Minutes of the 7th Meeting of the Freshwater Fisheries
Forum Steering Group held at Strathearn House, Broxden,
Perth, on Thursday 21 April 2005.
In attendance:
Gordon Brown - SEERAD (Chairman)
David Dunkley - SEERAD
Manson Wright - SEERAD
Alistair Prior - SEERAD
Mags Nicholson - SEERAD (Secretariat)
Brian Davidson - Association of Salmon Fishery
Boards
George Holdsworth - Association of Scottish Stillwater
Fisheries
Willie Miller - Consultative Committee on Protection
Orders
Professor Peter Maitland - Fish Conservation Centre
Ross Gardiner - Fisheries Research Services
Dr Alastair Stephen - Institute of Fisheries
Management
Jane Wright - Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of
Scotland
Ian Calcott - Scottish Anglers National Association
Derek Keith - Scottish Campaign for Public Angling
Ron Woods - Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling
Julia Partridge - Scottish Natural Heritage
Miranda Lindsay- Scottish Rural Property and Business
Association
Craig Campbell - National Farmers Union (Scotland)
Bob Ritchie - Salmon Net Fishing Association of
Scotland
Willie Shearer - Salmon Net Fishing Association of
Scotland
Introduction
1. The Chairman welcomed two new members, Alistair Prior
from SEERAD who is a member of the team who will be
progressing the forthcoming fisheries Bill through
Parliament and Julia Partridge from SNH who was deputising
for David Howell. The Chairman also informed the meeting
that Mags Nicholson had temporarily taken over from Shauna
Cranney as Secretariat.
Apologies
2. Apologies were received from Andrew Wallace (ASFB),
Seymour Monro (AST), Callum Sinclair (SEPA), Roger Brook
(RAFTS), John Armstrong (FRS), Ronnie Picken (SANA), David
Howell (SNH) and Jane Davis (British Trout Assoc).
Minutes of Previous Meeting
3. The Steering Group approved the minutes of the last
meeting with the following changes:
- Craig Campbell's name should be
deleted from list of attendees.
Action - Secretariat to put approved minutes on
the SE website.
Matters Arising
Task Matrix
4. The Chairman said that the Task Matrix would need to
be updated and a copy put on the website.
Action - Secretariat.
Next Steps
5. The Chairman acknowledged that the Forum had
travelled a long way in its discussions about new
legislation and felt that one or two more meetings would
effectively complete the ground work. Thereafter it was
hoped that the Forum could move on to other issues. The
Chairman outlined what he saw as the next steps in this
process.
- Management and Access - further
work required.
- Probably another Forum, late
summer, to outline bill content/future plans.
- Steering Group to be kept
informed.
- Bill Team will instruct
solicitors on policy and seek advice on what we
can/cannot do in the Bill.
- Ministers will then be advised
about likely Bill content and asked to approve.
- Formal public consultation letter
(3 month exercise) in the autumn.
- Period of analysis (winter) to
consider responses to consultation.
- Draft Bill (early next year) -
possibly consult a second time. [This has now been
ruled out due to lack of time.]
- Introduce to Parliament - June
2006, 6-8 months in process
- Royal Assent - May 2007
6. It was agreed that there was a good level of
commitment from all SG members on the forthcoming Bill
andit would be important to keep the group informed of
developments. The main problem pointed out by IFM is one
of funding and they have written to every MSP to highlight
this issue.
Highlands and Islands Aquaculture
Forum
7. Alistair Prior said that Inshore Fisheries issues had
already been identified and worked up. The HIAF was due
to meet again and the main discussions would be sea lice
and escapes.
Action - Alistair Prior to continue to report
back on the work of HIAF.
Freshwater Fisheries Forum
The Chairman invited comments on the recent Forum and
the resultant transcript. The following comments were
made:
- Venue excellent
- Voting System - not very well
received, mainly because of the way questions were
worded
- Access and Management issues were
confusing.
- Not enough time to digest what
was being said in presentations
- Should people be allowed to vote
on issues that don't affect/interest them?
- Future voting questions should be
framed by analytical services within SE
- Additional comments and
transcript to go on website?
- Need to look more closely at what
material is to be sent out prior to next Forum
Action - SEERAD to report to Minister on outcome of
previous Forum and discuss with Steering Group what should be sent out to delegates prior to next
Forum. Transcript and additional comments to go on
website.
8. Proposals for ban of use of live bait and regulation
of angling methods/fishing times
It was agreed to note these issues but no further
discussion is required.
Access
The Chairman outlined the issues surrounding access
including the options of repealing the 1976 Act or amending
it. There followed a discussion of the flaws/weaknesses
in the current provisions and the Protection Order system;
these are outlined below.
ACCESS OPTIONS
Option
Repeal whole Act
Amend to address following flaws
- Lack of requirement for
conservation
- Lack of protection for commercial
fisheries, and club waters allowing full
access
- No improvement in availability
- History of no requirement for permits PO can reduce access
- Does not necessarily optimise
access
- NB conflicts between different
anglers
- Fragmented coverage
- Costly process
- Inflexible - piecemeal coverage
- No monitoring required
- Liaison Group reports on
angling
- On conservation
- No minimum standards for access
set
- [No assurance of access to fish for species
other than BT]
- "public waters"?
- advise of PO when property changes hands
Other issues:
- difficult to get rid of a PO
- universal imposition within an
area
- wardens
More:
- wording of the Act - who may
apply?
- Application help bad, documentation
poor
- Consultative Committee - not democratic -
not specified in the Act, not transparent, needs
constitution, Terms of Reference
Yet more:
PM Need Act, Consultative Committee, Must Report, Report
should be public and reviewed.
Action - Secretariat to consider how above
flaws might be remedied. Paper to be circulated to SG
members prior to next SG meeting.
Management
9. Following discussion it was agreed that there was
need for the Management sub-group to reconvene to take
account of the Forum discussion and further refine their
proposals. The next meeting for the Management Sub-Group
was scheduled to take place on 13 May at 12:30pm at
Greathill House, Stirling.
A.O.B
11. The Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling had
circulated Paper SFFF SG 7/5 prior to the meeting. The
paper invited the Group to consider regulation of
activities associated with the removal of fish. It was
generally agreed by the Group that culling or removal of
established species should be subject to regulation and
that all species should be covered by licences. Approval
would have to be sought from SEERAD along the lines of
birds/seal licence applications.
Action - SEERAD to consider what will be
involved in the licensing process and application
form.
12. Date and place of next meeting
25 May 2005 at 10:00am, venue to be confirmed. It was
also agreed that another Freshwater Fisheries Forum would
take place around August/ September and would probably be
held in Battleby.