Questions to the EA

[The Twat]

Of those that saw AT this week did anyone read Matt Hayes column where he penned an hypothetical letter to the EA chief Dafyyd Evans?

5 points asked, which concerns you the most and what are your opinions on each, any or all of the points queried below?


1) What does the EA intend to do about the immigrant stealing/taking of our coarse fish for eating or selling?


2) What does the EA intend to do about the increased otter releases when their prime food source - the eel - is in admitted decline?


3) Can the EA explain the direct benefits to anglers in return for their licence fees?


4) Can the EA explain why so much of its income is derived from extraction licences when they are supposed to be the guardians of our waterways?


5) What is the EA's vision for fishing in this country? For that matter what do FM members think the vision for foshing should be?


There - enough to be getting worked up about.

 

[ED (The ORIGINAL and REAL one)]

In answer to number 5 --I dont think we should be Foshing at all

 

[Wolfman Woody]

Many of the questions don't concern the Fisheries Departments at all, perhaps 3 and 5.

I don't know how Dafyyd Evans can possible answer any of the question beacuse he must have realised by now that the Environment Agency is the biggest DISORGANISATION in this country today.

And I say that with every respect for the fisheries people that I have to work with, but I do think it would have been better to leave fishing in the hands of the NRA or have a special group set up just to look after water quality and fish stocks.

 

[Phil Hackett 2]

Agree with woody on most, the only one that?s a fair question to ask is Q1. The rest are either out of the hands of the EA, or information is readily available on their website.

As for otter releases poor old Matt?s behind the times again. SAA sought and got a moratorium from the otter groups on no more release 18 months 2 years. That is still to the best of my knowledge the situation.

 

[mark williams 4]

The 'extraction' question - and I think that means abstraction licences - is one I'd like an answer to. All our chalkstreams are in the worst state I've ever seen.
True, some of the problem is the absence of water meadows (and why can't the EA get grants to reinstate those?) but I think it's a disgrace that we take so much water from the underground aquifer because - and there's no other reason - it's already filtered and clean.
The EA should be pressing for more and better reservoirs and treatmen plants, and shutting down the pumps that have completely destroyed, for example, Hertfordshire's chalkstreams.

 

[The Twat]

Good feedback so far. Must admit I thought there'd been movement on the otter front. No-one wants to see otters wiped out again- they reflect a time when rivers were in tiptop condition and otters lived side by side with the rest of us. At least that's how a whippersnapper like me sees it. Any of you more - ahem - senior guys who can differ please feel free. If they are to be released then a group of bodies needs to be involved who can take into account all the factors. Not just the feelgood one.

 

[Phil Hackett 2]

Twat
Your last comment is precisely the argument Chris Burt has put in his sterling work on the moratorium and to English Nature about releasing captive breed protected species back into the wild.

One further point I?d make is that EN do not require an Ecological Impact Assessment by licensed protective species breeders before they release.
This fact is totally inadequate on their (EN) part.

Mark in the rush for privatisation and Water Cos to maximise their 7 billion pounds windfall, which they got by from the knockdown price. In the NW they closed many Resers that could have met some of the ever growing need for water nationally.
The rest of the need could have been met by a water transfer system had past and present incumbent Govts. so decreed.

The building of new reservoirs, particularly in the south of England, is to put it mildly an environmental minefield.

 

[Mark Wintle]

One of the reasons that otters are no longer being bred to be released (as opposed to rehabilitated) is that it was realised that releasing otters bred from the same parents would (and did) lead to inbreeding of the population, and was resulting in genetic defects - see my article in the WWA archive last year. It was only when they used DNA to identify how many otters were present that they started finding that many of the otters were far too closely related.

 

[Phil Hackett 2]

Mark Wintle
You quite right to point out about the poor genetic diversity (gene pool) captive breed release were coming from. However, I don?t think that issue was raised by any side in the discussions on the moratorium. I?ll check with Chris at the weekend though.

I also have concerns that the same/similar mistakes are still being even now by those conservation bodies, who for the best of motives, are reintroducing captive breed creatures into the wild.

I?m thinking about the release of the Gt. Bustard on to Salisbury Plain and the Water Vole.
The water vole in particular live in very isolated communities, which by now have a weakened gene pool and unless they mix up animals from around the country before they?re released to establish new colonies, they too will have a weak gene pool.

You?ve just reminded me, I must get out and look with the hope of photographing my local colony.

 

[john ledger]

The problem with water abstraction is that some farmers still have the old licence which means they can take as much water out of a river as they want whereas with the new licence its metered. I think this is still the case but will stand corrected
The only way i can think of stopping our ethnic friends from thieving fish is to cut their effing hands off or is that too radical

 

[feck]

A little radical on the racial front John. They are a massive problem though. All anglers need to take the time to explain things to them calmly. If they claim they can't speak English then do your best to discourage them from fishing at all.
Another route will be through tackle shops. If they're taking fish then in the long term it could easily affect fish stocks and that will impact on tackle shops' business. I personally think that the EA should do a publicity campaign (posters and the like) through tackle shops nationwide in an effort to explain what is and isn't accepted in the Uk, preferably in a number of different languages. These people have got to buy their tackle from somewhere so they'll learn sooner rather than later.
I'd also like to see the next set of fisheries legislation outlaw the taking of any coarse fish. That's the only way fish theft can be stopped in the long term and the only way the safety of stocks will be guaranteed for the future.
What does everyone else think?

 

[The Twat]

Phil - are they releasing water voles on Salisbury Plain?


One thing I've heard around Oxfordshire regarding otters is that they are not the indigenous species. Have heard that these are Scandinavian and a lot larger than our native species with all the predation implications that brings. Can anyone shed any light on this or is it the ramblings of the 'rear of the tackle shop brigade' that haven't got all the facts and therefore spread something very wide of the mark.

Feck - regarding the immigrant fishtaking suggestion. I suppose it might have an impact if they are purchasing their gear from good tackle shops. Not sure if the suggestion is that they are taking fish using nets or other trapping devices??

 

[john ledger]

Its not just the fish they are taking . they are also taking and killing livestock.We do not say anything because as soon as anyone of the indigenous species opens his mouth he is considered racist

 

[Phil Hackett 2]

John a headline I'm sure you, with your views, would appreciate.

?Asylum seeks ate my mother's Dog!?

Yeh right! Along with every other atrocity that has ever happened since the Norman Conquest.

These types of mythology stories have been in circulation throughout the latter part of the 20th century and now the 21st about all waves of immigrants. Very few having any foundation to them whatsoever!

Livestock theft has been present for over 30 years and when such thieves have been caught they have been white British and part of organised gangs, who have been passing the carcases off through dodgy white slaughtering and butchery outlets.

I don?t for one minute doubt that some eastern European asylum seekers/EU residents are taking fish to eat, it?s in their culture. Yes where they come from they eat coarse fish?. shock, horror! Had we not been an ocean island state, with a once plentiful supplies of sea fish, we would be doing the same.

Feck is right as are his suggestion.

Change the record mate, there can?t be many on this site that don?t know your views on immigrants and that boarders on a pathological hatred of them.

Twat sorry I didn't make it clear that water voles were a separate issue from the Bustards.
But then again, they may well be releasing them on Salisbury Plain given the land owned by the military that is and has become a haven for rare wildlife.

 

[john ledger]

You are right there mate but there again i dont seek the browny points like say you do. Anybody can come out with the views you come out with but after living in this country for sixty years i dont see it getting any better. Maybe you can tell me why every migrant coming from the eastern block is a young male (what no females) and why the likes of my wife cannot go to the city centres anymore. Talk about cant see the wood for the trees,i will send you some glasses.Lets hope you are telling me how good life is in 10years time.

 

[john ledger]

You may be right on some issues Phil but that does not mean we have to like or accept them. i will always look after my own kind and to be honest if i was going to be mugged rather it be one of my own.
Asylum is going to be the main problem in this country and if you can name a country wher the Multi Cultural society works please let me know,Holland being the latest example.
If you like the likes of Abu Hamza preaching hatred towards this country burning the British flag well i feel sorry for you. Just for the record my brother in laws Iranian

 

[john ledger]

Sorry Nigel lad for going off your main thread(would rather talk about fishing or music)Will post those items off for you today mate

 

[Richard Parsons]

John,
My mums family are Polish(born here mind)and from what my uncle tells me the young Poles that are here are mainly lower(lowest) class and are in his words scum(Phil, I dont share his view mate)that dont know any better its a lack of education.
But not all migrants our bad three of my mates of from a British run island off North Africa two are in the army and one in the navey all our in the Gulf doing there bit for there Queen.

 

[Jonathan Whitham]

John - my wife is a Russian immigrant and I find your views deeply offensive. As for the comment "if I was going to be mugged I'd rather it be one of my own", I've never heard anything more ridiculous in all my life. How can anyone take your comments seriously. Stick to fishing comments only please - or don't bother posting at all.

 

[john ledger]

Sorry if it offends you but nobody but nobody will change my views. My father and grandfather fought for this country and they would be turning in their graves if they could see it now. English and i did say English and proud of it