ntznewsarchive

"Cornwall County Council does not intend to pursue any of the options set out in the consultation document. In the future, significant new information may become available or there may be majority local support for a community-led Marine Protected Area of some form, which may cause the County Council to reconsider its position"

26 Jan 05
Draft Report - Consultation Document

The have received a pdf file of the Draft Report into the findings of the recent consultation document. This was sent to us anonymously and who ever sent it we thank you. We were rather hoping CCC would officially publish the draft document !

Please send any comments on the report direct to CCC. It is a fairly large file approx 500kb but it is well worth the read.

Isn't it amazing how you can present statistics!!

The link for this file is >> more

can be accessed from the 'Home' page (under recent news)

16 Jan 05
Sea Angler Magazine
Sea Angler Magazine are doing an full article on the Whitsand Bay NTZ issue. It is understood that this will be in the next issue, publish date around the 18 January.

1 Jan 05
Proposed Visit by Owen Paterson MP, Shadow Fisheries Minister

Owen Paterson MP, is visiting us on 12th January 2005 to launch the Conservative Green Paper on Fisheries Management. It is understood that the paper and takes a very strong view on the importance of the Angling Fraternity.

During his visit he would very much like to meet as many Anglers as possible to hear their views and Rame Head seems to be the ideal spot ! The time of the visit to Rame will be 13.45hrs.

This is an ideal opportunity to highlight issues to someone who can raise issues with the minister directly on our behalf and it is important that we can get many people there to bring things to his attention. Please email us if you can attend at:

ntz@whitsandbay.org

24 November 2004
Response from the NFSA
See response

"We have at long last received a response from the NFSA. Comments from NFSA members gratefully received"

18 November 2004
Letter from Rame Parish Council to Cornwall County Council
dated 17 November 2004

"Although several of the above Council’s members have responded individually to the consultation documents in relation to the above, it was the unanimous wish of Council that I write to express our total rejection of the proposals to make Whitsand Bay a No Take Zone and further to request Cornwall County Council to express condemnation of DEFRA in issuing a dumping licence which this Council believe is being detrimental to marine life due to the increasing silt from the said dumping"

18 November 04
Letter From Colin Breed MP - South East Cornwall
Full Letter

"It is my view that the County Council should now abandon its current proposals and go back to the drawing board and try to produce a revised scheme which would be much smaller in area and which would take into account some of the commercial and angling criticisms which have been made, both at the meeting and in correspondence"

16 November 04
BASS Management Plan
www.anglers-net.co.uk/sacn/latest

Take a look at this document, which is claimed to be outstanding in its vision, depth and comprehensiveness, details proposals drawn up by B.A.S.S. for presentation to the UK government via DEFRA, for the future management of UK bass stocks, concentrating on the needs of the UK Recreational Sea Angling Sector. Comments gratefully received which I will forward on to B.A.S.S. Takes a while to download but well worth it.

13 November 04
Martin Salter MP, Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling

Martin Salter MP in his capacity as Parliamentary spokesman for angling, has written to all of the Cornish and Plymouth MP's and fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw asking them to investigate the situation and to see what can be done to protect Sea Angling in this important area. We are deeply grateful to Martin for taking this action in a week where he has had the apalling tragedy in his constituency of the fatal crash involving a Plymouth train.

12 November 2004
Sheryll Murray, County Councillor, Rame Electoral Division.

"I proposed that Caradon District Council write to Cornwall County Council requesting the suspension of the Consultation Exercise and shelving of the project as I have now been given a mandate to oppose this project from my electorate. This was agreed to unanimously by the Panel"

11 November 2004, Plymouth Evening Herald.
Hundreds pack meeting on 'no take' zone
TEMPERS FLARE ON FISHING BAN PLAN. See More

11 November 2004
Press release 11th November, South East Cornwall Conservatives:
See More

10 November 2004
Sheryll Murray, County Councillor, Rame Electoral Division.

After a public meeting at Fourlanesend Primary School this evening, Where there was overwhelming vote against the Marine Sanctuary in Whitsand Bay by the people from Rame Electoral Division, I would like to confirm that I will oppose the introduction of any form of Marine Sanctuary, Protected Area or No Take Zone.

It was made perfectly clear that the general public wish Whitsand Bay to remain as it always has been and I will do my best to ensure this happens.

Any attempt to introduce a Marine Sanctuary, Protected Area or No Take Zone I will vote against.

10 November 2004
Public Meeting with CCC Officials

The meeting was held at Fourlanesend School and the school hall was filled to bursting point. It was estimated that in excess of 300 people were present at the meeting with others struggling to gain entry. The meeting was chaired by CC Sheryl Murray and Presentations of the proposals were given by CCC officials Phillipa Hoskin and Steve Crummay. The officials stressed that the options under consideration did not affect shore angling in any way although boat angling and commercial fishing was potentially impacted to varying degrees. It was accepted that the document contained errors.

There was wide spread anger and resentment from all at the meeting who felt that this this proposal was totally 'anti-angling, anti-fishing and did not represent the best interests of the Rame Peninsula. The CCC proposals were against the emerging policy on Angling as published in section 8 of the DEFRA report 'Review of Marine Fisheries and Environmental Enforcement' which recognises the economic and social benefits that angling brings, particularly to an area like the Rame Peninsula. The Plymouth aquarium came in for particular criticism. Bill Hockin of Looe Fishermans association denied he was supportive of the proposals, far from it, and stated that the majority of people in Looe were not supportive. A speaker who had attended an earlier workshop at Looe stated the there was a 60:40 vote against the proposals and not as presented by CCC. Mike Millman British Conger Club and Journalist severely criticised the proposals. All were suspicious of the motives behind the issue.

The meeting lasted approximately 2 hours after which a vote was taken on the No Take Zone proposal with the result that only 5 were in favour and an estimated 300 plus rejecting the the proposal in any form. A vote by the residents of the Rame peninsula was a 100% rejection of the No Take Zone proposal.

7 November 2004
Compare the comment in the 'On the Record Section' from Chris Venmore (Chairman of Devon Sea Fisheries Committee) with those received form Cornwall County Council. Full article Fishing News 29 Oct 04. Note also the comments from the Bradley report.

7 November 2004
We are starting to get some serious support from many and varied quarters. A particular thank you to Keith Arthur (Tightlines and Talk Sport) and Danny Williamson (who is the N.F.A. Senior Coach, S.West & S.Wales Region Coarse and Sea) for raising awareness of this issue. Note Keith's and Danny's comments in the 'On the Record' section of the site.

27 October 2004
Clarification has been provided on certain aspects of the Consultation Document by Mrs Sheryll Murray CC and is published on the On The Record section of the site. In particular note the comments relating to Angling from the shore. Note, however, the following paragraph contained in the consultation document:

"7. Will angling from the boat or shore or spearfishing be allowed in the area?
No. There must be one rule for all. Therefore no removal of fish or shellfish by any means. However, depending on which landward boundary option is preferred by respondents to this consultation, voluntary catch and release from the shore may be permitted for anglers, in a similar way to existing restrictions for Bass Nursery Areas"

26 October 2004
Local workshop/ Public Meeting now confirmed. It will be held on
Wed 10 Nov at Fourlanesend School, Cawsand commencing at 7.00 pm.
It is essential that all anglers, fisherman, local business and others with an interest in this issue attend this important meeting.

18 October 2004
Plymouth Evening Herald: "Bay could be a no-go for anglers"
Quotes from the article: Joan Bryant of Cawsand said "I have no vested interest in fishing, but I have lived in the area all of my life and know the pleasure that fishing from beaches, rocks and boats gives to many people". Bob Tetley "Compared with commercial fishing, sport angling does minimal damage to fish stocks and the marine environment, and little would be gained and much lost by banning angling in this huge area"

14 October 2004
Consultation period extended to end Nov 2004:
Rame Parish Council lend their support by requesting a Workshop in the Local Area