Keep canoes off our rivers, e.petition.

[Peter Waller]

This one looks worth signing:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/No2Canoes/sign

The British Canoe Union are still pushing for a right to roam on our waterways.

 

The blurb says:

 

Canoeists and un-powered craft users are seeking the right to roam on English and Welsh rivers. This is without consultation with landowners. This, in our view, will be detrimental to river systems and will spoil the enjoyment of the rivers for anglers. Angling clubs already pay rent to landowners for using the rivers as well as anglers paying national rod license fees. The canoeists want the right to spoil our enjoyment for free!

Edited March 20, 2007 by Peter Waller

[les middy]

This one looks worth signing:

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/No2Canoes/sign

The British Canoe Union are still pushing for a right to roam on our waterways.

 

The blurb says:

 

Canoeists and un-powered craft users are seeking the right to roam on English and Welsh rivers. This is without consultation with landowners. This, in our view, will be detrimental to river systems and will spoil the enjoyment of the rivers for anglers. Angling clubs already pay rent to landowners for using the rivers as well as anglers paying national rod license fees. The canoeists want the right to spoil our enjoyment for free!

 

And why should they not pray tell

[Grandma]

And why should they not pray tell

 

 

I don't mind caneoists, they're better than environmentalists.

[Andy_1984]

The canoeists want the right to spoil our enjoyment for free!

 

 

our enjoyment ?, what about their enjoyment, sorry but i disagree here peter

 

i dont like the way you or who ever made the patition that they refer to the rivers as ours "Anglers" the way i see it rivers are for no single person or activity.

Edited March 20, 2007 by Andy_1984

[Steve Walker]

our enjoyment ?, what about their enjoyment, sorry but i disagree here peter

 

I think the idea is that they are welcome to have exactly the same access to rivers we have; we want access, we pay the landowner for it. They want unlimited access free of charge and free of any duty to negotiate access with other users. It seems unfair that after forking out club membership fees your sport should be ruined by a bunch of people who haven't paid a penny for the privilege. An absolute right to paddle would also be a godsend to the sabs. They would then have the right to disrupt any match on any river and there wouldn't be a damn thing anyone could do about it.

[Andy_1984]

I think the idea is that they are welcome to have exactly the same access to rivers we have; we want access, we pay the landowner for it. They want unlimited access free of charge and free of any duty to negotiate access with other users. It seems unfair that after forking out club membership fees your sport should be ruined by a bunch of people who haven't paid a penny for the privilege. An absolute right to paddle would also be a godsend to the sabs. They would then have the right to disrupt any match on any river and there wouldn't be a damn thing anyone could do about it.

 

i firmly believe they should pay as all other anglers in england do but the petition states

 

"to Deny canoeists and users of un-powered craft the right to roam on English and Welsh rivers"

 

if it had been worded diffrently i would have signed but i cant do somthing that is saying, we want them off the rivers period its wrong to deny anyone the right to use the great outdoors

 

think of this: "to Deny anglers the right to fish on English and Welsh rivers"

[wearyone]

The canoeists are certainly having a big push on trying to change the law at present. Our best defense remains that of being seen to be reasonable and responsible despite the provacation which may well be part of their strategy.

 

 

I and a couple of other Club officials had a meeting with a lady from the EA Recreation section last week when she TOLD us what the EA had decided re canoe access on the stretches of river Wear that we lease from Durham University and the Dean and Chapter ( Durham Cathedral)

I'm afraid she left a little less unsure of her position than when she arrived (especially as one club official ( a wealthy farmer) said he had put aside several 10's of thousand £'s to help secure the fishing we now enjoy. The last thing the EA want is a protracted legal battle.

We did however give one concession re canoe access; in that they could 'paddle' the same stretch of river the University rowers currently use, that should be fun.

 

Apparently the much acclaimed 'voluntary access agreement', for the Wear at least, (pages from 109 relate to the river Wear) is not worth the paper it was written on and is being disregarded by the Northumbria Area EA office.

I will not pass on the EA's comments re Prof Ravenscroft and his team from the University of Brighton

 

Totally agree, no pay no say.

Where there is a right to paddle on the Scottish rivers, income from fishing on the Tay system alone has dropped by 90% since access was given to canoeists

 

I would urge all anglers to contact their MP and ask him/her not to support the third reading of this farcical Private Members Bill.

Click HERE to view the canoe access policy document produced by NAFAC and accepted by all members of FACT.

 

 

I'm sorry but the NAFAC link has resticted access, I'll try to post the PDF...it could take me some time

Edited March 20, 2007 by wearyone

[Neil G]

The canoeists are certainly having a big push on trying to change the law at present. Our best defense remains that of being seen to be reasonable and responsible despite the provacation which may well be part of their strategy.

I and a couple of other Club officials had a meeting with a lady from the EA Recreation section last week when she TOLD us what the EA had decided re canoe access on the stretches of river Wear that we lease from Durham University and the Dean and Chapter ( Durham Cathedral)

I'm afraid she left a little less unsure of her position than when she arrived (especially as one club official ( a wealthy farmer) said he had put aside several 10's of thousand £'s to help secure the fishing we now enjoy. The last thing the EA want is a protracted legal battle.

We did however give one concession re canoe access; in that they could 'paddle' the same stretch of river the University rowers currently use, that should be fun.

 

Apparently the much acclaimed 'voluntary access agreement', for the Wear at least, (pages from 109 relate to the river Wear) is not worth the paper it was written on and is being disregarded by the Northumbria Area EA office.

I will not pass on the EA's comments re Prof Ravenscroft and his team from the University of Brighton

 

Totally agree, no pay no say.

Where there is a right to paddle on the Scottish rivers, income from fishing on the Tay system alone has dropped by 90% since access was given to canoeists

 

I would urge all anglers to contact their MP and ask him/her not to support the third reading of this farcical Private Members Bill.

Click HERE to view the canoe access policy document produced by NAFAC and accepted by all members of FACT.

 

Very good point about the loss of income due to the 90% access given on the tay.

 

I don't see how it's going to make much difference to me though, every summer I'm plauged by big pleasure boats, public punting/rowing up the river (badly) and canoeists...I usually just put up with it.

 

I've never had anyone intentionally try to disrupt my fishing though....TBH most people using the river that I have come across have been pretty well behaved.

[gozzer]

Unless I'm reading this wrong, the 'right to roam' means just that, and it can take a protracted legal battle, to prevent it happening on any stretch of water.

 

We do not have a 'right to fish', we can only fish in preordained areas, where we have paid, or have permission to do so.

 

This I feel is the difference, and don't see why anyone should have 'carte blanche' to roam anywhere they want, regardless of the effects on other water users.

 

John.

[wearyone]

Already on the Wear, and on some of it's tributaries, canoeists have been seen disturbing spawning sea trout and salmon, even on one stretch of a small beck where angling clubs pay the Forestry Commission for the fishing rights and then close the water to angling on conservation grounds.

 

It is a bit sickening when we then see the aquatic equivalent of the 'lycra louts' destroying spawning beds...all in the name of sport and enjoyment