CAMPAIGN FOR THE PROTECTION OF WELSH FISHERIES

[highplains]

I am really sorry that this post has become so fraught. I think it is perhaps an indication of the fact that we, as ordinary anglers, actually care about our fish as well as our fishing.

May I thank those of you who have been so kind as to send me personal messages of support, they are most heartening. However this posting is not about any individuals, it is about protecting the fish.

It has been asked by what authority this campaign is being aired? The answer to that is by no authority. We are in the pre campaign phase, and having anticipated that the EAW and others may claim that we have no authority we are in the process of obtaining it. WE ARE SEEKING THE SUPPORT OF THE BROADEST ANGLING COMMUNITY. If that support were not forthcoming, then the campaign would have ceased. It has been forthcoming and from all over the UK and elsewhere. The support is now such that it is out of our hands.

We are all anglers and all have broadly the same aims that relate to the love of our sport. We must not fight amongst ourselves, Disagree yes but fall out no.

Those of you who may be considering leaving the forum or the discussion: please reconsider. All views are valid and if feelings run high it seems to me to point to two things.

1. People care.
2 We are making progress.

Let's keep at it.

With regards to all participants.

Highplains

[Diawlbach]

Well said Highplains.

[DAZ]

Well said indeed.

highplains said:

We are all anglers and all have broadly the same aims that relate to the love of our sport. We must not fight amongst ourselves, Disagree yes but fall out no.

AMEN!.

DAZ.

[rwgbridgend]

Here Here Highplains,

Now that we have finished devouring our carrots we can carry on doing what we do best - carrying on with the campaign!

[highplains]

Thank you rwgbridgend,

As for the rest of us:

If you support the campaign please find at least 10 fellow supporters and PM me details.

If you disagree, then let's have some meaningful dialogue.

The Carmarthenshire group mention 11,000 members. They brought up numbers so lets go for improving on that by a factor of several. We are well on our way!!

Its all down to you. It is your campaign.

I look forward to hearing from you some more.

All the best and good hunting.

Highplains

[wnion]

admin said:

I'd be interested to know if other areas of Wales (especially areas of the North) knew about Rivers Trusts, and the funds that can be made available?

I would imagine that they know, and that it would entail involving all interested parties and river users including canoests.
It is not all about fisheries interests.

[highplains]

wnion

I don't think it's a secret that the Conwy and Clwyd Trust is due to be formally "opened" very soon.

You have hit it squarely on the head.

We shall see.

Regards.

Highplains

[Gwyniadun]

A copy of a letter received from Brynle Williams today and my reply to it:

8th August 2007
Elin AM
Welsh Assembly Government
Cardiff Bay
Cardiff
CF99 1NA

Dear Elin,

During the second Assembly Term I held discussions with various angling organisations and with Carwyn , Minister for Environment, Planning & Countryside concerning fisheries enforcement in North Wales.

I enclose a copy of a letter from Carwyn AM dated 13 February 2007, in which the Minister stated that the Environment Agency (EA) had been commissioned to conduct a review of its enforcement activities throughout Wales. I would like to request a copy of the report produced as a result of this review.

Further to this, I would be interested to know what discussions you have held with the Agency regarding fisheries enforcement. Are there are any plans to increase the current number of enforcement officers in North Wales, and what steps are being taken to improve the way in which reports of illegal fishing activity are handled by the Agency.

I look forward to receiving your reply.

Yours sincerely

Brynle Williams AM

Reply: Thanks for that, what a cop out....minister under pressure...change the minister, more breathing space...political garbage. Thanks, regards to Brynle and good luck to him.

My present stance:
I sincerely hope that all the efforts on the various fronts prove fruitful in the end.

[watermole]

To everyone out there,

On behalf of the Campaign, can I once again ask for your support for this cause.

I do not fish Welsh rivers, and am very unlikely to, to any great extent, but as a sea-trout fisher, I feel that, this is such an important issue-and so worthwhile, that it deserves the support of all who fish, wherever that may be.

It will cost you nothing except for a few minutes of your time and may well result in securing invaluable help for the rivers of Wales-perhaps elsewhere-who knows?

If you have not already done so, please send a quick PM to Highplains and add your name also to the ever-growing number!

As this is about numbers, why not ask the support of family members too? All are welcome because all will count.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Watermole.

[highplains]

Thank you Watermole,

I look forward to hearing from you all, with a goodly selection of supporters details.

Regards.

Highplains

[highplains]

I have to say, on receiving a copy of the same letter today I felt heartened that one politician, at least, is trying to help. He is not alone in asking similar questions.

For my part I thank Brynle for his continued efforts. He and Mark Isherwood have been trying hard to bring this issue to the fore and look after the interests of anglers in North Wales. His South Wales colleagues are doing the same.

We are trying to give this issue a high priority and by bringing it into the political arena that is exactly what we are doing. This is a political and financial issue that can not be resolved by the EAW, but can be addressed by the Welsh Assembly Government. The delay in the publication of the report on enforcement in Wales is stifling efforts. Until it is actually published and the full extent of the anticipated whitewash known, we are ham strung.

Thank you Brynle for your efforts.

Highplains

[rwgbridgend]

I note that the letter sent to the minister by Brynle Williams is addressed to Elin AM. My contacts within the Assembly have stated that the Environment portfilio went to Jane Davidson as minister for sustainability. Certainly one of my AM's has sent a similar letter to Jane Davidson! I'm sure that the Assembly Government will eventually decide what Minister is responsible for what!

Anyway back on track..... please continue to send your support to highplains!

[highplains]

BBC News Item today. The link is posted lower down the form. I have reproduced the article in full because of the seriousness of the issue.

Please PM me with your support and those of your friends, family and fellow anglers. We urgently need more bailiffs.


'Poaching threat' to fish stocks
An increase in poaching and extreme weather conditions have pushed fish stocks in British lakes to the point of collapse, an anglers' group has said.
Spawning conditions have been hit by two years of extreme weather, the National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives (NAFC) said.

Members of the NAFC have also reported poaching of larger fish from lakes.

And Parliamentary angling spokesman Martin Salter MP claims some eastern European migrants take fish to eat.

Legal loopholes

The Reading MP said: "Poles and eastern Europeans, in particular, have been seen and occasionally caught removing all species of course fish, roach, bream and perch."

BBC correspondent Niki Cardwell says the problem is partly cultural with eastern European immigrants - for whom carp is a delicacy - taking fish from lakes.

They do not realise that it is unacceptable to eat the fish they catch, she says, adding that poachers have been seen patrolling lakes.

Mr Salter says the problem is getting worse but that the legal framework is simply not strong enough to cope with the problem.

"For example, in the Thames region it is legal, even though it's not in our culture, it is legal to take two fish of any size," he said.

"In some other regions you can take as many fish as you like, but there are certain size limits. And these things are simply not enforced."

Floods

One lake in Northampton has been forced to close because the problem has become so bad.

And the NAFC warns others could suffer the same fate.

The organisation's representative for the Anglian region, Steve Hellen, said fish were normally fairly comfortable within their own environment.

"But if you introduce extreme elements into that environment, such as we had with very high water levels, fish can become displaced from the normal area within a river, for instance, that they live in.

"And because of man made structures such as weirs and sluices and things those fish may never be able to return to their normal resident area."

Freshwater fish in the UK have been hit by the extreme and prolonged heat of 2006 followed by floods in 2007. Both disrupted spawning and deprived fry from the right conditions to grow.


Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/6941262.stm

Published: 2007/08/11 08:20:22 GMT

© BBC MMVII

[highplains]

The minutes of the FERAC meeting held in April are now published on the EAW web site. They are not very informative, but they do show that at least some acknowledgement of the poaching issue may be being accepted. The applicable section is pasted below.

This section of the minutes is followed by the complete text of the EAW's comments on "exploitation" included in their draft document

better sea trout and salmon fisheries Our strategy for 2008-2021

Note the time scale 2008 to 2021. This is the period over which this document is likely to dictate the EAW approach to poaching and poachers unless we do something about it!!

Extract taken directly from the minutes of the April 2007 FERAC meeting regarding the enforcement review.


07.25 ENFORCEMENT REVIEW

Andy Schofield gave a presentation on Welsh Fisheries Enforcement that focussed on the organisation of enforcement, enforcement activities and our proposals to address perceived stakeholder concerns.

Chris Mills, Director, would sign off the findings of the Enforcement Review and the draft report would then go to Welsh Assembly Government.

Members’ comments are summarised below:

• A system is needed to identify and quantify those anglers who fish for
salmon in Wales and purchase licences in England.

• FERC questioned the validity of evaluating the possible significance of
illegal fishing by comparing outputs of farmed salmon with catches of wild
salmon by rods and nets.

• Concern was expressed that data management appears to supersede
work undertaken at ground level, important to take into account local
knowledge.

• Environmental crime should be given a much higher profile – the level of
fines imposed by the courts undervalues the significant impact on depleted
stocks by illegal fishing

• Need to see more visible presence of enforcement officers on the
riverbanks - suggestion to consider involving other groups of people to
form monitoring groups to monitor poaching activity.

• Suggestion to give more power to voluntary bailiffs.
Malcolm.Smith made three observations:

4 INITIALS

(1) Lawyers are working to increase the profile of environmental crime amongst the judiciary.

(2) The North Wales Chief Constable has indicated that links exist between petty crime and environmental crime.

(3) Careful consideration needs to be given to the efficiency and
effectiveness of our work given the financial position.

AGREED: to note the presentation and members’ comments.





Taken directly from: draft: better sea trout and salmon fisheries Our strategy for 2008-2021

Exploitation

In the circumstance of stocks being at risk, we must be responsible and manage exploitation at levels that will not threaten their future. Controls on fishing have been
increased in recent years and, in many places, voluntary constraints have been adopted to protect stocks. In the twenty years to 2006 the number of licensed nets and traps
operating has reduced by more than 60%. The practice of catch and release fishing by anglers has expanded markedly in the last ten years. Illegal, as well as legal fishing needs control. Our records suggest a decline in levels of poaching that may be linked to fewer wild fish and increased availability of farmed salmon as well as targeted enforcement. Our review in 2004 concluded that whilst exploitation needed more control in some places, overall other factors were equally or more important.


It is worth noting that the reference to "our records" relates to details taken from the 0800 80 70 60 number that we should all be using to report poaching, but which is currently viewed as a farce! We must all use the free phone number.

It interesting to note that whilst the EAW say there is no poaching the Chief Constable of North Wales connects it with petty crime? Strange!

Given the influence of the paper above and the time scale over which it will influence EAW policy, we must strengthen our campaign.

Thanks to those of you who sent your support during the period my computer was out of action. I look forward to receiving more - friends and family details can be added.

[Hoppy]

highplains said:

Members’ comments are summarised below:

• A system is needed to identify and quantify those anglers who fish for
salmon in Wales and purchase licences in England.

Some good stuff there really, im interested in the point i have quoted above, i wonder why they need to do this?

Any information gladly received.

Hoppy

[kwilliams]

Hoppy
The question as to income streaming which is split between EA England & EA Wales by anglers of England purchasing their licences in England and Fishing generally in Wales has always been a Financial headache and conundrum to the present and previous financial managers involved in apportioning money to service the fisheries departments
There has always been this question raised firstly at grass roots level by far sighted Bailiffs who saw that there should be a way of identifying income origin and apportioning it where it was needed especially where salmon licence revenue was associated.
Managers invariably walked away from any attempt to carry out this need for licence data management having viewed it as time consuming and costly, though the pragmatic suggestion from some bailiffs was for a tick box to be added to the counterfoil stub for identifying the intended geographic primary use of the licence.
As we know some clubs based in England have most if not all their game waters in Wales and their memberships fish nowhere else.
The money taken in post offices in England is subsequently apportioned to resource issues in England with there being a stated decision that there will or wouldn't be any cross flow of financing since the inception of the National Assembly for Wales which is the Paymaster for EA wales in general terms.
In short it is generally accepted that monies collected in England are kept and spent in England so there is a significant loss of financial resources where licences are bought with the intention of being used in Wales alone. this also applied to trout and coarse anglers who migrate acroos the border for their sport.
If this financial nettle could be grasped. the means to raise additional resources could be resolved if only there was the means to take it forward and identify a way to claw back this cross border loss.
Anyone else got any thoughts on the matter ?

[highplains]

Forgive me for posting this article under this head but it is near as we are likely to come to an EA comment on poaching. The article relates to the recent retirement of that well respected bailiff Emyr. He does not necessarily agree with the campaign so I hope he will forgive me posting it here. It's well worth the read.



Fishy tales from the river bank


Aug 30 2007




by Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post



WHERE there are fishermen, you’ll find poachers; and while Wales has a fine tradition for its angling, its has an equally scurrilous reputation for illicit fishing.

Back in 1778, Thomas Pennant wrote that the River Dyfi “abounded with salmon, which were hunted in the night by an animated but illicit class, by spearmen, who were directed to the fish by lighted whisps of straw”.

Little had changed by the time George Borrow toured the Welsh countryside, noting its customs and characters. In 1862, he described a court hearing at Machynlleth petty sessions, where a farmer was fined £4 for spearing a salmon in the Dyfi.

“In came a small, mean, wizened-faced man of about 60, dressed in a black coat and hat, drab breeches and gaiters, and looking more like a decayed Methodist preacher than a spearer of imperial salmon,” he wrote.

Despite mitigation by the defence, the magistrates were swayed by the prosecution’s description of the farmer as being “rather fond of fish, indeed of having speared more salmon than any other six individuals in the neighbourhood”.

Such characters were all too familiar to Emyr Lewis in his 39 years as a river bailiff. He can still picture night-time scenes of riverbanks illuminated “like Blackpool lights” by hoards of poachers who would descend on the Dyfi for its handsome spoils.

Back then, in the late 1960s, poaching was regarded as winter sport for the locals. Few took the odd fish “for the pot” but instead relieved the river of hefty quantities of blueback salmon and sewin. Some used nets, others relied on the tried-and-trusted spear which had landed Borrow’s farmer in so much trouble a century earlier.

Emyr, armed with just a truncheon and handcuffs, would creep up in the shadows, then announce himself in formidable tones. Many took fright and acquiesced feebly; others turned the spear from the fish to the bailiff.

“I had a few wrestles on the riverbank,” recalls Emyr, 64. “But that’s the good thing about being 16 stone – they can’t easily get up when you sit on them.”

Once a poacher held a knife to his throat. For Emyr, that was the end of his nice-guy approach. Over the next 20 years he patrolled Dyfi’s riverbanks with a Cheshire Police-trained dog.

In June he finally hung up his truncheon, a legend within the angling community. At a retirement party in the Tyn y Cornel Hotel, Machynlleth, the great and good of Welsh angling gathered to pay their respects. The New Dyfi Fishery Association, which has a lengthy waiting list, awarded him a lifetime fishing permit. He was the first ever recipient.

Even Environment Agency Wales (EAW), lambasted for cutting back on river enforcement, paid its respects. Usually only those with 40 years service receive a retirement gift of £450, but last Thursday a cheque thudded on Emyr’s doormat in Llanbrynmair.

Despite the clandestine nature of his job, all the poachers knew where Emyr lived. Gangs would drive past his house, checking to see if he was in. He’s lost count of the number of silent phone calls he received: the click at the end of the line usually signalled a poacher was checking his whereabouts.

“I’ve had a few things thrown at the house,” he said. “Once someone chucked a tyre through the porch window.

“My wife has put up with so much. She’s been my unpaid secretary, taking calls from anglers all over Britain wanting to find out about the fishing on the Dyfi. She probably knows the river as well as I do.”

The Dyfi has provided the two loves of his life: the river, of course, and his wife, also called Dyfi. They been together for 42 years and people still crack the tired old joke that he married her for her name.

At the start, in 1968, he worked for the Gwynedd authority. It was replaced by the National Rivers Authority, then EAW.

The job’s changed too. River bailiffs are now enforcement officers and they’re armed with all manner of high-tech equipment, from videos to night-vision cameras and radar patrol boats.

There’s also far fewer of them – just four, down from 24. Anglers are less than impressed and their criticism of the EAW has been unrelenting. The Federation of Welsh Anglers is a vocal critic, while former Dee bailiff Keith Williams has spoken of a “deep malaise” within the EAW.

New river watch schemes have been set up in North Wales, encouraging anglers to shop poachers, but the resentment largely remains.

Emyr had his own differences, mainly over operational efficiency. At the risk of being labelled a Luddite, he told his bosses that bailiffs were not effective unless they were on the ground.

He said: “Towards the end we became buried under piles of paperwork.

“There were health & safety reports, job assessments, time sheets, boxes to tick, river reports and prosecution paperwork.

“I used to preach that the environment was outside the office, not in it.

“Perhaps I was a bit old-fashioned, but I believe that to do the job you’ve got to be on a riverbank, talking to farmers and anglers.

“If you’re sat in an office in Bangor, there’s no computer that’ll tell you what’s really happening on the Dyfi’s 400 miles of river and tributaries.”

Unlike many anglers, however, he believes poaching is on the wane. In contrast with the Dyfi’s heyday, when the river “abounded with salmon”, these days there simply aren’t enough fish to justify the risk of being caught.

Criminal gangs can still net £300 worth of fish for a night’s work, but the industrialised poaching of Wales’ rivers peaked in the 1980s when Emyr headed a national enforcement taskforce that criss-crossed the country with a dozen men, dogs and rubber dinghies.

Netting remained the prime modus operandi, and the teams would paddle along rivers until their drag-lines snagged a net. By the 1990s the preferred method was sodium cyanide, which sucked the oxygen from rivers and killed everything in them.

In 1995 Emyr led what he regards as his crowning achievement: Operation Armstrong, named after Brecknockshire solicitor Herbert Rowse Armstrong, who poisoned his wife with arsenic in 1921.

“A gang from Manchester had hired a fishing lodge and the fishing rights along a section of the river Elwy,” said Emyr.

“They were there several times a year and were cleaning out the river each time. We mounted round-the-clock surveillance before moving in. When we searched the gang’s homes we found photos of them posing with fish going back over 10 years.”

Emyr himself is an accomplished angler, having captained the Wales fly fishing team. But for 40 years he has denied himself the pleasure of river fishing, sticking to lakes and reservoirs instead.

Anglers can be a suspicious lot and Emyr didn’t want to provoke comment from anyone seeing him land the fish he was paid to protect.

He still casts out at least once-a-week and has just jetted off to Canada for a post-retirement holiday (“I’ve never been that far before”). His suitcase included a travelling rod.

His riverbank wanderings continue, especially downstream of Cemaes Road to cast a critical eye at Railtrack’s river-bashing engineering works.

Nor has his vast knowledge been entirely lost. While one son, Mark, doubles up as an ambulance driver and rally sports navigator, the other, Peter, is now a full-time bailiff on the River Dee.

“I made a few enemies in my career,” said Emyr. “But I’ve also made plenty of friends. Luckily not all poachers took their arrests to heart!”

farming


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[greyduster]

This man has done invaluable and incredible service for Wales, isn't it about time such worthy men were rewarded in national Honours.

[watermole]

There is nothing to ask forgiveness for Highplains, rather, thank you for posting the letter.

I have never met Emyr, but wish there were a few more in EAW- and in the EA generally, with hearts in the right place and the same level of commonsense upstairs!

greyduster, I couldn't agree more with you.

Wm.

[wnion]

greyduster said:

This man has done invaluable and incredible service for Wales, isn't it about time such worthy men were rewarded in national Honours.

www.honours.gov.uk/nominate.aspx