Campaign For The Protection Of Welsh Fisheries

[Highplains]

I thought it was time to get a web site up and running that enabled those that are interested to get the details of the Campaign and its progress from a single source. This is not me trying to go into competition with Steff or any other of you wiz kids out there. It is just a simple site which included contact details.

If you wish to get others involved, and we need all the support we can get, just direct them to this site and they can see what we are all about. Please feel free to add a link to the Campaign site as you will.

If you have comments, and I hope there will be plenty, please make them here on this forum and lets get some momentum back into the Campaign prior to the pending launch.


http://www.cpwf.co.uk/


Hope you find it interesting and thanks again for all your support.

Regards

Highplains

[Highplains]

The Campaign goes on TV.

I am delighted to report that The Campaign is being covered by BBC Wales tonight at 6:30. Radio Cymru early morning news and S4C possible tonight or tomorrow.

I did the BBC Wales section Dyfed Jones one of our committee members did the Welsh programmes and for that I can only say a really big thank you.

No comments on my casting ability please. It was blowing hard and I am not a natural exhibitionist. I do however expect and will thoroughly deserve any adverse comments. Please go easy

Big thanks to the Beeb

Highplains

http://www.cpwf.co.uk/

[Highplains]

I have copied the post below from another thread on the grounds that all anglers should be aware of the actions they can take to report illegal activity and how to complain if the Agency fail to take action.

Please take a few seconds to read it and take the advice given

Regards.

Highplains

COPY POST FOLLOWS

Its got me gobsmacked that a license holder doesn't know who to contact when theres a whiff or sighting of illegal activity be it netting or of any other type suspected fishy activities

The 1st point about the commercial netting activity you refer to involving The sandeel fishermen is that they are NOT allowed to take Salmon and Sea Trout... they are not commercially licensed by the EA to do so and therefore operating illegally.
Fishery law and local restrictive netting applications will prevent such activities from ever being licensed in the future

The EA is the 1st point of contact on 0800 807060 ( 24hr hotline) and
when you ring it, give all the information you know including knowledge of vehicles, persons involved. where exactly it is happening, times of observation etc
when you have done this, tell the EA you want full and complete feedback.
This will ensure that your complaint "HAS" been read and hopefully passed on and investigated.

If you see such problems actually happening, make the phone call immediately and ask for IMMEDIATE ATTENDANCE and give your observing position so the EA officer can meet and discuss your observation.
If they cannot attend then they should be required to contact you and tell you so,,, then the police should be notified as they have all the same powers of a water bailiff and vice versa as deemed by present fishery legislation being Section 36 -Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Where complaints are made to the hotline and no action is later found to have not taken when you receive feedback or Not as the case maybe having requested it, then under the EA's customer Charter you should make a complaint about the failure.

The EA is in possession of the Government's Charter Mark which requires very high standards of Customer care to be provided and where a Charter holder is found to fail those standards then Number 10 will remove its award
See the EA website regarding the Charter conditions which is found at :
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/aboutus/582759/
and if you wish to make a complaint about a failure to investigate then the info is also to be found at
http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...sion=1&lang=_e


I hope this helps all other forum members

[Highplains]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Highplains]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Highplains]

[Teifi-Terrorist]

Highplains,

I saw something on the news last night regarding this? was that you? Fantastic if it was, and well done you!

TT.

[Simon]

Alan

Good to see you on Wales Today last night. Great to see that our rivers are getting a mention, sure this report will create an awareness amongst the public.

Simon

[Highplains]

Will any of you guys be at the launch 11:15 steps of the Senedd Cardiff. 15th July?

Will be nice to meet you if you can make it.

Regards.

Highplains

[Highplains]

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

[Highplains]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope you can read the last post which is the full content of the appeal as presented to the Minister yesterday.

I believe some photo's will be published soon so I will leave any comments to the "posters"

Please take the time to read your campaign contents and please let us have your comments.

If you have difficulty reading the post, there is a copy on

http://www.cpwf.co.uk/

Which may be easier to read.

Please comment and let us have your views. The Campaign is now officially launched and teh work to get protection for our fisheries starts now!!

[Highplains]

Better security sought on rivers

Jul 22 2008 by Steve Dube, Western Mail

GAME, coarse and sea anglers in Wales have joined forces for the first time to campaign for increased security on Welsh rivers.

Organisations representing 20,000 fishermen and women have come together under the umbrella of the Campaign for the Protection of Welsh Fisheries, and representatives travelled to the National Assembly last week to appeal for urgent action to combat illegal angling and poaching.

They are taking action against the background of a dramatic drop in the number of river bailiffs, which they say has left them without protection.

Wynne Griffiths, secretary of the Ogmore Angling Association, said 180 bailiffs once patrolled Welsh riverbanks. There were now fewer than 30.

“The Ogmore used to have five bailiffs and now there are none,” said Mr Griffiths, a co-founder of the new body.

“And there has been a large increase in the number of incidents on the river and on the Afan – both urban rivers close to large areas of population.

“We are always pulling nets and snares out of the river and I have a collection of rods that we’ve confiscated from illegal anglers.”

Mr Griffiths said the club has its own bailiffs, but these have no legal status or powers.

“We have to rely on our own members to police the river and several have been threatened,” he said.

“One of our members was stoned off the river late at night. I asked a group of lads if they had licences and they became abusive and booted my car.”

Mr Griffiths said there were similar problems all over Wales and the campaign was supported by all the big clubs.

“We set up the campaign because we noticed there was a lot of discontent on internet forums, and it quickly took off,” he said.

The anglers blame cuts in the Environment Agency budget for decimating the network of bailiffs that once policed the rivers, and say it is counter-productive as the increase in illegal fishing is threatening valuable fish stocks. They want the Welsh Assembly Government to increase its contribution.

“The sole aim of the campaign is to secure increased funding to provide more bailiffs,” said Mr Griffiths.

[Highplains]

Better sea trout and salmon fisheries:
the EA at it again.

The Environment Agency offered the draft of this strategy for our comments earlier in the year, I wonder how many bothered to respond?
The document is worth a read, it is only 30 pages plus a glossary of terms.

Essentially it is well thought out, constructive and well intentioned, albeit biased towards activities for which various forms of funding can be acquired from the EU, but that too is no bad thing.

It would seem that our push for better enforcement has been acknowledged in that there is actually reference in the document to the subject of enforcement

1. Page 6: “we will continue to work to ensure that illegal exploitation is minimised and to secure effective penalties for offenders.”
2. Page 8: ”Deploy enforcement and crime prevention using a risk based, targeted and intelligence lead approach”
3. Page 17: “Apply intelligence lead enforcement and crime prevention to provide effective protection of stocks”
4. Page 17: “Under who will do what. The Government will provide funding for “anti poaching enforcement”
5. Page 18: “ We will engage with local interests to deploy targeted, intelligence lead and risk based enforcement”
6. Then, when you think we may have made some progress, and in total disregard of all our appeals they stick in the following paragraph:
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.


I now add the words of the EAW themselves, taken from their recently published review of Welsh Fisheries Enforcement.

9.0 Estimating the Level of Illegal Exploitation and Activity

At the present time, there is no measure of our achievement in reducing illegal exploitation and until now we have had no estimate of the total illegal catch for Wales.

Yes, in their own words: they have no idea! They really are taking the Mickey!

Now for the bad news:
References to limiting legal exploitation: angling and the imposition of controls.
1> Page 6: “As a general principle we want to reduce the exploitation of at risk stocks and will seek to agree voluntary restraints or use mandatory controls on fishing to ensure stocks are sustained whilst fishing opportunities are optimized.”
2> Page 17: “Use better regulation to achieve effective and sensitive control of exploitation”
3> When determining fishing controls, we must first aim to secure the conservation of stocksthen, in deciding the best controls to apply, we will consider the economic and social benefits so as to deliver a productive and self sustained fishery”

The Arrogance of the Environment Agency

The EA, it seems, is determined to ignore our plea for effective enforcement yet they include the following as a “eye catcher” on page 23

The salmon is listed under the European Community Habitats Directive
as a species requiring protection.
It is amongst those wild species that Member States must maintain at,
Or restore to a favorable conservation status.

Shame on the Environment Agency Wales and to those that develop the meaningless and glaringly inappropriate performance targets and indicators that drive the fisheries section of the Agency. You must start to listen to your experienced front line staff before they are all lost to old age and the frustrations of working for the Agency.

Highplains

http://www.cpwf.co.uk/

[Highplains]

Fellow forum members,

To save you trying to navigate the Environment Agency web site I have added a page to the campaign web site "EAW Comments". Hear I have added a copy of their 2008 to 2021 strategy so that you can read it. I have also included our comments on the strategy.

Please take a few minutes to read this document it will govern our angling for the next 13 years so it really does matter. Then please comment.

Highplains

http://www.cpwf.co.uk/

[Highplains]