Tweet
(For full details see: http://www.anglers-net.co.uk/sacn/latest/index.php?view=132 )
It’s been a long haul to get this far, and at times it seemed as though the government was prepared to stall on action until the last bass had been caught and North Atlantic dolphins became extinct.
Talk, talk ……… talk of surveys and pingers and observers, anything other than doing what we had been asking for from the beginning. Closure of the winter spawning bass pair trawl fishery, even as a sensible precautionary measure.
Well, now Ben Bradshaw has taken the bit between his teeth and is moving to bring about what we have been campaigning for, for years. Closure of the fishery.
But only the EU has the power to close the fishery outside of the UK 12 mile limit, and whether we can close the fishery within our 12 mile limit to French vessels has to be tested.
Already French fishery interests are mobilising to oppose the closures, they have called emergency meetings of their equivalent of the Sea Fisheries Committees to discuss the moves and the actions that will follow on their part.
What we need to do now is to demonstrate that this move by the Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries has support, both to the UK government and to the EU.
Please take some time to write to your MP, MEP, Ben Bradshaw and the EU fisheries Minister Franz Fischler, supporting the closure of the fishery.
We have got this far with emails and letters, we need now more than ever, to take it this last mile.
Your MP’s details can be found at:
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm
(You can fax your MP for free from: http://www.faxyourmp.com )
You can track down your MEP here:
http://europe.tiscali.co.uk/index.jsp?section=findmep&sez=.find%20your%20mep
You can email Ben Bradshaw from his site using this form:
http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/pages/contact/contact.htm
You can also write to him (recommended) at:
Ben Bradshaw
Defra
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Franz Fischler’s Contact details are at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/fischler/cntct_en.htm
When you write, let them know that you are a Recreational Sea Angler and that you are concerned with the ecological damage done by this fishery to the bass stocks as well as to cetaceans.
That ‘Best Value’ can be obtained from the stock by allowing the fish to grow to specimen size and developing a world class European recreational fishery based on plentiful large fish.
We are also concerned that the growing use of balloon trawls is also causing damage to both the bass stocks and cetaceans.
[Edited on 25/7/2004 by LeonRoskilly]
It’s been a long haul to get this far, and at times it seemed as though the government was prepared to stall on action until the last bass had been caught and North Atlantic dolphins became extinct.
Talk, talk ……… talk of surveys and pingers and observers, anything other than doing what we had been asking for from the beginning. Closure of the winter spawning bass pair trawl fishery, even as a sensible precautionary measure.
Well, now Ben Bradshaw has taken the bit between his teeth and is moving to bring about what we have been campaigning for, for years. Closure of the fishery.
But only the EU has the power to close the fishery outside of the UK 12 mile limit, and whether we can close the fishery within our 12 mile limit to French vessels has to be tested.
Already French fishery interests are mobilising to oppose the closures, they have called emergency meetings of their equivalent of the Sea Fisheries Committees to discuss the moves and the actions that will follow on their part.
What we need to do now is to demonstrate that this move by the Minister for Nature Conservation and Fisheries has support, both to the UK government and to the EU.
Please take some time to write to your MP, MEP, Ben Bradshaw and the EU fisheries Minister Franz Fischler, supporting the closure of the fishery.
We have got this far with emails and letters, we need now more than ever, to take it this last mile.
Your MP’s details can be found at:
http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm
(You can fax your MP for free from: http://www.faxyourmp.com )
You can track down your MEP here:
http://europe.tiscali.co.uk/index.jsp?section=findmep&sez=.find%20your%20mep
You can email Ben Bradshaw from his site using this form:
http://www.benbradshaw.co.uk/pages/contact/contact.htm
You can also write to him (recommended) at:
Ben Bradshaw
Defra
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London SW1P 3JR
Franz Fischler’s Contact details are at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/fischler/cntct_en.htm
When you write, let them know that you are a Recreational Sea Angler and that you are concerned with the ecological damage done by this fishery to the bass stocks as well as to cetaceans.
That ‘Best Value’ can be obtained from the stock by allowing the fish to grow to specimen size and developing a world class European recreational fishery based on plentiful large fish.
We are also concerned that the growing use of balloon trawls is also causing damage to both the bass stocks and cetaceans.
[Edited on 25/7/2004 by LeonRoskilly]