SACN report for the Solway fish initial RSA working group 25/10/06

INTRODUCTION

The Solway region is blessed with many different geological areas and because of this has one of the widest variety of species found in the UK, but the fishing for the recreational angler is deteriating at an ever increasing pace

The value of the Recreational sea angling (RSA) needs to be recognized by the decision makers or a huge opportunity to develop tourist income and restore fish stocks will be lost

There is great potential for social and economic value if the management objectives were to be aligned to produce a ‘product’ that would benefit the development of the valuable Recreational Sea Angling sector.
And that such management would produce a far greater ‘Best Value’ return to the wider economy, ultimately benefiting all citizens of ’the Solway.

We see many difficulties ahead because of two separate administrations, with different goals and attitudes towards RSA
 
Many of my colleagues south of the border are involved with consultations with DEFRA as Recreational Sea Anglers are acknowledged as major stakeholders by the UK and Welsh governments. They have recognised the importance of recreational sea angling; recognize sea anglers as stakeholders in the management of fish stocks, the significant contribution that RSA makes to the economy and the enjoyment it brings to many people.

Up till recently the Scottish executive have been very dismissive of RSA but we are slowly making progress.

Our members believe the Scottish executive fisheries groups are totally out of touch with what is actually happening to our inshore fisheries as shown by Mr. Finnie’s quote to an MSP “Indeed, I would dispute your constituents suggestion that Scotland’s inshore commercial sector is guilty of over exploitation.”
 
The truth is many species once regarded as abundant only 20 years ago, are now seriously depleted or almost absent within the Solway. Regrettably the following  species can now be regarded by anglers as locally extinct namely, Cuckoo Ray, Spotted Ray, Blonde Ray, Dragonet, Spur dog, Turbot, Brill, Poor Cod, Pouting, Hake

Species that are caught less often and then usually juvenile fish.
Haddock, Cod, Dabs, Conger, Thornback Ray, Red Gurnard, Tub Gurnard, Coal fish, Plaice and Ling

The only species that seem to be growing in numbers are LSD’s, immature Whiting, and to a lesser degree Bass and Smoothound which are thought to be increasing because of global warming.

Anecdotal evidence, competition landings and indeed commercial landings show that stocks are diminishing year by year.

If management measures aren’t put in place then a valuable resource will dwindle and could be lost forever and the Solway will lose many millions of pounds from its economy.




 BEST VALUE MANAGEMENT

There is a need to realign management objectives to deliver ‘Best Value’ from the management of the regions fish stocks as the fisheries leaders are failing to realise the potential.

The main problem is of an age old tradition, which deems that our fish stocks only function is to support the needs of the commercial fishing industry and only environmental considerations can be taken into account.

Although the opportunity for Angler involvement in the Inshore Fisheries Group (IFG) was mooted earlier, in a recent letter to Alex Fergusson MSP, Ross Finnie (referring to the Executive’s Strategic Framework for Inshore Fisheries) has written “However I must stress that the Strategy’s primary concern is commercial, not recreational, sea fishing and an IFGs executive committee �" tasked with developing management plans for the area’s commercial fisheries �" will be made up exclusively of commercial fishing representatives”

After months of letter writing by the SACN and the SFSA and finally an intensive email campaign, we finally got to meet with executive members, Frank Strang, Head of fisheries and John Brown, Head of tourism.

The meeting went very well and the Executive promised to conduct an economic survey on the worth of Scottish RSA and members of the SACN and the SFSA have been invited to attend meetings at all levels of fisheries management but still haven’t achieved invitations for our members to sit on the 12 Inshore fisheries groups although the executive report from the meeting did stress,  “We set out how the new Inshore Fisheries Groups will function, stressing in particular the overall purpose of encouraging local discussion and decision-making. We explained that part of the structure will be a formal requirement on IFGs to consult key stakeholders, including, explicitly, sea anglers. The Executive would expect to see evidence of this participation as management proposals are taken forward. We explained that this issue could be looked at in the context of the review of the Scottish Inshore Fisheries Advisory Group, which is underway and to which we invited you to contribute (as you know the contact here is Rob Roberts). From our point of view, the key will be to make the new structures work locally (starting with the IFGs in the south east and Western Isles), with sea anglers demonstrating that they are important players who can and should make contributions to local plans.”
Experience has shown from the SFC’s in England that the commercials treat RSA as the natural enemy and will automatically vote against RSA initiatives

Primarily the Recreational Sea Angling sector needs not only quantities of fish of the species of interest to anglers, but large fish too. For example, specimen sized Mullet  will be 15 �" 25 years old, Tope 40-50 years old, and when mature fish are removed it takes nature decades to produce replacement specimen fish.

A healthy local population of big fish of certain species, providing many livelihoods for angling charter skippers, tackle shops, bait suppliers and many others whose livelihoods depend upon servicing the needs of Recreational Sea Anglers, and contributing significantly to a coastal rural economy can be destroyed for minimal value by the commercial sector. E.g. pot bait

Happily, the kind of management needed to produce an angling, rather than simply a commercial 'product' also align well with the long term conservation needs of most species. Anglers want to catch larger specimens, which happen to produce far more and healthier fry, resulting in more available fish for the commercial Industry. It really is a win win situation


IMMEDIATE MEASURES NEEDED �" SPECIES IN TROUBLE


TOPE

 Luce Bay and the Solway support a healthy population of Tope during the summer months and are targeted by thousands of charter and private boat anglers.
Defra have acknowledged that they need to bring in legislation to conserve the stocks and a consultation has just finished and we are awaiting the results.. If successful this will make the tope the first ever recreational species in the UK.

A ridiculous situation is developing where it will be legal to kill tope in the Scottish side of the Solway but illegal on the English side.  We are not too sure what the executive meant when it said, “ On tope, we here will need to reflect on the implications for ourselves of the outcome of DEFRA’s consultation exercise”. 
Hopefully it means it will fall in line with Defra but we need to keep pressure on to make this happen.

The Cumbria SFC fisheries officer is concerned that tope will be caught in his region but declared to have come from the Scottish side of the Solway.

Recently a tope was sent to the market that weighed 110 pounds. It raised £4.50 at the market and cost the fisherman £3 for the auction, therefore a fish that was 24 pounds over the British record sold for just £1.50. How, can this be allowed to happen?


SPURDOG

 Spurdog used to be found in huge numbers throughout the region. They went from almost pest level to eradication in a matter of 5 years. There has been a small recovery in parts of Wales and we believe controls should be put in place to stop any exploitation should they reemerge here
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) list spurdog as
critically endangered. The ICES recommended a zero catch for 2006 but their advice was ignored by the CFP.

Defra have recently consulted on increasing the Maximum landing size to
deter directed fisheries targeting aggregations of mature females


RAYS

The region used to be famous for its rays namely, Thornback, Blondes, Small Eyed, Cuckoo and Spotted Rays.

Drummore alone had 17 miles of skate nets being used by the commercial fishery and they were fished to local extinction.
Local angling boats went 6 years without seeing one but last year saw a small recovery of Thornbacks and Spotted Rays. Sensible management could see these thrive again in our waters.

POLLOCK

We are blessed with some great inshore Pollack fishing, up the west coast of Scotland Many anglers (and there are thousands that fish for Pollack as they are a true sports fish) are happy to fish for them on a catch and release basis.
Pollack are a very territorial fish living in the same bit of rough ground/wreck all summer and marks can easily be wiped out by any sustained angling or commercial pressure. Once the big fish are removed from a mark, it doesn't fill up again with big fish until the small fish grow, which can be a number of years.

The SACN feel it is important we try to protect them and history has shown despite intense angling pressure, marks can be sustainable year after year, providing fish are returned.
As fish stocks dwindle, it is only a matter of time before the Pollack is targeted and reports from certain areas of Ireland show it doesn’t take long to reduce the population to just small fish. In the long term restricting anglers to take home limits might be necessary, but for now we feel the way forward is through education, therefore we feel pamphlets and posters should be displayed in prominent places, informing anglers how important the Pollack stocks are to local economies and why it is so important to return fish.


BASS

Bass are on the increase in our waters due to a Northern migration and with careful management could be developed for the benefit of RSA and commercials. We would like to see “The Bass Management Plan” incorporated. Details at http://ukbass.com/bassmanagementplan/index.html    Phase one is to increase the minimum landing size from 38cm to 45cm. so all fish will have had a chance to breed. Defra have recently bowed down to commercial pressure and a small increase of just 4 cm was implemented with the promise to increase it in to 2008 to 45cm
Phase two which will open for consultation shortly will include, 1) proposals for inshore gill net restrictions within 1 mile of the shore. 2) a closed season - to protect bass when they are ready to spawn. 3) Stronger laws for nursery areas to further protect immature bass. 4) The introduction of COMMERCIAL licensing and the use of carcass tags, to reduce the current high level of illegal netting and sale of 'illegal' bass.
All of these conservation proposals will  increase the number and size of bass in our coastal waters, and will ensure bigger and more Bass for both commercials and RSA.
The BMP will help stop the constant problem in areas like Torness power station, which has a die hard group of unlicensed commercial fisherman targeting the immature Bass and selling them to local restaurants.


CLAM DREDGING

Evidence is mounting against this universally accepted damaging practice. The recent Lundy Isle experiment shows what can be achieved with the right political will. In just two years the increase in numbers of species of fish, plant life and shellfish was staggering.

31 clam dredgers worked a patch in Luce Bay in December 2004 and the 10 sq miles of boulder banks and inshore reefs is now a featureless desert. The fishing has deteriated accordingly

The Northumbria SFC has banned dredging to within 6 miles of the coastline and we feel that is a good starting point.



MANAGEMENT TOOLS

CLOSED SEASONS

Many fish move into the shallow sandy bays in the spring to breed or lay their eggs. Species like the rays are an easy target for commercial fishermen, in nets held tight to the bottom. Once the Rays have laid their purses they will feed vigorously to rebuild their strength before moving back into deeper water. A closed season during this period would ensure the rays have a chance to complete their breeding cycle The commercial fisherman could target the rays as they move off into deeper water; they would catch the same number of fish but the next generation would have a chance to continue the sustainability of the species.


MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM LANDING SIZES

The SACN cannot understand how it is possible to develop sustainable fishing without giving all species a chance to have bred at least once. We would therefore like to see a minimum landing sizes raised for all popular Recreational species.
There is also a proven argument for incorporating a maximum landing size as larger fish produce more and healthier eggs which are more likely to have a successful progression into adulthood. For example a four pound codling may produce 2 million eggs whereas a forty pound cod will produce 10 million eggs


GOLDEN MILE

Most species either breed within a mile of the shore or lay their eggs/live young in the shallow inshore reefs. There is no doubt that trawling and dredging destroys these reefs which are the very places young fish use to grow and develop. Because of this RSA would like a complete ban all commercial activity apart from pots/creels as this is the only way to give immature fish a chance to develop. Coincidentally, a group of Scottish West coast creel fisherman is asking for the same mile ban.

GILLNETS

As the Bass shoals increase then so does the use of Gillnets often by unlicensed commercial fishermen. We would like to limit all gillnetting to within a mile of the shoreline to allow the Bass and Mullet stocks to flourish.

NURSERY AREAS
Nursery areas should be considered for species like the flatfish and Bass to offer protection for the immature fish

NON CONSERVATION NEEDS

If stocks are to increase by sensible management and the region attracts more visitors then the infrastructure also needs to improve.

We need to

* Increase social inclusion by providing adequate facilities to enable less able anglers to more easily access and enjoy the sport.

* School holiday experiences to get our youth involved with RSA

* More slipways for private boat owners


CONCLUSION

Although figures are not available for the region the economic value of RSA will far exceed those of the commercial fishing industry, particularly on the species that RSA value. It doesn’t need a mathematician to realize many species are worth far more to the region left in the sea.

Recreational Sea Angling is “Big Business” on which many livelihoods are dependent; charter boat skippers, tackle shop and tackle manufacturing staff, bait diggers and bait suppliers, hotels, petrol stations... the list goes on, certainly thousands of tourist driven jobs, often in those rural coastal communities where there is little scope for diversification in employment and economic activity,

As the Cod and Haddock shoals diminish, other once less popular species become the target for the ever growing needs for fresh fish. Who would have thought ten years ago that Coalfish/Saithe would be promoted by the supermarkets?
RSA fear that in time, species that are now mainly caught as a bycatch or for pot bait will become a commercial target and would therefore like the following highly sought after angling species designated as recreational species only; Conger, Skate, Mullet, Wrasse, Pollack, Tope, and Smoothound. It is worth remembering that none of the above have any commercial history so by categorizing the above species as recreational species only, would not cause any financial hardship to anybody and the likelihood is, that it would create many jobs in the recreational sector.

RSA needs realignment of fish stock management objectives to produce a 'product' that will delight both Solway residents and visiting anglers. , both administrations  needs to understand the specific needs of the sector, including the fishery management options which will add value to the ‘angling experience’, delighting anglers and attracting visitors to Solway’s coasts and to recognize RSA as stakeholders in fish stock management.

Compiled by Ian Burrett
SACN regional co-ordinator for Scotland