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DIRECTOR'S REPORT FOR THE QUARTER ENDING 30th JUNE 2005

WEATHER : Reasonably settled and dry for the whole period, with winds rarely reaching gale force. Few fishing days were lost.

FISHING ACTIVITY
Trawlers and netters had surprisingly good catches of spring cod and rays - particularly from central and eastern regions. Numbers of smoothound were also apparent in Carmarthen Bay and to the east of Swansea by late May.

Small (20-25 cm) bass from the 2002 year-class were very prolific in inshore areas. The Bass Anglers Sportsfish Society are keen to see the Government capitalize upon the numbers by introducing new legislation to afford longer term protection.

In offshore areas very few larger bass were apparent. Partly this may have arisen from the prolonged presence of 'May' weed arising from still conditions and which made netting impossible. Reports of large numbers of bait-fish also might not have helped. As the summer progressed there were increasing reports of harbour porpoises, common dolphin and even fin whale perhaps confirming the presence of large amounts of fodder food.?

Molluscs
Whelk fishermen fished hard in Carmarthen bay and made good landings at c £600 per tonne. Some landings also took place at Fishguard (caught north and outside of the district) and Swansea Bay (of vessels having switched from trawling).

Cockles : Matters surrounding the cockle industry continued to dominate the Committee's work. The 2004 settlement in the Burry Inlet was extremely heavy and dense, but nevertheless appeared to grow on well; better perhaps than in the last 6 years - especially on the lower shores where emersion times were high.

Management actions centred on allowing licence holders to take cockle 'rouched' to the surface, as always happen in April/May, and in reducing cockle size where areas required thinning action as the cockles 'elbowed' their way to the surface.

At the end of May and again in mid June, smaller cockles (13-15mm in size) on dry higher ground rapidly began to die off, as noticeable by the growing presence of white shell. However, those lying within wetter sands or on the lower shore remained in good condition.

Licence holders searched out larger (19mm) cockle, fed on 'rouches' and generally became more active when the size was dropped to 17.5mm from 25th May.

In total around 250 tonnes of cockle was taken valued at c £150,000 averaged at £600 per tonne, but rouched small cockle was worth only £250 per tonne.

The Pembroke Dock cockle beds were opened, after much interagency debate, fortnightly on Wednesdays commencing on the 6th July. Being a small bed with very difficult access, no gatherers ventured forth at that time when opportunities existed elsewhere!

Cockle beds at Pendine (Ginst) and Cefn Sidan (North) were fished by up to 120 people (40 vehicles) from mid April to mid May taking c 130 tonnes and 150-200 tonnes respectively of excellent quality cockle.

Industry (100 gatherers) moved from larger cockle onto stocks of juveniles at Whiteford Point giving rise to management action to close that bed on 30th June. By this time 150-200 tonnes had been removed.

Mussel : Some fishing of adult stock took place at Pwll (for supply to Eire for fattening) and St Ishmaels. A total of c 23 tonnes worth £4,700 was taken.

CRUSTACEANS - Potting and netting commenced in earnest from April, assisted by the better weather conditions.

Spider crab were again present in numbers, to such an extent that by mid May merchants had put on their own limits, buying only the larger shellfish.

Good numbers of lobster were present including a large number in the 83-86 mm size range and below the Committee's 90mm carapace size. V-notched lobster from 2000/2001 was also present, and industry widely anticipated the introduction of the latest subsidized scheme. This was announced on 22nd April, but full implementation awaited the necessary introduction of administrative procedures.

Edible crab showed poorly across the district, but this is primarily a late season species in any case.

It is nice to see a few Crawfish (to 2.5kg) landed again in North Pembrokeshire.

Fishery Officer (North) replaced minimum size notices and set about informing the range of interested parties - both hobby and commercial, of the existence of shellfish limits.

GENERAL
The Master's report highlights the frustration of readying the FPV for sea following its protracted refit. In particular, successive failures of the new hydraulic Davit RIB launch system, and then of the hydraulic steering system. The latter was not new and obviously had not benefited from a period of inactivity. All were eventually sorted but not without a colossal amount of disruption and cost in time from April through to June end. Credit must go to the crew for their persistence and for sorting out some issues that various 'experts' had difficulty in fixing. As always, these matters have been costly on replacement equipment and downtime, and with liability most complex to determine. Putting all this behind us, the sparkling "new" vessel was rearing to go by the end of June - just as cockle enforcement issues were starting to occupy staffs' attentions!

The Marine Conservation Officer busied himself moving consecutively from cockle surveys to mussel, to whelk then back to cockles again in various locations, and was little to be seen of in the office!

Fishery Officer (Mid) commenced employment on14th February but gave Notice in early May. As agreed at Finance & General Purposes Working Group, a replacement has actively been sought with interviews scheduled for the 14th July.

Senior Fishery Officer went off sick from 27th June and Fishery Officer M Hamblin has acted up since that date.

The reduction of outstationed staff by two persons (of eight) will put immense pressure on services over the summer period in normal circumstances, let alone a period when Three Rivers cockle fishery, V-notching and FPV activities are expected to coincide at a heightened level.

NOTE : Some inspections are covered under more than one legislation and therefore can appear as more than one count in each period.

OUTSTANDING CASES - END MARCH 2005

CONCLUDED CASES - END JUNE 2005

DEFENDANTS
ALEXANDER DEREK CLARKE, 2 West Hill Crescent, Kidwelly, Carms.
GARETH JONES, Ger y Gwendraeth, Kidwelly, Carms.

CHARGES
Jointly used a drift net in the Three Rivers prohibited area.
(A further allegation concerning the contravention of the Bass Nursery byelaw was not proceeded with)

COURT SCHEDULE
25 April 2005; Carmarthen Magistrates Court; First call, defendants attend and enter guilty pleas.

PROSECUTION CASE
On Monday 11 October 2004 Senior Fishery Officer Haydn Morgan and Fishery Officer Mark Hamblin were on evening patrol in the Gwendraeth estuary when they observed a boat engaged in drift netting activity.

Having observed two nets being operated, the vessel and its two occupants were intercepted when they approached the slipway where they had left their vehicle and trailer. Both men admitted operating nets from the boat but claimed to be unsure about the details of the byelaws.

Two nets were seized from the vessel which was a registered and licensed boat based in Burry Port, in addition to a quantity of fish, the latter being sold into the food chain.

MITIGATION
The defendants were represented by the Court Duty Solicitor. It was claimed the byelaws were not widely known about and that the defendants were unclear about them. Further leniency was sought in respect of defendant Clarke who was approaching 75 years of age.

SENTENCE
Jones was fined £150 and ordered to pay £40 costs (full application).
Clarke was fined £60 and ordered to pay £40 costs (full application).
Forfeiture orders were made in respect of the nets (thought to be worth c £400) for destruction; and for the fish, the £71.76 proceeds from which were ordered to be paid to the Ferryside St. John's Ambulance sponsored inshore lifeboat.