Pike restrictions

This is an article which was in Vaasa's Swedish daily publication yesterday

Sverige fredar gammelgäddan

Sverige fredar gammelgäddan i Östersjön.

I sommar inför det svenska Fiskeriverket nya regler för att begränsa fritidsfisket efter gädda i Östersjön. Statistik från yrkesfisket visar att fångsterna av gädda minskat med 80 procent de senaste 15 åren.
För att skydda gäddan får den som fiskar med handredskap bara ta upp tre gäddor per dag. Dessutom blir det bara tillåtet att ta upp gäddor som är mellan 40 och 75 centimeter, skriver Dagens Nyheter.
Martin Rydgren på Fiskeriverket säger till tidningen att åtgärderna måste inriktas på fritidsfisket eftersom yrkesfiskarna bara står för cirka fyra procent av gäddfångsterna i Östersjön

Sweden Protecting Old Pike in the Baltic Sea

This summer Sweden is restricting it’s laws on leisure-fishing for pike in the Baltic Sea . Statistic says that the numbers of pike caught have dropped 80% in the past 15 years. To protect the pike, the leisure-fishermen have been restricted to three catches per day. The allowed sizes being between 40 and 75cm.

The restrictions are aimed at the leisure-fishermen, because professional fishermen only cover 4% of the total amount of pike caught in the Baltic.

Yet there is no mention of the use of over trawling in the region, and how they have depleted the stocks of fish which I might add are the pike main food source thus having a knock on effect for the pike stocks in the Baltic…….Although I am happy with the regulations, Why Is it always the recreational fisherman that gets the blame and suffers?

Maybe because of images like this I suppose!