Angling and Fisheries Summit

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I will be there tomorrow chaps and I will place my notes in this thread.


Richard

nice one top bannana

There will be a minuted version of the summit that will be sent to the TAC soon through Defra. Here are my notes, and for those of you that take the time to read the post, my apoligies in advance... you will see that as the day wore on, my abilty to write was affected by repetition and Crimp Cramp!

Managed to meet another few useful contacts, all nice people, and we move ever onward.





09:30 Registration and coffee

10:00 Welcome and Introduction – Gavin Ross (Deputy Director, Sustainable
Fisheries, Department for the Environment, Fisheries and Rural Affairs - Defra)

10:05 Richard Benyon MP addresses the Summit

My notes concerning Minister's address:

Bureaucracy
Govt. to de-centralise and to help anglers and fisheries, clubs, riparian owners etc. through less bureaucracy.

Water Framework Directive
Catchment Scale analysis implicit within the Water Framework Directive – 10 pilot schemes with a holistic remit on a regional basis funded by Defra, including; Diffuse Pollution; Abstraction; Passage of Fish; The Impact of Hydropower.

Predation
Working closely with angling & fisheries. Smart solutions to the problem of predation, particularly concerning High Value species (no mention what “High Value Species” are?).

Invasive Species
Greater emphasis on Invasive Species prevention, such as the ‘Killer Shrimp’ and the many others that festoon our waters and coastlines etc.

Conservation
The Minister acknowledged the vast area of conservation that anglers assist with.

Access
Acknowledgement regarding access concerns across the board.

British Waterways
Step by step to charitable status. Implemented 2012, reviewed 2014 & 2015.

Overall the Minister’s stated objective was to build trust with the angling and fisheries community.




10:35 Introduction – David Moore, Angling Development Board

Angling Development Board


10:40 The social and community benefits of angling – Adam Brown,
Substance Angling Research

Angling Research


11:00 Fishing Wales: the real benefits – Rhys Llywelyn, Fishing Wales
Project, Environment Agency

Fishing Wales Project


11:20 Workshop Session 1 – The angling community: delivering social, economic and environmental benefits

Q1. What are the obstacles to the realisation of the social, economic and environmental benefits of angling and how do we overcome them?

Summary of my individual answers to the group I was sat with on table 10 of 14;
Access issues on many free stretches; Involvement and participation on a local level, across the board – community groups and councils etc.; Education for anglers and the wider community; Bureaucracy levels to be reduced encouraging greater participation.

Q2. What can the angling community do at a local level to generate more benefits and/or to raise awareness to local key players of the value of angling and have you examples of where this has worked?

Angling should become a part of the wider community to generate an understanding of angling, in essence to give an understanding of the many positives that angling can bring to the table in local areas.
To assist local anglers and fisheries through the Angling Trust forming a solid regional structure to support local initiatives. This ‘template’ has/and is working for the Thames Anglers’ Conservancy on a local level, and that is fed through the chain regionally and nationally to Angling Trust.

Q3. How could angling broaden to include a more diverse mix of participants?

Baseline development of fisheries, basically protecting and developing the resource. Publicising the benefits of angling and enabling local fisheries and anglers to be able to deliver opportunities enabling the above(answers to Q1 & Q2).


12:05 Feedback and Discussion

There were 14 tables of (around) 8 people forming a group, and each table highlighted their answers to the chair and the rest of the groups through an open mic. These collective answers will be forwarded to the TAC in summit minutes.

12.35 – 13.30 Lunch

Sandwiches, tea and coffee!




13:30 Introduction – Gavin Ross, Defra

Full details of Defra’s vision to be forwarded (and placed in this thread) via minutes of the summit.


13:35 Building trust – Mark Lloyd, Angling Trust

Angling
4mn people have fished in the England and Wales; £3.5bn economy; 50,000 jobs directly associated with angling; £25mn+ through EA licence fees; Capital value of assets owned by ‘anglers and fisheries’ that are worth billions of pounds.

Angling Historically
1861 – 1953 Water resources run by conservators, basically land owners and clubs, fishing rights very extensive.
1953 Water Board Bill – 1963 Water Resource Act – 1977/1983 The Water Charges Equalisation Act – 1989 The Water Act implemented – Fisheries Committees Abolished.

Decades of erosion of influence and representation; Massive declines in quality of most fisheries; Past failure of policy and consultation to deliver for angling and fisheries e.g. Coastal Management Programmes, Water Framework Directive etc.; Pollution and Illegal fishing ignored.
All this leading to angling communities fragmented, disenchanted and ignored. The angling media reflecting this fragmentation and disenchantment.

Positives for the future
Defra to recognise the importance of angling and fisheries management; The need for anglers to help themselves, to become involved with Defra, Environment Agency & British Waterways initiatives etc.; Clear structure to advise and challenge Govt. To further Develop angling Trust in partnership with National Fisheries & Groups; New reporting procedure from the EA; The Minister to support angling positively; Cormorant [predation] and Hydropower [obstruction] Reviews; Promote successful environmental campaigns by anglers; Third party assistance provided on a local level.

Clear structures needed as soon as possible for delivery through Defra; Policies to back up words; Financial backing were needed to assist in third sector way.

MORE FISH!


13:55 Looking forward – Geoff Bateman, Head of Fisheries and
Biodiversity, Environment Agency

Quote: “We will not compromise the Water Framework Directive”;

To adhere to Article 14 of the WFD: “Article 14 of the Directive requires Member States to encourage the active involvement of all interested parties in its implementation. In particular, public consultation is essential during the production, review and updating of river basin management plans which form the central theme of the Directive.”


Re-appraisal of the Good Practice Guidelines; Assessments regarding the cumulative effects of obstructions on rivers [i.e. hydropower?], 200 sites already earmarked as barriers to fish migration etc. further 500 to be looked at. Environment Agency data transparency for angling and fisheries; Inshore Fisheries Conservation.


14:15 Third sector partnership and delivery – Arlin Rickard, Association of
Rivers Trusts

Association of Rivers Trusts



14:35 Workshop Session 2 – How can we all work better together?

Q1. What are the obstacles to the Govt. and the angling/fisheries communities working closer together and how do we overcome these and build trust?

Angling – as a whole – appeared to acknowledge that we do not trust ‘top-down’ involvement. We don’t trust the Govt. Depts. to deliver i.e. Defra and EA, but more poignantly, we don’t appear to trust each other!

A few of the many suggestions; Continuity of EA staff, no sooner do angling and fisheries groups get to know and trust an EA officer (for example) and they are then moved on to a new post? Less red-tape.

More to follow (much more!) in summit minutes which will be forwarded soon.


Q2. What are the obstacles to further involvement of angling/fisheries communities in delivery and how do we overcome and build capacity?

Similar themes raised as before and further info supplied in the minutes. (Writers cramp setting in good and proper!)

Q3. Are there examples of where trust has been built and we have worked well together? Has this helped in delivery?

Similar themes expressing the necessity for all groups to engage on a local, regional and national level through [possible] developing and existing structures. More to follow.


15:20 Feedback and Discussion
Open mic for the 14 tables again, re-emphasising numerous themes and there will be more to follow... you have my word!

15:50 Closing comments

16.00 Close


Summary: A very important meeting setting us on the road to engage with the encumbent Govt. and the various Depts. for the current term of office. If we get a 1/4 of what we want - that's if we can all start singing on the same page of the hymn book - then we will have moved the sport/pastime somewhere close to the 21st Century.

Over and out.


Richard :study:

nice one m8, fully comprehensive, we love it

Nice one Rich...for going and the notes

Great stuff Richard- and a big Thankyou....

The future of Angling is looking to be very secure - much more positive than 10 or 15 years ago when it looked like Angling could easily become banned altogether.

Keep up the good work

Thanks Richard, great write up sir and thanks for attending

Looking forward to the minutes and further analysis, all very positive

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Press Release, Angling Trust;


At the Angling Summit, held on Monday, Environment and Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon MP promised that the marine and freshwater angling community would be closely involved in decision-making at a local level and nationally through its representative body, the Angling Trust. As an example he indicated that he was prepared to take “bold decisions” with regard to the recently announced review of cormorant licensing and that his officials were meeting with the Angling Trust to draw up the terms of reference for this review.

He also said that the Government was looking for new ways of maximising the many benefits of the nation’s favourite pastime to society. He recognised the huge contribution that angling already makes to protecting the freshwater and marine environment, its importance for health and wellbeing and its contribution to the economy, in particular rural areas and coastal towns.

The Minister pledged that the Government would do all it could to make it easier for angling clubs and associations to operate by reducing red tape and regulation which often deters volunteers from organising activities for young people at a local level. He also indicated that the Government was keen to adopt a catchment-based approach to environmental management.

Building trust between anglers and the Government was also high on the agenda with many sea angling representatives concerned about the proposed data collection project recently proposed by Defra. The Angling Trust stressed that marine fish stocks were suffering only because of decades of commercial overfishing; regulation of sea anglers would therefore be unfair.

More than 100 delegates, representing all sectors of the angling and fisheries community, heard presentations from a range of speakers about good practice for increasing the social, environmental and economic benefits of angling. All attendees then took part in workshops to identify ways of increasing the number of people going fishing and the many benefits of angling to society.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust, spoke at the conference and said afterwards: “We welcome this event as an indication that the Government is keen to listen and to acknowledge the importance of angling in all its forms. However, after decades of decreasing recognition of angling we need to see real action to follow up on the fine words. The Angling Trust will continue to press the Government and its agencies to increase angling access and to restore marine and freshwater fish stocks, many of which are in terminal decline.”


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From reading between the lines there is a lot that the AT want, question is how much will they get.

Rich was what the tone on Hydro, any concessionary moves?

David Harvey wrote:

Rich was what the tone on Hydro, any concessionary moves?

You have to remember Dave, this meeting was little more than a statement of intent (from the Fisheries Minister, Defra and the EA) and then feedback sessions, and was not concerning single issues, such as;

hydropower, abstraction, pollution, predation & so on... much to "some peoples" annoyance in the press!


The EA "said" that they will review Good Practice Guide, and they are reviewing obstructions on the rivers, but, my gut feeling tells me that it is probably little more than lip service, or at best, to clear a few hundred obstructions to pave the way for new obstructions, such as small scale hydropower... maybe I'm just a realist!

The most telling sentence of the day came from Geoff Bateman, Head of Fisheries and
Biodiversity, Environment Agency, regarding the Water Framework Directive. If you wish to follow that to the letter, then then Article 4.7 would prevent any hydropwer unit being built on most, if not all rivers...

Do not be under any illusions people, our river's are being murdered, the chances of establishing an ecological balance - in the mid-term - are very slim, and the chances of having healthy rivers in fifty years time are almost impossible... The time to act is passing, and we are on the verge of distorting our environment to something completely different entirely... The time to do something is now.

Get your mates to join up, let's make sure that everyone knows how we feel, and why we are not going to put up with this shit anymore.


Richard