Post by Hoppy on Nov 17, 2005 20:33:13 GMT -1
ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE TEXT:
CCW = Countryside Council for Wales:
EA = Environment Agency for England & Wales:
EAW = Environment Agency Wales:
FRAWC = Flood Risk Assessment Wales Committee (formerly Flood Defence Committee):
NRA = National Rivers Authority:
WAG = Welsh Assembly Government.
F PARTNERSHIPS.
WORKING TOGETHER.
There is an immediate need to foster closer working relationship between the angling community, the EA/EAW, the CCW and others with an interest the aquatic environment.
F.2.4. ANGLING UNITY.
The angling community is fragmented and lacks the infra-structure at a local, regional and National level to speak with an effective voice for the interests of individual anglers and for the fisheries and aquatic environment of Wales. This must change!
F.3.2. TRAINING & AWARENESS.
The EAW has successfully initiated a programme targeted at the angling community designed to increase general awareness about strategic environmental issues and to build skills and capabilities within the angling community so that they are better able to manage their fisheries in a sustainable way and can directly manage their own externally funded projects in the future.
F.4.6. COMMUNICATION & FEEDBACK
One of the central problems that must be addressed is the difficulty experienced by the EAW (and other Agencies)) in communicating directly with the angling community in Wales in general and with the individual angler ‘on-the-bank’ in particular. It is to be noted that many anglers do not belong to a club or similar organisation and that many others live outside Wales.
CHANGING ATTITUDES & CULTURE.
A number of the smaller angling clubs in Wales are reporting difficulties from falling club membership and income. Some clubs are experiencing severe financial problems and a few have ceased to exist as such. While the traditional approach adopted by many (but not all) of the angling clubs in Wales of managing their affairs to ensure that local anglers have access to local fisheries as cheaply as possible and to do little more than ensure that income was sufficient to cover annual rents and other fixed costs is understood; but it is no longer tenable if those clubs wish to survive in the future.
CCW = Countryside Council for Wales:
EA = Environment Agency for England & Wales:
EAW = Environment Agency Wales:
FRAWC = Flood Risk Assessment Wales Committee (formerly Flood Defence Committee):
NRA = National Rivers Authority:
WAG = Welsh Assembly Government.
F PARTNERSHIPS.
WORKING TOGETHER.
There is an immediate need to foster closer working relationship between the angling community, the EA/EAW, the CCW and others with an interest the aquatic environment.
- There is a pressing need to foster a better spirit of trust and understanding between the angling community and the EA/EAW and CCW as a pre-requisite to forging a closer working relationships and effective partnerships to achieve mutually common objectives.
- There is also an equally pressing need for the angling community in Wales to become better organised and more responsive to the fundamental need to be more pro-active in protecting the fisheries and aquatic environment of Wales. [See F.2.]
- EAW should engage with all sectors of the angling community to ensure that they are fully aware of their responsibilities to participate in, and the benefits accruing to them from, such activities as disease prevention, habitat restoration and from encouraging greater angling participation throughout Wales
- WAG should actively encourage the participation of those official bodies that hold statutory remits that embrace angling, such as the Sports Council Wales and the Welsh Tourist Board, to ensure that they properly fund those projects that fall within their remit but which are now currently financed in full or in part by the EAW.
- WAG/EAW/WTB should engage with Local Authorities to make them more aware of the benefits that angling and angling tourism bring to their communities and to seek their active participation in furthering this process.
- The success of the ‘Rivers Trusts’ in forging working partnerships within the local community and obtaining funding from various sources is to be considered as an ideal model that should be emulated elsewhere in Wales.
F.2.4. ANGLING UNITY.
The angling community is fragmented and lacks the infra-structure at a local, regional and National level to speak with an effective voice for the interests of individual anglers and for the fisheries and aquatic environment of Wales. This must change!
- Angling interest within each catchment should be actively encouraged to form local ‘consultatives’ to speak with a single fisheries voice within that catchment. These organisations would then form the basis for the development of locally driven initiatives leading to the formation of River Watch Schemes and Habitat Groups that could work closely alongside the EAW (and CCW on SAC/SSSI sites) and, eventually, may form the principal driver behind the formation of a “Rivers Trust”.
- The local, catchment-based, consultatives within a geographical area should be encouraged to combine as ‘Regional Federations’ to discuss common problems, needs and initiatives. They would have close links with the Local Fishery Groups maintained by the EAW
- The Angling Governing Bodies should be encouraged to become stronger, more truly representative of the angling community within their respective sectors of the sport and better able to conduct their affairs in a thoroughly professional and competent way. They need to be better resourced and funded.
- These bodies should be encouraged to make themselves formally known to and enter into discussions with the WAG.
F.3.2. TRAINING & AWARENESS.
The EAW has successfully initiated a programme targeted at the angling community designed to increase general awareness about strategic environmental issues and to build skills and capabilities within the angling community so that they are better able to manage their fisheries in a sustainable way and can directly manage their own externally funded projects in the future.
- The EAW should continue the present level of commitment to the provision of skills and awareness training. This should now be more sharply focussed on a series of seminars and workshops that address specific strategic and tactical issues (e.g. ‘Control of Invasive Weeds’; River Watch Schemes’; ‘Catch-and-Release’; ‘Artificial Stocking’).
- The EAW should make far better use of its existing annual publications and other mail-shots sent to rod-licence holders as low-cost vehicles for communicating directly with individual fishermen on a wider range of strategic and tactical matters.
F.4.6. COMMUNICATION & FEEDBACK
One of the central problems that must be addressed is the difficulty experienced by the EAW (and other Agencies)) in communicating directly with the angling community in Wales in general and with the individual angler ‘on-the-bank’ in particular. It is to be noted that many anglers do not belong to a club or similar organisation and that many others live outside Wales.
- The EAW should actively engage with representatives from within the angling community to explore ways of improving two-way communication and feedback between the Agency and the angler-on-the-bank.
- There is a need for the EA/EAW to do more to increase awareness of the many positive and fundamentally important benefits derived by the angling community from the work of its other departments in safeguarding the aquatic environment and its associated fisheries, (e.g. Water Resources, Pollution Control, the National Fisheries Centres for coarse fish and game fish).
- Until such time when the angling community in Wales has become more unified and cohesive at a local and district level (see F.2.) and the Angling National Governing Bodies have become more truly representative of the angling community, it is difficult to see how the FERAC can be made to become more effectively representative of all sectors, groups and divisions of angling in Wales. However: -
- The EAW should endeavour to make the Local Fishery Groups into a more effective forum for two-way communication, discussion and feedback within each geographical district. They should be restructured with standard terms of reference, regularly convened and properly resourced and administered.
- The EAW/WAG should reinstate the production of a comprehensive ‘Annual Report on the Fisheries of Wales’. This publication ceased with the formation of the NRA in 1989/1990 and much useful back-ground information has been lost: either because it is no longer generated or because it is subsumed into an ‘all England & Wales’ format.
- WAG/EAW should promote and an annual “All Wales Fisheries Forum” to provide a platform for two-way communication and feedback between Government, its agencies and all fisheries stakeholders on developments and issues of national interest and concern. A similar arrangement in Scotland appears to work well.
CHANGING ATTITUDES & CULTURE.
A number of the smaller angling clubs in Wales are reporting difficulties from falling club membership and income. Some clubs are experiencing severe financial problems and a few have ceased to exist as such. While the traditional approach adopted by many (but not all) of the angling clubs in Wales of managing their affairs to ensure that local anglers have access to local fisheries as cheaply as possible and to do little more than ensure that income was sufficient to cover annual rents and other fixed costs is understood; but it is no longer tenable if those clubs wish to survive in the future.
- Angling clubs must be encouraged to operate as a business in order to survive. They need to invest more in the provision of a higher standard of services and facilities provided to their local and visiting customers (see G.2.1.) to attract and retain new members and they need to become active and vigilant in safeguarding their individual and collective interests.
- Angling clubs should be encouraged and supported in developing ‘business management plans’ that actively seek to increase the social and economic benefits derived by the local community from their sections of fishing in ways that do not disadvantage their local membership (see H.1.3.).
- All owners should be encouraged and supported in taking steps to collect and maintain accurate and detailed catch records from their individual fisheries as basis for calculating the value of the fishery and quantum of any claim for damages and compensation against a third party, protecting their assets and properly managing their fisheries.
- The owners of individual fisheries on every salmon and sea trout river should be encouraged and supported in developing a ‘stock conservation strategy’ for the whole river system that is based on the adoption of standard set of agreed fishery rules & regulations to be applied on each and every separate fishery within the catchment. [H.3.2.]
- The EAW should progress the development of a standard ‘Office Administration Package’ designed to reduce the routine workload of club secretaries and enable them to process and generate information in a standard format for internal and external purposes (e.g. membership details, newsletters, catch-returns).
- The EAW should investigate the feasibility and cost of providing clubs with the necessary IT equipment and training to operate effectively in a modern world.
- The significant practical benefit of encouraging clubs to merge to become stronger, more representative and better resourced to carry out their business more efficiently and effectively is to be noted. Practical support should be provided to any clubs wishing to do so subject to certain qualifications.