption.
Anglers who sell their catch get a bad name very quickly, so the business that tries to do both (on the same water ! ) can expect the same to happen to their reputation.

A-Trak

There's no way I'd go to any fishery with that practice.

It sounds downright grim, and even a bit like work. A load of anglers sitting around filling up rigid tanks for the fishery owner.

growler

No problem with a commercial carp fishery providing fish where there is demand, even saw a few 3lbers in the window of a local fishmonger at the weekend.

Will seeing carp on menus / fishmongers increase the amount of illegal fishing / netting? possibly , although there seems to be so much going on already i don't know if it would make a huge difference.

I certainly wouldn't be going to a commercial fishery to fish for some other feckers supper though and paying for the privilege.

Zzippy

Seeing as they're a non-native species in Ireland and have been illegally introduced into many fisheries, I'd have no problem in fish being removed from those places. The spread of carp fisheries in Ireland is a disgrace - its against the EU Habitats Directive and Irish law. Carp should only be introduced to newly-created ponds or lakes where there is zero chance of escape into nearby watercourses.
If any carp are introduced into fisheries in this area I'm pretty sure the fisheries board will be quick to get in there and net them out