Broads navigation and angling under threat

[Mark Crame]

Chaps, please consider signing this petition. Peter Waller, who lives nearby, is in need of support - to support us. I quote his grovelling email.....:

 

 

"Hi Mark, thanks for signing my petition. Probably more than anyother group of anglers yaks stand to loose out if the Bill goes through. Broads like Hickling are also nature reserves. Oi, you in that yellow thing, you can't go there, there's a lesser spotted whotsit nesting there, bugger orff! Almost to 100! Getting there. Plesae push it if you can."

 

He has a point, and anyone who prostrates themselves before me deserves to have it broadcast!!!

 

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BroadsBill/

 

 

BROADS ANGLING UNDER THREAT

 

At this very moment a private Bill is going through Parliament. Called the Broads Authority Bill it contains some welcome and long overdue safety requirements for the boating fraternity. But, as ever, angling gets a poor deal. The Chief Executive of the Broads Authority has stated that the Bill is of ‘no interest to anglers’. Angling most certainly is interested, and concerned.

 

The Broads is a tidal waterway, plain and simple. Anglers have, for centuries, had the right to cast a line pretty much where and when they wish. But these common law rights and practices are under serious threat under the terms of the proposed Broads Bill. Quite clearly the Bill would give the Broads Authority the ability to control where and when anglers go fishing. The majority of successful Broads anglers do so from a boat, and ’special directions’ would allow a Navigation Ranger the power to move an angler on from their chosen location, and to do so without specific reason.

 

During the summer many of us go angling at the crack of dawn, partly to avoid the holiday boat traffic, but also because it a good time to cast a line. Most of us do so with consideration to those who slumber on, but the Authority is asking for the ability to control boat traffic, either by closing a stretch of river or by quite simply telling us that we may not navigate at that time. They wish to be able to tell us when and where we can go.

 

The bank angler is also subject to the Nanny State’s desire to control everything that we do. Who would have thought that an angler’s rod could be seen as an obstruction to navigation? Well, there are folk on the Broads that do, and Broads Rangers who have made it clear that they would like the power to be able to restrict the length of anglers’ rods and poles. The proposed Broads Bill will allow them that power.

 

The details of the Bill are in the public domain for all those who wish to read them. Many of the clauses are wide open to interpretation, and there lies the problem. How might the Bill be used against angling, not only now, but also in the future?

 

This is one time when anglers need to support each other. The Broads is an angler’s paradise, one that attracts tens of thousands each year. The present administration may not have a stated anti-angling agenda, but there is a strong conservation lobby within the Broads Authority. The wording of the Bill is loose, too loose. In a nutshell it could be used against angling with devastating effect.

 

The Broads Bill has already been opposed in Parliament, it must be opposed again. Whilst no one expects the Prime Minister to oppose the Bill, we all have the ability to ask him to do so via an ’E-Petition’, and to see that relevant M.P.s made aware of it. Details of the E-Petition are here: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/BroadsBill/

 

Please sign, please register your opposition to these draconian controls that can be used against angling. The details of the petition will then be made available to M.P.‘s in both Norfolk and Suffolk, hopefully encouraging them to oppose further progress of the Bill through parliament.

 

If you are willing then please copy this to any other forums that you visit, thank you.

[Peter Waller]

Cheers Mark, your help is appreciated.

[paintfly]

Done.

Saw a thread for this over on the Conservation forum, was quite surprised you hadn't posted on it Mark.

[Mark Crame]

I would have done. I spotted it on the coarse forum but I've had a pretty tricky week or two here. I am moving in a fortnight, a friend has died (87, and expected for a while but still...) am busy with college work, busy trying for other work, loads of stuff to do.....didn't have the time to be honest. Anyway, it's now on 3 forums and emailed to everyone I have in my address book. Now there's an idea for you all.....

[fatsimon]

Done

[Yakity - Yak - u.k.]

Hi Mark.

 

Sorry to hear about your friend.

Hope the pace settles down soon for you, and you get the work your looking for.

 

Done

 

 

Bill.

Edited March 2, 2007 by Yakity - Yak - u.k.

[Mark Crame]

Cheers Bill. I am always after work - freelance photographer you see. That and college keeps me gainfully employed!

[Martin Hurst]

The present administration may not have a stated anti-angling agenda, but there is a strong conservation lobby within the Broads Authority. Are these two mutually exclusive???