NFSA MEETING: GATESHEAD

[marksworld]

well here goes,
myself and fishfinder (paul) went along to the railway club for the NFSA meeting which i can say was an eye opener and very informative, there was a reasonable turn out from south of the tyne but only three of us from north of the tyne. the meeting itself was intresting, talk about tope fishing and how they had put preasure on the goverment to stop a commercial venture starting, with a guy wanting to sell tope fin to japan , china or somewhere like that for soups. they won and the guy backed down. bass fishing also seems to be a hot topic at the moment, catch and release, raising size limits, commercial nets having bigger net sizes so that bass can spawn. the talk about bass and tope in my opinion fell on def ears, what seems to be the issue from the north is cod stock and as one person pointed out the north east angler could not give a toss about bass and tope. what was wanted to know what was nfsa doing for the N.E sea angler. i got the feeling of a bit of north south devide and what was said seemed to be that nfsa seemed to do more for the south than the north and if they wanted more support and money from the north they would have to do something constuctive for the northeast anglers like the reopening of piers, something that could be seen physicaly would be the only way to get a lot of people intrested.

the discusion with sam harris and this other guy who iv\'e fogotten his name 6ft 6\" and built like a brick......house no offence to him was along the lines of nfsa not comunicating with him or sending info which could be broadcast on radio or passed over to mr charlton. the chirman 6ft 6\" said it had but sam stuck his guns and said it hadn\'t, it seems that these two fell out 30-35 years ago and have never made up.
there does need to be more cominication between the northeast and nfsa, leaflets and info given out at comps was mentioned, posts put up on the bigger sea angling sites to keep people informed.

another topic which was brought up by most of the people who attended the meeting was the issue of of pots and nets being in to close to shore, this seems to be a big problem here in the north with a lot of fishing marks unfishable because of ropes and nets cloging up areas. there seem to a lot of unmarked pot which are ilegal but unfortunatley it is also ilegal for us to move them .
the nfsa are trying to stop this ilegal practice and to get into place a one mile off coast exclusion zone so that nets cant be set, someone did however point out that come of our piers are more than a mile long.
other point raised by nfsa were to raise size limits so that fish had a chance to breed, larger net sizes again for release purposes, catch and release which i know most of us do, personal safety. in general we shoul be keeping a general lookout for things that affect our fishing and when if needed contact the reavent authorities like the eviroment agency, doc (nigel ) is fighting for us up here in the northeast and as you know posts on nesa a lot, i am sure if you had an issue he would try and answer it, hope thats ok with you doc. speaking to nigel and a few others from nfsa they have been working dam hard for the recreational fisherman (woman) and i think if we can support them our fishing might improve again. most of ya know i am new back fishing after along time but i have noticed the fishing has deteriated so much in the last twenty or so years. the goverment is now listening because they have realised that recreational fishing is big business. 1 million pos 1.4 million anglers generating 1 billion a year maybe even more. well thats it, i have probably missed loads out but me head was full of stuff on wenesday night so i and paul might not be the best to ask akward questions. i will try though lol
cheers
mark

[Charlton]

God, not even there and i got a mention, can assure you I did get the information about the meeting and it was in both my angling columns. What you have got to remember is that nothing happens over night the NFSA who i do not always see eye to eye with on certain matters have been banging away for many years, along with other federations, not only with the government to change things but to get anglers to back the angling bodies. this could be simply by sending a letter or e mail to a government body many will not and then they shout that nothing is being done for them. After many years banging their head against a very thick brick wall the NFSA are now making headway and are getting some things done, yes many seem to be down south as bass and tope, but this shows what can be achieved with the backing of anglers. I know members of the NFSA who have sat for weeks at public enquiries, and other bodies taking time off work using up their holidays while most anglers use them for basking in the sunshine and then demand what are you doing about such and such \"bait digging is one matter\" As i have said i do not agree with some issues of the NFSA but knocking an organisation which is trying to do something to help fellow anglers without getting off your backsides and supporting them when it is needed is totally out of order. They are looking into many matters regarding angling but these will not be resolved overnight.

[Doc]

Great to see Mark and Paul at the meeting, many thanks to you both for coming down on the night as the sole representatives of NESA (out of how many members now TC). I must admit, I was extremely disappointed with the turn out, less than 20 attendees in total and just 2 from NESA.

As Mark says in his post much of the discussion centred around species such as Bass and Tope, which anglers here in the north east probably consider as southern species, which they are no longer, but over the next couple of days I will post a new thread on what the current status of these species is in the NE.

I fully appreciate that historically cod has and still is king in the NE, its the same along the Yorkshire coast (my neck of the woods), although this situation is changing slowly. In defence of the NFSA we haven\'t got a hope in hell of getting a species such as the cod designated as a recreational species, all we can do is work within the framework available to us to ensure that fisheries regulation take account not just of the commercial sector, but also of the recreational angler. The major problem with cod is that any recovery is not going to happen overnight, reduction of fishing effort will not in itself lead to wholesale recovery within a year. There are many other mitigating factors which have to be accounted for, and unfortunately some of these are totally outside our (mans) control. What is required are the optimal environmental conditions, in conjunction with a well conditioned stock (not necessarily a large stock), just a healthy well fed stock, and given this situation a strong year class should be the result. The real driver now, in the event that a strong year class emerges, is that fishing effort is reduced accordingly to allow that year class to move through successive year classes to an optimal spawning age. The rest is purely mathematics, a healthy SSB gives rise to a large SSB and as a consequence a sustainable fishery for all.

We are moving in the right direction, fishing effort is down significantly, technical conservation measures are in place and are continually being developed further, and along the English north and east coast there is at last some indication of a relatively strong 1st year class coming through. So it is not all doom and gloom, however, to enable anglers to continue the dialogue with government, we need to have a representative body that is able to put forward a coherent argument, based on scientific fact, and both ecological and economic sense. There is no other body in a position to do this at present, and therefore the NFSA are the lead partner in this discussion with the UK government. The problem is that due to a low membership the funds are so stretched that those representing the 1 million sea anglers in England and Wales are paying for this representation out of their own pockets. Whilst the greater majority of sea anglers won’t pay the £15 or so membership fee to the NFSA, a small dedicated group are paying in excess of £1,500 per annum each to represent Recreational sea angling to ensure that ALL anglers interests are taken into account, not just those in the ‘south’..

The NFSA needs a healthy membership to represent the views of all, it needs a healthy membership in order to play an important role in fisheries management and to take angling forward to a point by which we can enjoy our sport in the knowledge that in years to come we will still be able to catch bigger and better fish of all species, not just the odd whiting or rockling.

Talk is cheap, strong action and proportionate representation requires funding, and that funding is not currently available. So if you are not prepared to support those who are working to better the sea angling experience, please don’t complain about the lack of fish or the poor quality of fish in your area. We can only continue to self finance the 1 million or so anglers from our own pockets for so long, its then down to you or not, which ever the case may be.

By the way, the big chap who had a ‘meaningful dialogue’ with Sam Harris was Ex copper Frank Nesbitt.

Finally, as the sea angling representative on the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee, I am always willing to take forward to the committee any relevant issues that affects RSA within the District (River Tyne to Donna Nook), so please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any specific concerns or issues that require action.

Perhaps TC could set up a specific forum for this and for me to post items that affect or may be of interest to local and regional anglers.

Cheers

[Charlton]

The attendnace at the meeting proves what I said in my post, apathy among anglers this has been the bug bear with federations for many years, that is why the antis do so well, they are very vociferous whereas anglers only shout when it is to late, and they want somebody else to do it for them.
Just for your interest Tony Anderson, well known NE angler now sits on the Northumbria Sea Fisheries Commission.

[TC]

Thanks go to Mark and Nigel for all the feedback from the meeting, it\'s much appreciated.

Couldn\'t help thinking (as I was reading Nigels post), back to the time when I was an active Union rep on the local Exec Committe and the reason I quit the job........APATHY amongst those who I was trying to represent.
Sure......EVERYBODY wants the benefits........bit VERY FEW will actually take action to help achieve them - even if that action is only becoming a member and paying subs to enable causes to be fought for. Trying to get people to realise that the \"union\" was THEM and not the union reps, always seemed to fall on deaf ears. Totally agree with what\'s been said about \"if you\'re not a member paying your \"subs\" then stop complaing about those who ARE and are trying secure benefits for ALL sea anglers.

Nigel, I\'d be only too pleased to set up an area on the Board for you - just let me know what you want / need by way of Forums & any sub forums and I\'ll sort it out for you.

Just a final word on the attendace figures for the meeting.........
Yes maybe the attendance was disapointing, but I\'m sure more would\'ve made it if they could. I was intending to go, but as it turned out, I couldn\'t. Alan, I don\'t think you should come out with statements like, \"The attendnace at the meeting proves what I said in my post, apathy among anglers........\" when you weren\'t at the meeting, yourself. OK, there are those who don\'t give a toss about what the NFSA is trying to achieve, but there are also those who genuinely wanted to attend, but couldn\'t.

[fishfinder]

Well presented mark..we agreed that mark would post on nesa and I would do ane..and I think you summed it up nicely mate ..I would like to take the opportunity to thank nigel (hull)and the other members one from devon I may add for all the hard work they are putting in on our behalf. i think a section on here within the shore fishing section if poss as the conservation area tends to get over looked would be a good thing and good way of relaying info from the nfsa and the many shore anglers visiting this site giving everyone a chance to air there views regardless of weather they can attend meetings or not after all technology is progressing lets move with the times ...Education is the key and information is a must!!!

[marksworld]

cheers paul, me brain is knackered though lol and here\'s me thinking funerals are hard work
cheers
mark

[TC]

Paul,
It\'s a simple enough job to create a whole Forum to NFSA issues (like the RNLI Forum) rather than just tag it on to the Shore Fishing section.
Doing it that way, I would be able to split the forum into different sections - whatever sections Nigel wants. For example, Mark mentioned the subject of \"communication\" and keeping N.E. anglers informed on NFSA issues - \"communication\" could be a section of the NFSA Forum - as could specific issues, such as \"pots & nets\".
I\'ll create and split the forum whichever way would prove most effective.......just let me know what\'s needed.

[Edited on 29/10/2005 by TC]

[fishfinder]

Good stuff tony looking forward to it...Be nice to be kept up to date with any little gains the nfsa make because prior to the meeting the other night I really didn\'t have a clue what they were about and what they were doing...cheers paul

[spike]

theres an NFSA extra ordinary general meeting this week thursday 1st dec at the mac centre,roker, sunderland at 7pm . suprised DOC hasnt mentioned it.

[Charlton]

spike it is not a NFSA meeting, it is for the clubs who are members of the Northern Federation of Sea Angling Societies (NFSAS), all member clubs have been informed by letter. Easy mistake to make.

[Edited on 28/11/2005 by Charlton]