An estimated 20,000 mullet were killed during commercial netting operations

Around 20,000 mullet massacred during spawning season

By Sea Angler

General News

17 March 2010 08:57

Three commercial netting operations on the Isle of Man have captured an estimated 20,000 mullet, sparking concern over future stocks of this slow-growing species.

The fish are thought to have gathered to spawn in the bay of Port Erin, but they are also being taken in large numbers from  Cornwall and Anglesey.

Anglers on the Isle of Man are angered by the practise and the lack of efforts to tackle it from its own DAFF (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry), especially in light of proposals from the body to introduce a sea angling licence on the island.

The mullet reportedly reached just 50p a kilo at market with some ending up as crab bait, and a similar incident also occurred last week at Sennen Cove near Land’s End, Cornwall.

Kevin Walmsley, secretary of the Isle of Man Angling Federation, said that it was ‘short sighted’ of authorities to still allow such numbers of mullet to be commercially caught in this way and called for a closed season where the fish were gathering to spawn.