I read this in another topic. It sort of concerned me as I felt DEFRA to be doing a decent job. As that other topic semms to have gone off at far too many tangents I felt I may never get a full understanding of what was meant.

Old man of the sea states.

3. DEFRA and the Royal Navy are starting to show fishermen that they have teeth. Every now and again they bite the wrong man for the wrong reasons, and the rules and regulations are so complicated that DEFRA and the Navy have trouble interpreting them themselves. Unfortunately, the big problem is that they growl at and bite the British commercial fishermen, yet wag their tails at, and lick the balls of, our European partners’ fishing fleets. Until we have a level playing field things will never be right.

I wondered if it is on record somewhere that Defra and the Navey are having trouble interpreting fishery rules. If DEFRA dont know the job then how can they get it right??? The author of the comment also says that the wrong men are being bitten for the wrong reasons.

Is there a string of wrong decisions or allegations that we are not aware of ? Are DEFRA doing a good job?? Or are they biting the wrong people???

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When it comes to laws about fishing I feel DEFRA knows the problems with the laws being inforced and therefore finds it hard to really do anything.

As fore the Navey, well they have always been confused, although they are nice boys.

Stop it Autumn. First you became almost human. Now your showing signs of sense!
If any regulations this government signed up to, were `watertight`. Then you can bet the rest of Europe would have vetoed them.
That`s why the rules are so convoluted. They look good to the man in the street, but foreign skippers always have a get out clause.
Besides, it saves the Navy having to persue foreign vessells once they`ve left our waters!
It also ensures Mr Blairs exotic holidays!

There was a story in Fishing News recently (26th August) about an incident involving Willie Ritchie, skipper of the 'Headway'.

There was some confusion over whether the mesh size of the codends that the boat was using was legal in the area being fished.

The navy contacted DEFRA who initially gave advice, which turned out to be incorrect and which led to the destruction of the nets being used and loss of fishing time.

Fishing News reports:

"A DEFRA spokesperson said the department accepted that an error was made in the interpretation of the regulations and that DEFRA officials contacted Skipper Ritchie immediately to explain the situation and apologise for the mistake. DEFRA accepts responsibility for this very regrettable incident and strives to make sure that inspections are carried out correctly. Unfortunately mistakes can occur and we will do everything possible to ensure that this does not happen again"

Tight Lines - leon

:cool: You old cynic you.

Norm?
The next time a polician makes me a promise. I`ll march him to the bar, and make him buy me a large one!! demon demon
Then, at least, I`ll have got something out of the fork-tongued barsteward.

I was hoping it was wrong but have now been shown some evidence of this. They really need to learn the rules before they start enforcing them.

Oh what a sorry state of affairs.

Blind leading the blind.

The commercial lobby, via politicians have been compromising and watering down scientific advise and CFP policy for thirty years.

I am not at all surprised that fishery rules and regulations are now almost un-enforcible. They have been manipulated that way deliberately.

Tight lines