If I may, Barry......
It should be, John "I'm not interested in Article 47" Amery,
acting chairman of the marine committee of the Angling Trust, the 'governing', 'representative' and manipulative body for all angling (not if i can help it)
I shall never forget him snarling across the table when presenting my breakdown of implications of the disastrous EU document. There was much more pressing matters to be getting on with, namely the old NFSA specimen award scheme!!!
Back to the press release.
It is remarkable how there has been an apparent growth in the sport, pastime, what have you, when only the other week the AT were buttering up Richard Benyon with tales of decimation in the RSA sector.
Check this garbage out.....
QUOTE
Email today to Richard Benyon, Fisheries Minister;
Hello again Richard
You recently gave an answer in Parliament on Inshore Fisheries Management which has caused a little upset in our community.
A previous Conservative Fisheries Minister, John Gummer, said in November 2001; "I was never able to press for the necessary conservation measures at National and EU level, due to the nations 'emotional attachment' to
fishermen. The Industry has too much political clout .The lawn mowing industry employs more people but does not have four ministries, England, N.Ireland, Wales and Scotland."
In other words, fishermen exerted too much control. Passing more control over to the foxes won't assist in managing the hen house.
When the inshore fleet runs out of quota species it simply moves effort to non quota species and starts to decimate their numbers to the detriment of other stakeholders and fish stocks.
I was about to give evidence to a joint committee on the Marine Bill when the speakers before me were asked, "Does the commercial fleet fish sustainably?"
They, from the commercial sector, answered, "Yes." and went into a long diatribe blaming everything other than effort by themselves for the decline in fish stocks. As near ago as the 1970s nearly every harbour I
visited had a fleet of under tens, some larger vessels and a massive fleet of small boats servicing the recreational angling and diving market. On average there were at least 15 boats per port, going out
seven days a week with a minimum of four anglers on board and generally six or eight. Each boat had a skipper and a crewman to assist the anglers. We needed to book months in advance to secure good tides and
the boats we wanted.
If you visit those same ports today there are fewer under tens, hardly any larger vessels and perhaps five charter boats going out at weekends with the occasional midweek trip planned. Average anglers per week in
1970 per port 630, average anglers per port per week now 60. The average trip in 1970 cost me £45.00, that is £28,350 a week, plus the money I spent locally on accommodation, breakfast, parking, bait, tackle and
beer. Average trip today costs £100 which is £6000, a shortfall in community earnings of £22,350 a week, that is over a million a year per port being lost on the backs of the greed of commercial fishermen and the
"sustainable" way they fish, just to the boatmen.
Anglers stay away from coastal communities when there are no fish worth catching for them to take. You only have to watch the beaches to know that when there are fish out there the anglers return in numbers. We
could yet go back to the days of decent catches for anglers of species which then were of no interest to the commercials and which had no value to them, but which are now exploited because they have taken everything
else out.
Looking forward to our meeting with you, when perhaps we can explore some of these issues more fully.
Mike
Michael Heylin
Chairman
Angling Trust
The Voice of Angling
I was gobsmacked when I read it!