rubbish, rubbish, rubbish

[marksworld]

nigel has the NFSA got any issues or plans to do anything on the state of some beaches and shoreline areas where they are badly affected with rubbish, cans waste food packaging, fly tipping, used line etc. i do understand that police and council patrol this problem, but there are some areas where this would not be possible. if something like bins could be placed in these areas it might cut down the litter problem.


cheers
mark

[willywetegg]

Good point Mark but I don\'t think it would make the slightest difference mate. There is a bin next to the car park at the top of Blyth beach where you access the pier and beach. Look at the rubbish that is left there.

Jim.

[Doc]

Its a real problem, the NFSA official stance is do not drop litter, and take all your waste home with you or put it in a bin if theres one close by, that includes old hooks, line etc.

However, one quick point I\'d make on the last one is make sure you put old line in a bag, quite often foxes or other small mammals will rummage around in bins, especially public bins, it wouldn\'t do the angling cause for foxes or similar to be seen caught up in carelessly discarded fishing line. Similarly, I would suggest cutting up old hooks with a set of pliers before you trash them, hooks in foxes,cats,dogs paws is another misdemeanour.

As responsible anglers, we have to be so careful nowadays, a discarded hook or nested spool of line could be used by almost anyone who wishes to see angling either banned totally or angling access reduced further.

If its rubbish put it in a bin, if it could cause harm remove the potential for it to do so and dispose of it properly, its not rocket science.

Cheers


Doc

[alan]

some of the beaches over in South West Scotland,St Ninians Port Logan to name but a few get badly effected by rubbish apparently its suppose to come from Northern Ireland\'s landfill sites,maybe true who knows,difficult situation to sort out apart from what Doc says

[marksworld]

jim just been down to blyth beach tonight(windy) and i know what you mean about the rubbish, you think it would be so easy to place rubbish in the bin but some people just haven\'t got the brains to do that.
nigel i have allways been one for keeping the countryside tidy all my line hooks etc that are knackered are put in my box and taken home and destroyed and placed in the correct bins. i have ametal bin in the garden which i burn all my line then that also is put in the bin. it does not take much effort. thanks for quick reply nigel.

cheers
mark

[TC]

Several years ago, I approached the Port of Tyne asking why there were no bins on the pier at South Shields.
There response was in 2 parts:

1. If they provided bins - they\'d have to maintain them and incur the cost of emptying them.
2. Chances are that the bins would just be set alight anyway and they\'d have to pay to have them replaced.

Simple answer is (as Doc says) take it home.

\"BIN YOUR LITTER\"........hmmmm - seems I\'ve heard something like that before........lol

[marksworld]

this might sound like a stupid question but does the pier or infact all piers belong to the port autorities?, or do the local councils?. its just that most of us pay council tax and part of that goes to refuse collection so i cant see any reason why the council cant place bins in these areas. there are now fieproof and vandal lol proof bins. i know what you are saying TC about taking rubbish home, i do but iits realy pi**ing me off that all the higher autorities could not give a toss about the state of the coast and the upkeep of piers (well some anyway). if someone sets a bin om fire late at night in a town or city it is replaced. our coast is as important as towns and cities and its needs looked after for wildlife, us fishermen and women, tourists in general everyone who comes down to the coast, bugger me we get a hot weekend and half the country decends on the coast. well thats my morning rant over with for now lol


cheers
mark

[TC]

As far as land ownership goes - as far as the Local Authority is concerned there are two types:
Adopted - land owned and maintained by the Council
Un-Adopted - land oened and maintained by a person/s ot body OTHER than the Local Authority.

Both the South and North piers of the Tyne are owned and maintained by the Port of Tyne Authority - \"UnAdopted land\".

As such - it\'s not the responsibility of the Local Authority to carry out ANY maintenance on that land. Infact it more a case of they are NOT ALLOWED to as the land belongs to somebody else. The Council must seek permission from the PTA to even take any vehicles accross their land.

[marksworld]

TC thats all fair and good but i own my property and it does not belong to the council so that land would infact be un-adopted but the council come on and take my bins away. what i am trying to say is surley the port authorities pay council rates all be them business rates and if so you would not think that local councils could collect rubbish and place bins for that rubbish. that is what part of the council rates goes towards. well thats what i think lol

TC thanks for that info


cheers
mark

[Doc]

Most beach clean ups are organised by green NGO\'s (MCS etc.), local residents and angling clubs (the NFSA has in the past organised them), although the turn out has usually been rubbish (if you\'ll pardon the pun!!!).

The most annoying thing is that when the rubbish is evaluated its usually (but not always) predominantly asigned to fishermens waste. This gets a lot of peoples backs up and they then call for angling to be banned without knowing the real interpretation of the facts. Yes, anglers do leave rubbish on beaches, peirs, jetties and harbour walls, Yes, it does look unsightly and as mentioned above can be dangerous to other users and animals, however, the phrase fishermen can be applied to many aspects of people who utilise the marine resources.

On my local beaches, the amount of ropes, plastic, gill nets, plastic dhans, pellets, lost and destroyed pots, fish boxes, you name it, its all there. This comes from the commercial fisherman, not the recreational fisherman, yet for some reason we get lumped together.

Yes I have worked at sea as a commercial fisherman, and yes I was as guilty as the rest, but I have changed my ways over the years, the problem is that the majority of \'fishermen\' haven\'t and the sea is still seen as an open sewer. I amazes me to see a vessel return to port with no debris on board, many imported frozen packs of pot bait are encased in plastic, and cardboard (not always I accept but in many cases they are (Mackerel, flatfish frames, whole flatfish etc.)). Where is the plastic wrapping? Don\'t these guys eat anything when they are at sea, because there is never any food wrapping or debris brought ashore. Rotten ropes and broken pots or trawls or damaged gill nets beyond repair are never brough back to port, in the majority of instances it is thrown over the side and forgotten. Sometime later its washed up on a beach, or snagged on a sub-sea feature. Out of sight out of mind is a poor way to deal with our refuse, even worse when we get blamed for the poor management of another sector.

The problem is that all the while we won\'t put our own house in order, we can hardly have a pop at anyone else. I bet if we asked all anglers what they did with their rubbish, line and old hooks, its odds on they would say they take it home and dispose of it properly, trouble is that someone is not being honest and until we change that mind set, then s hit e will stick.

Sorry to be a grouch but thats they way it is, we\'ve all walked past an angler or anglers on the beach or peir and seen the rubbish strewn around them, and I\'m sure we\'ve all thought about saying something, some will have even questioned them and asked them to take away their refuse. I bet most have recieved the usual derisory comments like \"go **** yoursen\" and \"whats it got to do with you, busy body\", and like most people haven\'t bothered to say anything in the future.

We have to keep banging this drum, make the idiots embarrassed, shame them into picking up and taking home their rubbish. Hopefully they\'ll get the message or take up golf.

Cheers


Doc

[marksworld]

cheers nigel, iknow what you mean but sea anglers cant be held responsible for all the rubbish on the coast. i have lived near the sea all my life and the ammount of rubbish dumped by tourists on hols up here and i suppose in other areas to is unbeliveable. i have seen it first hand and foot having stood on broken bottles hiden in the sand

cheers
mark

[Norman]

does anyone remember the \"clean the Pier\" campaign ..... might of been on the old board so not available now, but it`s relevant to this thread.

[marksworld]

before my time norman. one idea could be to have signs put up simple ones saying \"pick your rubbish up and take it home\" or something allong them lines.


cheers
mark

[TC]

Perhaps something like this?.........




And getting the local press involved, like this?.......













That all goes back to 2002.

Lost count of the number of posters I made and erected along Shields pier - they kept being torn down - NOT by the Port of Tyne, I\'d written to them and had their permission to put them up - NOT by the Local Authority either, they were more than happy to help. They provided the brushes rubber gloves black bags and even provided me with the use of a Council van over the weekend..........NO - the signs were torn down by \"anglers\" who thought the notice signified that the pier WAS going to be closed down.......where\'s the logic in THAT?

I was very apprehensive about approaching the local press at first, (not knowing what sort of \"slant\" they\'d put on the story), but the way the pieces were written really did show anglers in a good light - well those who care about keeping fishing marks open, that is.



[Edited on 9/11/2005 by TC]

[Edited on 9/11/2005 by TC]

[Doc]

Trying to remember back Norman, if my memory serves me right, notices were put up to encourage people to take their rubbish away and the boards themselves were trashed pretty soon after.

Mark I know what you are saying and agree totally, but its a fact of life that anglers in certain areas and at certain venues do get a lot of bad press. As usual its a mindless few that give the majority a bad name. Perhaps its about time that clubs up in the NE got together with help from the NFSA (local division in the first instance) to start looking at the issue of access to lost or potential access problem venues with a view to forging dialogue with owners such as the Port of Tyne and or other relevent docks/port authorities.

Given the high profile of angling in the UK now, many MP\'s will be more than just a little aware of the value of sea angling and the significant benefits it brings to local economies, not to mention the social benefits. Getting a few local MP\'s on board for such a meeting would give enormous clout when dealing with the local port authority, by putting them in a position whereby it would be difficult to refuse to attend a meeting with local MP\'s over angling issues such as access. In fact it would be a win win situation for all;

Anglers get to make their point and get constructive dialogue with the people who hold keys as it where.

The MP\'s are seen to be listening and proactive to a high profile stakeholder (more votes in the event they need them) on important local issues that will encourage participation in sport from the often disenfranchised youth, enhancing social harmony and at the same time delivering economic benefits.

The Port authority have an opportunity to get a monkey off their backs, and be seen to be responsive to the needs of the community.

There are often means and ways of solving some of the problems, the hardest part is sitting down and determining just what the issues really are, solutions can then be proposed.

I\'m sure that litter is amongst one of the issues if not one of the lesser problems, others are likely to be health and safety, which can be mitigated by a code of conduct, insurance etc.

Where there\'s a will theres a way, after all its not rocket science!!!!!

Cheers


Doc

[Edited on 9/11/2005 by Doc]