marine survey

[bleth]

some of you may think this funny in view of my comments re this survey but i,ve been invited to attend one of the workshops

sunny i can hear you laughing

anyway im minded to attend the southampton workshop to discover what its really all about.

obviously im curious to know how many members have been included apart from me and i would be grateful if they would let me know . we may be able to meet at the event which would be useful and fun.

i would be happy to report back to members and present collective views where appropriate at subsequent meetings which i imagine would take place later in the year.our collective views may actually carry a bit of weight.

anyway comments would be appreciated (especially yours sunny)
but bear in mind i have no idea what the agenda will be .

tight lines
Dave

[eccles]

Me too, not sure until I get the date but will definitely go if it doesn't interfere with other regular arrangements.

[Sunny]

Guys,
I would love to attend, as it is so important that we have our voice heard. So well done to you both and any otyhers who have been invited and are going to contribute.

Look forward to the honest feedback form real, non-politisised, anglers

PS....gillnets should be banned within the 12 mile coastal limit

[fishyeye]

Me to, i have been offered a place will go to Southampton to see what's being offered for anglers and what the divers will get.

[iknowagoodplaice]

I think anyone who filled in the survey has received an invitation. I also see there are meetings of the Sussex IFCA coming up too. One wonders what sort of people will attend. It's hard to judge, but if that other forum is anything to go by, it could be full of sea anglers hostile (perversely) to all conservation; not to say a few commercial types who fill that site with their bile and crassness. On the other hand, they may not like to show their faces.

All the meetings are a long distance from me, but I may try and make one.

[bleth]

i have now received the date for the M.V workshop,which will be on 23/04/2012 in southampton

if any members also planning to attend would like to meet with me at the event please let me have your phone no/ either by reply or P.M to arrange time & place

wear a pink carnation
not really!
regards Dave

[eccles]

So off we went, the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton is huge and I guess must employ several hundred. Unfortunately one cannot pay a visit normally as I think I would like to as it is in the dock area which is subject to "security". In other words you can't get in without a pass normally although we didn't have any difficulty on this occasion because they knew we were coming. Anyway, most of us were anglers with a few divers and were duly rewarded with sandwiches, drinks, etc., and an attendance fee of £20. The main emphasis seemed to be on 1. Biodiversity of our seabeds and 2. Our attitudes to having "no-take" conservation zones nearby. I must say that I personally did not realise just how many species there are around our coasts or the fact that quite a number of them are "at risk". A very interesting evening, the university research team will be presenting a report to all and sundry in due course. Hopefully we will see more "no-take", "no-anchoring" sites in the near future because the ongoing Lundy Island experiment has demonstrated that they really do work.

[bleth]

I, too went to southampton, met fishyeye & found we both use Sealines for fishing spooky not a common boat for this use

sandwiches were provided but not as good as the beef & onion pie i didnt get (had to leave home @ 15.00 to arrive on time

the discussions were based on the on line survey but worked thro in a lot more detail , as individual & then group discussion

i was glad i had done my own research on marine habitats & sea bottom composition as i was up to speed on this part of the discussion

i was also pleased to discover that the workshops will end up on the DEFRA table it would have been pointless otherwise

there were about 25 attendees with danglers outnumbering divers by 2 or 3 to 1 i was disappointed to note the average age of fishy people was over 50 dont the younger lot understand this is their future ? ( im 66 )

we strongly made the point that weight given to commercials point of view is dis proportionate to their contribution to the economy angling related industry contributing about 3x value
if you include boat related expenditure , much more
there was a very high proportion of boat owners present, which must represent the high investment we as a sub- group make in the hobby

we learned the welsh govt. had had to dilute there plans for MCZs due to objections by commercial interests -not anglers no surprise there then

we all expressed our concern at the damage done by bottom fishing such as scallop dredging 'beam & pair trawling

as many of you know the original survey had questions on financial contributions generally there was no enthusiasm for this. my own view is that vi would be happy to pay for a licence if there was a guarantee of the money raised being used for the benefit of the sport , and i made that point


anyway it would seem that MCZs are still a long way off due to wonga shortage certainly nothing will happen in the life of this Parliament

i hope this has given a flavour of the proceedings

the journey home was a bit of a trial as the highways lot shut the A27 at brighton i followed the sat-nav & it took me on a tour of Devils Dyke which might have been interesting if there hadnt been thick fog up there
20 mins later it brought me back to the closed 27
i headed down thro brighton down to the coast rd & amused myself seeing how many routes sat-vav could generate back to the closed roundaboUt

[fishyeye]

Well yes I second eccles a very interesting looking building real shame you can't visit, My own feeling was rod licence value or how much we would/could be willing to pay to use the sea or have access to it as i said my own view.
why the divers were there when they or the hosts had no idear how much money they but into there sport/interest unlike members of anglers could.