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Dear All
It is timely to update the industry of recent developments.
In accordance with changes made in recent
years, find enclosed your vessel permit for 2004 which is now renewed
automatically provided catch return forms have been received for
the full year.
i.e. For crustaceans (Class 1) or Molluscs (Class II) returns for
January - April (due May), May - August (due September), September
- December (due by the end of January).
For whitefish (Class III) an annual statement of catches from the
SWSFC District.
If your permit for 2004 is not enclosed it is most likely that our
records show that some returns are outstanding. Please contact Margaret
to ascertain the position, whereupon a permit for 2004 can be issued.
If there are any changes of ownership
or to the vessel or fishing takes place for other species, you must
inform the SWSFC office to enable the permit to be amended.
Please therefore check the details on
the vessel permits as soon as they are issued to ensure that they
meet your fishing requirements. This is your obligation, and inaccurate
details may otherwise render a permit invalid.
Find enclosed catch return graphs for
shellfish for 2002 based upon the returns you have previously supplied.
If there appears to be any errors or omissions, please let us know.
Some progress has at last been made in
resolving a funding formula. On the 30 November NAW backdated a
new formula to 1 April, allowing Rhondda Cynon Taff County Borough
Council to depart after 6 years of trying.
SWSFC finances remain very stretched, and reserves are being eaten
into at a rate of nearly £70,000 per year. The new Environmental
duties on the Committee in assessing fisheries actions are now very
burdensome (see Item 8) and a new post of 'Marine Conservation Officer'
was filled in July 2003 in order to make some progress without which
it would be difficult to issue authorisations for some fishing operations.
FPV Cranogwen is now 17 years old, but replacement was anticipated
at c 10 years of age. It was not possible to take up the £1
million EU grant aid offered because sources of match funding were
not available. Accordingly a refit is planned for early 2004 utilising
a lower level of EU aid. Inevitably this represents only an extension
in vessel life.
Vessel staffing has been restructured over recent years and will
hopefully be able to make a greater presence felt, particularly
as a refurbished vessel should offer greater reliability.
In September DEFRA announced the appointment
of James Bradley to undertake a 'Review of Marine Fisheries and
Environmental Enforcement Arrangements in England and Wales' on
behalf of UK Fisheries and NAW Ministers.
Following on from the Salmon and Fresh Water Fisheries Review, National
Audit Review of DEFRA Sea Fisheries Inspectorate and Cabinet Officer
Review (reporting January) this particular review is significant
and will most likely shape future fisheries management in Wales.
You are invited, indeed recommended, to provide comments A.S.A.P.
- visit www.defra.gov.uk.
Notices have already been circulated
to local papers and placed in local ports, and been sent to known
active whelk fishermen indicating the renewal of the closed season
for taking whelks from within the SWSFC district between 1 January
and 14 February inclusive.
Fishing vessels which genuinely become
involved in an incident which risks jeopardising their safety should
endeavour to contact either the SWSFC (office or Fishery Protection
Vessel), Maritime Coastguard Agency or DEFRA Sea Fisheries Inspectorate
office where their calls will be logged and support offered.
The SWSFC can properly take this into account in the consideration
of whether to commence prosecution actions in cases of alleged fishing.
Such procedures are already adopted within other Sea Fisheries Committee
districts.
This guidance has been circulated in the light of recent events
relating to oversized beam trawlers found to be within the SWSFC
district.
The last meeting of the Advisory Committee
requested that Countryside Council for Wales commence discussion
with interested parties (particularly fishermen, sea anglers, and
other local people) on the possibility of establishing a 'No Take
Zone' of some description (A copy CCW Press Release is enclosed).
Such discussions (and they are only this) are yet to be fully established.
They follow the setting up of a statutory No Take Zone in part of
Lundy MNR by Devon SFC, and various voluntary initiatives elsewhere.
The SWSFC has no firm view on the matter at this stage but has said
that it is willing to participate in discussions and receive proposals.
It is recognised that environmental benefits may arise at some cost,
the extent of which will depend upon a range of circumstances. Interested
parties should make their views known to CCW copied to SWSFC. A
student at Cardiff University has also been seeking the views of
interested parties following liaison with CCW and SWSFC.
The Government Review of Marine Nature Conservation (MNCR) has established
a pilot project for the Irish Sea (defined as running south to St
Govan's Head). A draft of the proposals is set for release in January,
but is understood to also suggest options for 'No Take Zones' in
the Irish Sea.
As previously reported, these include
cSACs (Special Areas of Conservation) and SPAs (Special Protection
Areas for birds). Extensive areas of sea within Pembrokeshire and
Carmarthen Bay are now covered by these European Conservation designations
(see map). They augment National measures on land (e.g. NNR, SSSI).
The above MNCR is looking in part at the possibility of establishing
a network of marine sites of national importance to cover species
/ habitats not listed within European legislation.
Bodies with management powers such as SFCs, WAG, DEFRA, Local authorities,
Environment Agency, Countryside Council for Wales are known as 'competent'
or 'relevant' authorities and have a statutory duty to use their
powers so as to manage activities in SACs/SPAs within their control
in such a manner that they have no 'significant impact' upon the
feature for which the sites have been designated.
This legislation is onerous for all the bodies involved, not least
of which those who manage activities at sea. CCW, for its part,
has to draw up an itinerary of species and habitats throughout each
designated site and identify their conservation importance and vulnerability.
Many questions remain unanswered by government and which are of
relevance to Fisheries regulators and the fishing industry, e.g.
Are fishermen the developers? To what extent are environmental impact
assessments required before fishing takes place and who should pay
for them (fishermen or regulators)? Where do the resources for research
/ compliance monitoring come from? What happens in the meanwhile?
How is 'significance' assessed? Where does the 'Precautionary Approach'
fit in? To what extent are socio-economic considerations taken into
account and by whom?
It is easy for the fishing industry to 'switch off' and assume that
the legislation effects 'Somebody else'. However this is not the
case, and increasingly such decisions are impacting upon fishing
opportunity; for example, on the collection of mussel seed, on establishing
Several Orders (laying areas), on dredging for oysters, fishing
for cockles, etc.
Perhaps the most topical and noteworthy recent example is, the decision
by SWSFC in 1999 to allow (under strict monitoring and rules) the
deep dredging of razor fish (Ensis species) in the district.
The decision at the time met with concern by the fishing industry
that the SWSFC had been 'too precautionary'. Environmental interests
claimed the action had not been precautionary enough and lodged
a complaint with the European Commission against UK government.
A subsequent so called EU 'Reasoned Opinion' from the Commission
concluded that further prior impact assessment was required before
fishing took place, and SWSFC are trying to be progress matters
to enable this.
Government (WAG) acted by putting in place a 'Stop Order' on dredging
for bivalves in 2003. This failed to adequately address either the
method or the area and is believed to be in the process of further
revision to encompass more wide ranging fishing methods and other
sites beyond Carmarthen Bay and conservation interests beyond Scoter
Duck.
So clearly, if there is to be an inshore fishing industry of any
significance in Wales then the industry, fisheries regulators, Government
and its conservation advisers (CCW) require to urgently resolve
the above issues and implications.
DEFRA are introducing a shellfish licensing
scheme from 1 April 2004 (1 January for >10 metre vessels). The
Committee have been long time supporters of an appropriate scheme,
but have concerns regarding the current proposals.
A briefing paper is attached for those shellfish fishermen who have
submitted catch returns in 2002, and is available to others upon
request.
Following discussion with industry and WAG (Fisheries), SWSFC has
agreed to set up a meeting of interested parties at a date / venue
to be decided, probably in February 2004.
DEFRA (Inspectorate) and WAG will hopefully be able to answer questions
on the scheme as it stands, and SWSFC will wish to raise with them
and industry options for further local management.
We propose to co-ordinate attendance of key representatives via
the South & West Wales Fishing Communities Ltd on a port representative
basis, and to invite also representatives from other associations
in Wales and the NW&NWSFC.
If you have any views on the enclosed
document or wish to discuss the matter further, please contact the
SWSFC office. Similarly if you would like to attend but are not
a member of the above Association please let us know and we can
mail further details at a later date.
SHELLFISH CATCH RETURNS DEFRA/CEFAS
have not yet put out any guidance on the collation of statistical
returns under the National scheme. It is anticipated that returns
to SWSFC for 2004 will be supplied to CEFAS/DEFRA and will meet
CEFAS requirements, meaning that only one set of returns will be
required. The matter will be reviewed in 2004.
2003 was, for us, as busy as ever. 2004 looks like following in
the same vein. It remains for me to wish you good fortune for the
year to come from all at SWSFC.
P J COATES
Director
23/12/03
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