There's change afoot and Mayo anglers are seeing it first

COUNTRYFILE

AFTER enjoying the warmest May on record (what do you mean, you didn’t notice?), we have now learned that the giant bluefin tuna that have spent the last few years swimming off our coast have travelled far to the north and west in search of cooler water.

Yes, it seems our once frigid seas are no longer that way, and that means changes in our marine fauna.

As the tuna wander off, so other species can be expected to move in.

But if we are hoping for a wealth of warm water species of tasty fishes, we might be disappointed, for even if our seas are warm this week, sooner or later we get an Arctic outbreak, or something like it, and temperatures drop quickly.

This makes permanent residence by fish normally found further to the south no more than a fantasy.

We currently have the worst of both worlds: too warm for some and too cool for others.

While sea anglers could once catch cod even within casting distance of the shore, these are now confined to far deeper water much further out.

Whiting were once a popular angling quarry from early autumn into the depths of winter, but like their larger cod cousins they too have fled our tepid seas.

But all is not lost, for on the other hand, sea bass were once a rarity in this part of the world, their normal range in this country being largely restricted to the south and south-west coasts.

Now these are found all around the coast of Co. Mayo. Well, perhaps not all around the coast, but there are certain locations where they can be fished for with the reasonable expectation of catching something worthwhile.

Bass are very edible. Unfortunately, this means they are highly sought after. There is a bag limit in place for bass of two fish per angler per day, or per night if you like.

Here lies the problem.

One may fish for weeks on end, when the tide is completely wrong, without seeing the merest sign that any fish are in the area at all.

Then comes a night of warm, onshore wind that lifts three feet of surf 50 yards out, and every bass that ever swam is suddenly concentrated in a small area.

Now the bites come thick and fast, and with these comes temptation.

After weeks of no fish, two seems too few, especially if the brace caught first weigh three and four pounds, and the third and even fourth are five pounds and more.

But the bag limits are in place for a reason, for bass are still in short supply, even if they have expanded their range.

Remember, even on the beaches of Cork and Kerry the same bag limit is in place.

Experienced anglers who remember the heady days of yore, when fishes of many kinds queued up to take whatever bait was shown them, are still subject to the same laws as the rest of us.

Now, I don’t believe bag limits really help toward conservation. Perhaps such restrictions look good in the eyes of some. However, there are many who net the seas to strip their wealth – while increasing their own, of course.

It is an easy thing for folks to claim that certain parts of Clew Bay, for instance, are off limits for commercial boats. We wish that were true. One day it might be.

For now we have to share limited resources. Quite what those resources will include on the coming years we shall have to wait and see.

One thing is certain; there is change afoot, and it is the angler who will see it first.