Coquet to St Marys back on the list of MCZ

[loopy]

37 more proposed Marine Conservation Zones are being considered including 3 in Northumberland Coquet to St Marys, Fulmar and Farnes East the last two are well out to sea. The MCS is calling for regulation not codes of conduct !

More MCZs to be designated | Marine Conservation Society

[Stores]

37 more proposed Marine Conservation Zones are being considered including 3 in Northumberland Coquet to St Marys, Fulmar and Farnes East the last two are well out to sea. The MCS is calling for regulation not codes of conduct !

More MCZs to be designated | Marine Conservation Society

Sorry Les - have just posted in the shore section, didn't see your post. Worrying though.

[loopy]

Proposed MCZ

Dave as you know and I have been saying for 4 years this is on the cards, it used to be a sticky until it was taken down, it is just as relevant now as it was then plus it held the history of NET GAIN threads. I have no doubt that this PMCZ will happen in or after 2015 when all the cables and the NARAC wind farm is established, hence the delay and it not being announced in the first tranche, saves a lot of money and jobs and no environmental impact assessment required. Data gathering is and will continue in the area and a public consultation will take place. I do not see shore fishing as having an impact but our old friend bait digging will come in the frame, Hauxley springs to mind. We have all the right things in the right places with representation on the NIFCA who will be the regulator under the MACAA, so socio economics will apply. Northumberland Marine region for the Angling Trust is set up and some very limited support (me and one other) I have been banging on for years what more can I do ? or should I just forget it and enjoy my retirement.

[Stores]

Dave as you know and I have been saying for 4 years this is on the cards, it used to be a sticky until it was taken down, it is just as relevant now as it was then plus it held the history of NET GAIN threads. I have no doubt that this PMCZ will happen in or after 2015 when all the cables and the NARAC wind farm is established, hence the delay and it not being announced in the first tranche, saves a lot of money and jobs and no environmental impact assessment required. Data gathering is and will continue in the area and a public consultation will take place. I do not see shore fishing as having an impact but our old friend bait digging will come in the frame, Hauxley springs to mind. We have all the right things in the right places with representation on the NIFCA who will be the regulator under the MACAA, so socio economics will apply. Northumberland Marine region for the Angling Trust is set up and some very limited support (me and one other) I have been banging on for years what more can I do ? or should I just forget it and enjoy my retirement.

Morning Les,

You must enjoy your retirement but it would be nice to enjoy it doing the things you want rather than being shunted off your own patch and being restricted to what you can and can't do.
Must admit I'm not as confident as you about the long term future of angling, even taking the socio economic bit into consideration. Lets hope I'm wrong.
I read a piece about Mr Salter allying the AT with the MCS - any truth in it?

I think we all need to give serious thought to our involvement in supporting RSA in the North East. I think there'll be a number who, if the worse comes to the worse, will turn around and say "I wish I'd done something rather than sit on my hands"

[g.ordon]

Morning Les,

You must enjoy your retirement but it would be nice to enjoy it doing the things you want rather than being shunted off your own patch and being restricted to what you can and can't do.
Must admit I'm not as confident as you about the long term future of angling, even taking the socio economic bit into consideration. Lets hope I'm wrong.
I read a piece about Mr Salter allying the AT with the MCS - any truth in it?

I think we all need to give serious thought to our involvement in supporting RSA in the North East. I think there'll be a number who, if the worse comes to the worse, will turn around and say "I wish I'd done something rather than sit on my hands"

Hi stores, like I said in yer thread in the other section I can't envisage rsa being affected as it does no damage, bait digging is a different matter and maybe a goer for the bureaucrats though personally I don't think bait digging by guys with spades does any harm. Even the cracker jack labour government with their ridiculous environmental regulation policies wouldn't aim for rsa restriction, when I say cracker jack labour environmental policies the CRC energy efficiency scheme springs to mind

[Stores]

Hi stores, like I said in yer thread in the other section I can't envisage rsa being affected as it does no damage, bait digging is a different matter and maybe a goer for the bureaucrats though personally I don't think bait digging by guys with spades does any harm. Even the cracker jack labour government with their ridiculous environmental regulation policies wouldn't aim for rsa restriction, when I say cracker jack labour environmental policies the CRC energy efficiency scheme springs to mind

It seems that the feeling is that shore anglers will be OK but when the MCS say

"but voluntary management has consistently been proven not to work. However great the buy in, one or two fishermen, often fishers from outside the local area can ruin the efforts of the majority. Without legal redress the good work of many can be spoiled""

and OK this could be read as meaning the commercials as could the RSPB bit:

"Over the next couple of years, enforcement agencies and statutory conservation bodies will be looking at a whole new range of fishing activities and making recommendations on whether restrictions need to be introduced to protect conservation features".

but, one, do we want the Commercials to be penalised? I certainly don't and one of the beauties of the North East is how, in the main, the two get on (am I repeating myself here?) and two, how much damage do our boating friends do to the local bird population? Not as much, visually, as they can pin on us shore anglers with our discarded line and litter issues.

Finally, if it is just bait digging, try to see the bigger picture. Scotland is waking up to the same scenario we have here. OK different names (no MCZs) but the same pressures. Wales have just announced possible restrictions on bass catches, bag limits, increased minimum sizes, no go areas. How long before there's limited bait access in large parts of the country? How will that affect the cost of your weekend bait supply, the increased pressure on crab collection (from their "under boulder communities") and the cost of buying them? Eventually we could have a scenario where all the anti's need is not to stop us fishing where the fish are, just to stop anyone collecting bait from where the bait is. Far fetched? Maybe. Might sea fishing be beyond the financial reach of the working man? Not so maybe. Will we do owt about it? Doesn't look like it.