The Salmon and Trout Association: Game anglers influencing national decision makers over the management and protection of salmon, trout and sea trout, the conservation of water and the diverse environments upon which all aquatic life depends.
NEWSLETTER: May 2010
New Government:
At last we have a new Government and, for all the negotiations which went on around it, we have a Defra Fisheries Minister for England and Wales - Richard Benyon, to whom congratulations on his appointment - who shadowed that post in Opposition, and so there is commendable continuity in this important ministerial position. We spoke with him a couple of times before the Election, and gave him the list of issues we would like to see addressed in the months ahead, which we reported in the last E-Newsletter. Richard Benyon is an angler and knows a good deal about the fisheries’ world, having an interest in the River Kennet in Berkshire and the Findhorn in Scotland. We look forward very much to working with him, and will be seeking a ministerial meeting with him in the near future.
Final Call for Aquaculture Petition pages:
Many of you have pages on which you have collected signatures for our Aquaculture Petition. Could we please ask you to send them in to HQ as quickly as possible, so that we can collate the final number before submission to the Scottish Government? If you have not already signed the Petition, you can still do so electronically, click here, but please do so by June 10th.
NASCO and Aquaculture
The annual North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) meeting is to be held in Quebec, Canada, in the first week of June, where the main issue will be Aquaculture! Suffice to say that the whole NGO contingent will be bringing some intense pressure on the delegations over their management of the global salmon farming industry, because none of them do it at all well – and Scotland is worse than most!
Web Site Podcast on Aquaculture:
Listen to a short Podcast on our web site with well known actor and fisherman, Geoffrey Palmer, talking to S&TA Chief Executive, Paul Knight, about the problems associated with, and possible solutions for, Aquaculture.
Scottish Mixed Stock Fisheries Report Published:
The long awaited MSF report was published recently. Although S&TA was represented on the working group by the Chief Executive, we were not able to sign up to the final report because, in seeking to find consensus between netsmen and wild fish organisations, it failed to produce sufficiently strong recommendations for the future management of Scotland’s coastal MSFs. Overall, the report is long on the need for more research but critically short of immediate action, as it deems that the present scientific data is insufficient – an attitude that epitomises the lack of urgency shown by the Government and its advisors. In contrast, S&TA and our colleagues in the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards repeatedly called for the precautionary approach to be adopted, a principle signed up to by Scotland as a member of the EU delegation at NASCO. Meanwhile, we will be highlighting Scotland’s continuing reluctance to manage its coastal MSFs at the annual NASCO meeting in June, and with Marine Science Scotland thereafter.
Blueprint for Water Re-write:
Many of you will have seen the Blueprint for Water, the ten-point ask of Government produced by the Blueprint team in 2007 (now incorporated under the Wildlife and Countryside Link banner) for the future management of water and the aquatic environment in England and Wales. It has been decided to update the document for the new Government, and S&TA is taking the lead on rewriting two of the Asks – 1) Stop Pollutants Contaminating our Water, and 2) Restore Rivers from Source to Sea. The new document will have the support of Link’s 8 million members, which should add something of a bite to the fisheries’ voice. The new version should be ready for presentation to the Government in early summer.
Blueprint for Wales?
Although the original Blueprint was very successful in England, one of the accusations levelled at us was that it did not cover Wales. Link operates at UK level, but has a sister organisation in Wales which addresses purely Welsh issues. S&TA believes that a version of the Blueprint for Wales would be extremely valuable, and we intend to try and coordinate a similar document this year, involving especially the Welsh Rivers Trusts, WSTAA and Link Wales, all of whom we will contact shortly. More details to follow.
Hydropower
Still a serious problem for fisheries’ interests. S&TA represented fisheries’ NGOs at a recent Environment Agency workshop looking into the streamlining of the permitting and planning process for hydropower applications. We were well received, and were able to put across our point that hydropower MUST sit within integrated catchment management plans, coordinating all the issues relevant to river management, rather than being treated on a piecemeal basis as at present. This received good agreement around the table, but the problem keeps coming back to a lack of baseline information at catchment level, and no spare resources to go out and obtain it. Meanwhile, EA planning officers are being forced to make decisions without having this basic data available. So, hydropower remains a deep frustration, and an issue we will be addressing with the new Defra team at the earliest opportunity.
Game Fair
If you would like to help the S&TA this year at the CLA Game Fair (Ragley Hall, Alcester, Warwickshire - July 23rd, 24th & 25th), where we are responsible for organising casting competitions, championships and clinics, please contact Philip Wellesley-Davies on 0118 972 2921 (home), 07970 848 534 (mobile) or philipwd@hotmail.com (Subject: ‘Game Fair 2010 Help’) – a free entrance ticket and food voucher will be given to each volunteer, in return for 2x2 hour stints on the day.
Membership
Do you have a friend – or friends! – who isn’t/aren’t a member(s) of the S&TA but who you think really should be? Point them to our thought-provoking questionnaire on the website, linked from the box on the Home page headed “Answer These Ten Questions and Find Out When Your Fishing Days will End” Click here.
We rely on our membership income and donations to enable us to continue working on these and many other issues on your behalf so please encourage your friends and acquaintances to do their bit by joining the Salmon & Trout Association – why not forward this E-Newsletter to your contacts list? Also, if you haven’t already signed up to Gift Aid your subscription or donation, please do so – click here.
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our news articles. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a news article of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
