At the recent meeting of the BRFC chaired by Mr Ken Ball, and attended by Ian Epps, National Federation of Anglers; Marsh Pratley, Phil Smith: Specialists Anglers Alliance, Chris Clark, National Federation of Sea Anglers, Oliver Crimmen of the Natural History Museum, Scientific Advisor to the BRFC, the Secretary David Rowe, the following records listed were ratified and decisions made. In attendance as a guest was Mr Len Le Page the Secretary of the Guernsey Record Fish Committee with whom the committee has worked for many years.
|
Species |
Weight |
Captor |
Date Caught |
Previous Record |
| Coarse Fish Barbel (Barbus barbus) |
21lbs 0oz | Mr Graham King | 09 Nov-05 Adams Mill, River Ouse |
19lb 6oz 8drms |
| Coarse Fish Barbel (Barbus barbus) |
20lb 14oz 8drms | Mr Graham King | 22 Oct-05 Adams Mill, River Ouse |
19lb 6oz 8drms |
| Coarse Fish Carp – Mirror (Cyprinus carpio) |
64lb 14oz | Mr Simon Bater | 23 Oct-05 Colingwood Lake, Ashford, Kent |
64lb 5oz |
| Coarse Fish Perch (Perca fluviatilis) |
5lb 15oz | Mr Les Brown | 17 Feb-06 Stillwater @ Crowbrough, Sussex |
5lb 9oz |
| Coarse Fish Roach (Rutilus rutilus) |
4lb 4oz | Mr Keith Berry | 25 Mar-06 Northern Ireland Stillwater |
4lb 3oz |
| Coarse Fish Stone Loach (Barbatula barbatula) |
13grms | Mr Geoffrey Green | 01 Nov-05 Windmill Fishery |
New Record |
| Sea Fish – Boat Gurnard – Red (Eutrigla gurnargus) |
2lb 14oz 10drms | Mr George Shields | 04 Oct-05 Porthleven, Cornwall |
2lb 13oz 11drms |
| Sea Fish – Shore Bream – White Sea (Diplodus sargus) |
1lb 7oz 4 drms | Mr Simon Gavey | 12 Aug-03 Jersey |
1lb 2oz |
In addition the following decisions were made :-
1/ To change the procedure which requests the claimant to provide the precise location of capture, to providing the general area of capture. This has been done to protect the location of capture from unwelcome pressure.
2/ To accept other new species to the coarse list, provided that they are agreed as an indigenous species:
3/ The members received the report from the freshwater fish sub-group on using DNA as a method of identifying certain species and were very positive about the value that DNA testing could add to the validity of coarse fish records. The process of carrying out investigations to assess the viability of taking mucus swabs from the flanks of fish was progressing and the Freshwater Group would meet again as soon as the results were available. Concerns were also raised about asking the public to remove a part of a fish for DNA Testing.
The members agreed not to accept or promote any procedure that resulted in dead coarse fish or scales of coarse fish being accepted for recognition of a claim and consider it unacceptable.
