Would you consider a sea angling licence now?

[Holmesy]

I don't want to be licenced. I already pay for a coarse fishing and shotgun licence, but I would consider buying some protective measures. For me the current increase in mls doesn't go anywhere like far enough to make me think that a licence offers value for money, or that bag limits are viable (daft imposing bag limits when anglers struggle to catch a bag limit!).

 

What would make a licence worthwhile for rsa's whether they be from the SW, who's representative body say they need no protection, or the NE where none of the current proposals help anglers ?

 

Before I pay for a licence, then I need to see what value I'm going to get. Like they do for my coarse licence, they need to protect, monitor and stock the fishery. They need to prosecute polluters, enforce fisheries protection and make it clear how they'd manage that in our seas, before imposing any regimes on anglers.

 

I don't believe the propaganda, but like glenn, I do believe we need to be ready for the issue of licence and limit before its foisted on us. The only way we will be taken seriously is to have a plan of our own in place, agreed by us and our representative bodies, of the things we'd need to have in place before we'd accept a licence system.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Holmesy

[smudgertoo]

what do you get for your shotgun licence ??

[chesters1]

no way ,but i'd happily pay a quid for a day if a sea bailiff asked,i only sea fish 3 or 4 times a year so wouldnt benefit as those who fish every week would

[Holmesy]

what do you get for your shotgun licence ??

 

The point I'm making Smudger is that we are licenced from ars*hole to breakfast time. My shotgun licence allows me to own and use a firearm, a potentially lethal weapon. I'm also a member of BASC which does give me something for my membership fee. If a licence for sea angling is proposed on the grounds of nothing more than allowing you to own a rod then its not going to get any support. Fishing rods don't need to be licenced, they've never been used to hold up a post office or worse kill somebody.

[Ken Davison South Wales]

It goes a long way beyond fish in the sea; reasonable access is also an issue.

 

Last September the permit I had to access Cefyn Sidan beach with my vehicle was revoked.

 

The reason:

 

Fifteen hundred cockle licences were issued and every man and his dog poured onto the beach on almost every mode of transport available.

 

A two mile run of double cones was laid at each tide in an effort to restrict the damage to a narrow runway.

 

These animals camped on a section of land near the access point and left a mountain of rubbish.

 

The licences were issued by SWSFC against the wishes of the local council and rate payers who had to foot the bills for this commercial activity.

 

The local council who control access closed the access and banned all vehicles.

 

Out Come:

 

After letters and phone calls I managed to get someone to commit to paper as follows:

 

E-mail number one:

 

Thanks for your email.

A maximum of 50 temporary permits to access the beach at Pembrey have been issued to bona fide netsmen and bait collectors who have used the beach for these purposes for a considerable period, related to their business. netsmen and bait collectors. Currently the permits access the beach via the main entrance of the Country Park – the County Council is seeking in the longer term to work with local interests and landowners towards an alternative access at the northern end of the beach.

 

The allocation of permits was based primarily upon evidence of long term business use, where the applicant's ongoing livelihood depended in part at least on access to the beach. The permits only cover netting/bait collection (excluding cockles) and as you will appreciate do not enable the use of vehicles associated with rod & line fishing.

 

A substantial number of applications were received from long term users of the beach whose principal purpose was for leisure related activity. Prior to October 2005 there were some 400 permits for the beach in place and the situation was further aggravated by the very substantial influx of cocklers who were using the beach to access the beds at the northern end of the beach. Whilst it is appreciated that there will be disappointment from those who have enjoyed their leisure activity with a vehicle on the beach, the Council has had to balance the wider concerns of other beach users to fully enjoy the benefits of this impressive Blue Flag beach. The limited number of permits for essential use now in place represents a major reduction in the number of vehicles authorised to use the beach and should ensure that other beach users can fully enjoy the benefits of this impressive Blue Flag beach.

 

The County Council is actively promoting a sustainable, locally based solution for the management of the Three Rivers cockle beds in order to prevent a repetition of last summer’s events where a massive influx of cocklers from across the country descended on the area.

 

Elwyn Hughes

Uwch Rheolwr : Parciau a Chefn Gwlad

Senior Manager : Parks & Countryside

Ty'r Nant

Parc Trostre

Llanelli

SA14 9UT

Ffon / Tel. : 01554 747512

Ffacs / Fax : 01554 778026

Symudol/Mobile :07880 504257

http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/leisure

 

E-mail number two:

 

From: Elwyn Hughes

Sent: 22 August 2006 14:41

To: Neil A Perry

Subject: RE: Recreational Sea Angling

I appreciate the points you make but access for the general public in vehicles is severely restricted. We have had discussions with the Cefn Sidan Angling Club re access for their members' organised events, using a limited number of vehicles and this may be a point you would want to explore with them - contact is ADRIAN DAVIES Tel. 07811209478

Elwyn Hughes

Uwch Rheolwr : Parciau a Chefn Gwlad

Senior Manager : Parks & Countryside

Ty'r Nant

Parc Trostre

Llanelli

SA14 9UT

Ffon / Tel. : 01554 747512

Ffacs / Fax : 01554 778026

Symudol/Mobile :07880 504257

http://www.carmarthenshire.gov.uk/leisure

The beach is twelve miles long the best marks start a good two miles up the beach, it was never heavily fished by RSAs in vehicles about four or five regulars who would fish two or three times per week.

 

The above emails are a joke and it is an issue that I personally will fight to the bitter end and these jokers can stuff their licence up their nether regions until I get access. I haven't got a clue as to where they got the figure of 400 permits access is very difficult and requires 4x4 plus some good driving skills and a good knowledge of the beach. The fishing club has about six matches per year on weekends, I usually fish mid-week and do not enter into competitions.

 

PS they are not a Labour controlled council.

Edited August 27, 2006 by Ken Davison South Wales

[glennk]

Id just go anyway. How would the cockle pickers deal with this

 

[captain cojones]

unfortunatly i think that if the government of the day(from whatever party),decided on sea angling licences, they would impose them anyway.i doubt they would give a stuff about anything other than the money they thought they would raise.

the only positive thing i can see about this scenario is that if the government was recieving money, they would be unhappy about animal rights persons disrupting this income.

cheers dave.

[JRT]

GlennK, slagging others for trying to protect their favourite sportfish just shows you for what you are. There is nothing stopping you or anyone else setting up a Cod Management Plan!! If you're happy with your fishery then fine, but don't undermine others who aren't and are trying to do something about it.

 

JRT

[sam-cox]

setting up a Cod Management Plan would be a bit like setting up a dodo management plan.

[Holmesy]

unfortunatly i think that if the government of the day(from whatever party),decided on sea angling licences, they would impose them anyway.i doubt they would give a stuff about anything other than the money they thought they would raise.

the only positive thing i can see about this scenario is that if the government was recieving money, they would be unhappy about animal rights persons disrupting this income.

cheers dave.

 

They wouldn't make any revenue if they imposed them, who's going to pay for something without benefit ?

 

There has to be a reason and logic to imposing a licence, for a coarse licence some of the funds are used by the EA, shotgun licence costs pay for the upkeep of a database registering the guns to the users, TV licence pays for BBC to make "quality" television for our pleasure etc. What reason could they give to licence sea angling ? I can only think of things like Public LIability Insurance which you get if you join organisations like NFSA etc. If they want to introduce a licence they need to provide something in return like other licencing authorities do.