Seabass

When and where you can catch seabass ?

Throughout 2019 you must not catch, retain, tranship or land bass caught from a vessel or the shore from the following ‘prohibited’ areas:

Sea area and International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) division:
South West Approaches: ICES VIIb, VIIc, VIIj and VIIk
Irish or Celtic Sea Outside the 12 nautical mile limit of UK waters in ICES VIIg and VIIa

During January 2019 and from 1 April 2019 until 31 December 2019 the catch, retention, transhipment and landing of bass in the restricted areas below, is only permitted if you have an authorisation from the MMO to do so. Fishing for bass in any restricted area is prohibited during February and March 2019.

Sea area and International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) division:
North Sea: IVb, IVc
Channel: VIId, VIIe
Celtic Sea: VIIf, VIIg*
Irish Sea: VIIa*
South West Approaches: VIIh

(*Inside UK 12nm limit only)

The seabass lifestyle

Young people and sub-adults consume mainly
crustaceans. Adults still eat crustaceans, but also cephalopods (squid), and
especially fish (sardines, anchovies, pouts...). Hunting is done either by
individuals alone on the lookout, near the bottom, or in front of the current
or in the eddies. Pelagic fish can also be hunted by schools of sea bass. The seabass
has a reputation for great voracity but also mistrust.

Spawning takes place on the coast, at a depth of
less than 10 m, between December and March in the Mediterranean and is spread
from January to May in the Atlantic, English Channel and North Sea.  The female lays 200,000 eggs at once.  The male follows a female with a swollen
abdomen, and fertilization is external. The eggs are pelagic, when the larva
hatches, as long as it has yolk, swims with its stomach in the air.

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The Seabass habitat

This fish is found mainly above the sandy or
rocky bottom of the coastal fringe. It enters brackish waters and ports.
Juveniles have already been observed in the terminal part of coastal rivers. It
can be found between the surface, in the rough waters where it hunts, and about
30 meters deep (exceptionally 100 m).

It is found in the Mediterranean, the North-East
Atlantic, from Norway to Morocco.

The Seabass angling

A
highly sought-after species, it can be fished in many different ways. Bass is
also fished by bottom trawl or trawl, trolling line and longline, and is fished
all year round, from February to April for individuals fished by trawl and from
April to December for line bass.