[loopy]

Matchman I am sorry you were not at the meeting last night to get the facts for yourself. I chaired the meeting and introduced the Northumberland SFC officer who gave a 25 minute introduction to their role and by-laws on the Nortumbrian coast many of which are different to those in the North East SFC who have jurisdiction south of the Tyne if you have read the Marine Bill white paper and the RSA Strategy document you would now the relevance of Mussel collection along with other baits, this was all about Lindasfarne our source of mussel for bait up here and the possible introductions of Marine protected area's on top of the SSSI and other such designated sites such as Budle Bay. I then left the floor open to questions, The NSFC rep answered the one.
DEFRA then started at 8pm and gave a brief introduction to the RSA strategy aided by a power point presentation, this lasted until just gone 8.30. I then opened the floor to questions every body was given a chance and I stated I would keep it going as long as question kept coming after announcing at 9.35 there would be no more questions despite this I kept on giving people the opportunity to speak until no one put up there hand . The meeting was then left open to discussion with DEFRA on a one to one basis, Many people used this opportunity until 10.40pm when the last person left, DEFRA,DaveM Red5 and I were the last to leave the building. I am sorry your friend did not have an opportunity to speak and apologies if I did not see his hand in the air bur I am sure he could of collected some of the literature DEFRA had on offer along with there contact details and had a one to one discussion with them.
The Marine Bill and the subsequent RSA strategy is not all about paying a licence, that is only a very small part and one in my opinion will not happen for many many years although the legislation may be put in place. The present government have had the power for some time to charge commercials a licence feet but have never had the will to do so, I believe this will be the case with RSA, what we need them to do is to get on top of netting and discards, net design and enforcement. If the Drew report means anything it means potentially we have power in the RSA sector.