Sea Angling 2012

[Mike.Haley]

I was inbvited t5o the IFCA meeting at Morpeth yesterday ( 26th July) by Les Weller
and I was surprised at the amount of issues that were being addressed at these meetings. Les does a great job on the behalf of Recreational Sea Anglers and came to the fore on the issue of Sea Angling 2012.

DEFRA (having failed to collect data in the past) have asked IFCA to undertake the task of collecting the data of what is caught by Recreational Sea Anglers.
There was the question of wether or not IFCA were legally bound to comply with this request or not?
Les pointed out how the Recreational Sea Anglers in the northumberland area (that Les had been in touch with) would not co-operate with any data collecting at all and IFCA should not go ahead without putting it to a vote.
The upshot of the meeting ended with Les forcing IFCA into an Emergency General Meeting at the end of August.

At this time the IFCA comittee will put it to the vote wether or not to co-operate with DEFRA's request.

This will give time for IFCA to look into the legal side of this request from DEFRA and also get some feedback from Angling groups and Businesses in the Northumberland area.

I will be writting personally to Mr Michael Hardy ( Chief Executive) of Northumberland IFCA to voice my feelings concerning data collection.

I would like to ask you lads out there.

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE COLLECTION OF DATA ABOUT WHAT YOU CATCH ?

The Emergency General Meeting will be open to the public and Les Weller will let me know when it has been called.
I will post on NESA the time , place and date.

Everybody who has anything to say about our sport should get along and make their feelings known.
Will keep you all informed.

I'm sure Les will give you all the technical details in another post.

[tonyfromalnwick]

Thanks for that Mike, and a big well done to Les for fighting the RSA corner.
Nice to meet you yesterday, see at the EGM !

One thing that should be stressed as well...it's tax payers money that'll be used to fund this "survey".
How they can hope to gather data from people who won't speak to them is beyond me though.

It would be great to see a few more shore anglers at the EGM, just to leave them in doubt about the strength of feeling about this survey, so come on lads and lasses, make the effort to get there.

[Stores]

Fantastic Les (thanks Mike) - akin to Peter Sellers in The Mouse That Roared - see you Saturday 2.00 Kings Arms

[Mike.Haley]

It was good to meet you as well, Tony. Well thats Me, Tony and Dave booked in for the EGM. Lets hope we can get a lot more of you there.

If you cant get there just post your feelings on here and I can convey them to Les and the comittee in writting before the meeting.

No, the meetiong is not in the Kings Arms at 2.00 pm ( I think that has something to do with Les & Dave & fishing)

[loopy]

Tmtr

Dave, good analogy, "men of Fenwick, if your country calls, will you enlist, (they shout) NO.
See you Saturday.

Les

[Topfly]

Hi Mike, Thanks for Keeping us informed. The information that DEFRA require in not only about "what we catch", but how we caught it, and with what bait, and where we got the bait,and how much it cost. also how much we have spent on our fishing gear, clothes, transport, and any other expenditure needed to enjoy our at the moment, free pastime. no wonder anglers refuse to co-operate with them. soon we wont be allowed to put a finger in a rock pool, or walk on the sand below the high tide line.

[Stores]

Dave, good analogy, "men of Fenwick, if your country calls, will you enlist, (they shout) NO.
See you Saturday.

Les

Haha - isn't the next bit about kissing one another? Might have to draw the line somewhere or there could be another by law on the way

[loopy]

Topfly, that has been on the cards for two years with the Netgain and MCZ process and you will not be allowed to do any of those things in the new recommended reference area (no take zone) North of Berwick, they wanted it at St Mary's Island. Recreational Sea Anglers where part of the process and with a little help we managed to get it up there in a relatively inaccessible location at Marshall's Meadows. It does not mean it will not happen in the future and as Churchill once said "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning".

[Mike.Haley]

We all have a say in what happens. It is just a matter of making the effort to get to the meetings, or at least posting on forums, so someone can carry the message forward to the meetings.

Dont sit around waiting for things to happen lads.

Churchill said " we shall fight them on the beaches" but with the new MCZ's we wont be able to get on the beaches to fight them, so lets get to these meetings instead and fight them there.

[Topfly]

Mike, you know me and how passionate i am about the state of sea angling, When David Milliband ****ed Sless off, i woke up to the fact that the only people who were going to save our pastime, were us, the Anglers. Since then i have done all the on line pettitions all the e/mails sent to anyone who's anyone, got letters back from the house of commons. short of marching down to London with a placard, what can i do to help. the last thing i want is to come on here and tell you what i cant do. I wish i could get the time to attend some of these meetings, but with my work commitments its a no no., but as you so rightly say, the more anglers that go along to these meetings and voice their opinions, the better it will be in the long run.
I call it a pastime, because that's all it has been to me all my life , i never expected it to be interfered with, taxed, and manipulated, for the benefit of a parcel of rogues that are supposed to have our interests at heart.
Why dont they go and ruin some other pastimes like Bird Watching, Train Spotting, Back Packing, and on and on.
Keep up the good fight Les. all the best at the Meeting

[loopy]

Sea Angling 2012 data collection

Topfly 2 minutes of your time sending an e-mail to the Chief Executive of NIFCA
say pretty much what you have in your two posts I wish all the other guys and girls would do the same it has been a bit lonely at times but I know what is coming and we have to be proactive, no good moaning after, saying I did not know, who is is doing anything about, well it has got to be us. I do not expect much just a bit of support when required.
nifca@nifca.gov.uk

[Mike.Haley]

Mike, you know me and how passionate i am about the state of sea angling, When David Milliband ****ed Sless off, i woke up to the fact that the only people who were going to save our pastime, were us, the Anglers. Since then i have done all the on line pettitions all the e/mails sent to anyone who's anyone, got letters back from the house of commons. short of marching down to London with a placard, what can i do to help. the last thing i want is to come on here and tell you what i cant do. I wish i could get the time to attend some of these meetings, but with my work commitments its a no no., but as you so rightly say, the more anglers that go along to these meetings and voice their opinions, the better it will be in the long run.
I call it a pastime, because that's all it has been to me all my life , i never expected it to be interfered with, taxed, and manipulated, for the benefit of a parcel of rogues that are supposed to have our interests at heart.
Why dont they go and ruin some other pastimes like Bird Watching, Train Spotting, Back Packing, and on and on.
Keep up the good fight Les. all the best at the Meeting

I agree with what you say Jim, but we cant give up fighting. As Les says, it only takes a couple of minutes to send an e-mail. Just repeat what you said in your post.

If all the NESA members sent an e-mail to the address Les has posted, I am sure they would have an impact on any decision that is made.

Your own words say it all, " the only people who are going to save our sport/hobby /pastime, is us"

Lets keep fighting and try and keep what we have, not just for ourselves, but for the next generation of Sea Anglers following us.

[tonyfromalnwick]

Is there any way this thread can be transfered to the main forum, bringing it to a wider audience.
To many on NESA (and all the other sea angling sites) just switch off at the though of anything "political" going on, and won't even bother to read this section of the site.

[loopy]

Egm

The EGM is 2pm 12th August. County Hall, Morpeth, they have booked the main council chamber in case they get any members of the public

[Topfly]

Consider it done, thanks.