I've just been informed that the EA have refused to continue with the net buy-out on the River Camel for 2010.
The following is the content of an e-mail sent to the Camel Fisheries Association on Friday 7th May
"
I would like to come back to you formally regarding my request at the CFA AGM on 28th April for the CFA to fund the camel estuary net buy out this year.
I was concerned that we did not get the opportunity to discuss this issue more at the meeting as I consider it to be one of the most important actions that we can undertake to benefit the River Camel salmonid stock and its rod fishery. We have negotiated a buy-out with the River Camel netsmen since 2004 and have, until now, been successful in obtaining funding from various sources to support it. As I pointed out at last years AGM , funding is getting more difficult to obtain and we were very grateful for the CFA offer of £2000 for the buy-out. However, as you now know, we did finally manage to secure funds from elsewhere hoping that your contribution could rolled over and added to this years funding pot.
As a consequence of recent additional budget cuts and restrictions, our funding opportunities for this year have now been exhausted. As a result, if we are to continue with the buy-out, we will require an alternative source of funding. Clearly, as the main beneficiaries of the buy-out, my final option is to come back to you and request that the buy out this year is funded in full by the CFA. For future years, it would seem sensible to consider putting a funding proposition to the Camel angling clubs and riparian interests to support the buy-out and the hatchery in future years. With at least 600 anglers potentially fishing the river Camel both on club and private water, this should be both affordable and achievable. I would be very happy to support the CFA on this if you wish to take this option. If there is difficulty in apportioning cost to the clubs and riparian interests, a fair and equitable way to do this could be based on either catches or membership- either way, ensuring that those who have potential to benefit would seem a fair way of dividing the required contribution.
Below, I have set out some points that I think justifies the buy out as a "Must Do" and priority action for the Camel Fisheries Association:-
* The buy-out enables healthy, wild returning adult salmon and 2 to 3lb+ sea trout to enter and move through the river camel estuary with minimal exploitation in the period from 1 June to 1 July and with no exploitation from 1 July to the End of August. Above, I have attached a graph of the salmon and sea trout net catches that have historically been made in the camel estuary pre the 2004 buy-out period. Historically, 67% of the total salmon net catch was taken in July and August.
* Rod catches on the River Camel between the period 2004 to 2009 have been very good and stand out within SW Region. Although the net buy-out is not the only action which contributes to salmon production on the River Camel, it must make a very significant contribution to rod catches in the summer and early autumn -see attached graph.
* Salmon delayed in the estuary under low summer flows are particularly vulnerable to licensed netting and this risk needs to be considered especially if we get a series of dry summers.
* The CFA are undertaking and running a hatchery programme. All of the efforts to produce salmon smolts and subsequent returning adults will be potentially benefiting the net fishery if the nets are allowed to resume. I think it is highly unlikely that the net fishery will wish to contribute to the hatchery scheme in future years.
* If the net fishery resumes this year, it is likely that the price of wild, legally caught salmon will command a premium price (up to £30 per pound). With a number of notable restaurant businesses in and around Padstow, I believe there is a direct market for any locally caught wild salmonids. This will drive an increase in exploitation effort and make it more difficult and costly to negotiate with the netsmen in the future.
* The cost of the buyout for 6 nets is approximately £8,400. The cost:benefit of the buy-out is very significant to the rod fishery when you consider the numbers of fish that could be taken by the nets and the efforts and costs required to produce this number of fish through alternative in river actions including the hatchery.
* You will be aware that in our NLO negotiations, our position with Defra was that the salmon stock on the Camel was sustainable. As such, there was no evidence or justification to reduce the current number of nets on the basis of stock sustainability. It is highly unlikely that there will be any justifiable reduction in netting effort agreed with Defra unless there is also some reduction in rod and line effort at some point in the future and this is unlikely to change until 2017. A buy-out is therefore the only option to benefit the rod fishery in this interim period.
IF FUNDING CANNOT BE FOUND BY THE END OF MAY THEN WE WILL HAVE NO OPTION BUT TO ABANDON THE BUYOUT ARRANGEMENT - This will undoubtedly have an influence on the rod fishery both in the short and longer term.
I hope that you can share this with your committee and club chairmen urgently and discuss whether you can fund the buy-out that we can negotiate for you this year. I am very happy to meet with you all again if you think it requires further discussion . We really need a reply back on this by the end of next week and certainly need to be in a position to go back to the netsmen by the end of the w/b 17th May.
Alternatively, if the CFA feel that they could negotiate a deal with the 6 Camel nets men directly, then we would be very happy to offer this over to you.
I look forward to hearing from you
Kind regards "
I've left the headers and footers off as it's a public forum, but wanted you all to be aware as soon as possible.
---------- Post added at 03:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:27 PM ----------
This is a quote from one member of the CFA
"Hi All,
I thought you all ought to see this attached message from the EA.
To me it is v close to blackmail , as we (the anglers) have all worked , and invested in the river.These efforts have ensured good runs of fish and therefore the river continues to meet its conservation targets. However, because of this, DEFRA/EA have renewed the netting licences. Catch22!
Grateful for your thoughts."
To which my initial reply was:
"My initial thoughts on this for what they're worth; (not very structured but I'll think about it more)
Ideally this should be opened up for discussion to the wider membership of the clubs, as they need to have a say too via their secretaries.
It seems to me that the net issue will remain a seeping wound until it is dealt with properly.
It is not sustainable to provide income, infrastructure, volunteer effort, stock enhancement and encouragement to net fishermen to maintain their interests in the long-term. We face the prospect of the EA using this Sword of Damocles approach in any future negotiations year after year, unless they are stopped dead in their tracks now. Really it’s a question of who blinks first, unfortunately in past years we did. If we do we pay fully now, we pay fully forever and have no means of removing the nets permanently. Every effort we make from now on will be to enhance the value of netting licenses as outlined by the EA. The sad part of this is that we would be achieving this increase in net value through deluding volunteers and donors into believing they are safeguarding the future for salmonids in the Camel. All we will be doing is adding more value to the nets.
We need to adopt a position that there will be no benefit for the netsmen if they do not contribute to the hatchery and that this in turn should be abandoned if the net buy-out is not funded by the EA. The funding saved could then be diverted to the net buy-out and we could continue to focus on river improvement instead. It is apparent that the EA and DEFRA will not remove the netsmen’s privilege until the stocks crash and their e-mail is actively endorsing that position. However the EA is in no legal position to allow the stocks to actually crash.
If we ever wanted proper proof of the value of the hatchery then this is the perfect opportunity. If the hatchery is stopped and the nets return, we will have a perfect 'proof' of the adverse effect of netting on the Camel. Judging by the smolt run this year this could be immediately following a bumper year in 2012. Given that the rod catch figures for 2009 have more than halved in the figures given in their e-mail this would appear to be the worst possible time for the EA to try to pull a stunt like this.
There is every likelihood the EAW will be on the receiving end of a campaign later this year which will be calling for the removal of the EAW from enforcement and involvement in Wales and replacement by rivers boards (full-circle anyone?). If the EA fail to support the fishermen of Cornwall then there is no reason left why we should not support this openly. Perhaps we need to be seen calling for an extension of the Welsh Jurisdiction to cover Cornwall and Devon due to our close involvement through shared feeding grounds etc. The fact that this will not succeed is irrelevant, it is merely a tool for nationally highlighting the dissatisfaction with the EA in the SW and a good peg to hang new stories on and gain access to coverage for further leverage to be applied through the press.
Unlike the EA we have no statutory obligation to support the salmon stocks in the Camel, however to date we have chosen to voluntarily assist the EA with their statutory obligations to improve and maintain the quality of the river salmonids and their habitat. If the EA do not want to assist us by defending our voluntary efforts, then we really would have little option but to withdraw our assistance to the EA and cease all river improvement. We could not justify calling on volunteers to provide their time and labour gratis, while the netsmen contribute nothing and the EA stand by and allow the stocks to be hammered. To continue to ask people to help in those circumstances would be to defraud them of their time and money by pretending there was any long-term good to come from their freely given efforts.
In order to enable future protests to take place we should simultaneously remove any obligation on members to hold a current EA license in order to remain members. Obviously we would need to state that no member is allowed to fish without a license, but we need to ensure that an EA license ‘strike’ could be mounted at the start of next season. Perhaps we need to encourage members to hold –off buying a license until May 2011 for the ST fishermen and until at least June 16th 2011 for the salmon only people.
In summary I see no alternative but to call their bluff even if it means setting back the improvement work of years to do so. They are trying to use our attachment to sunk effort as a lever for future increasing costs being imposed on us. We pay our licence fee for the EA to fulfill their statutory role, if further funding is needed, then it should be through this licence fee not on local an arbitrary taxation which the EA are not empowered to levy in the first place. If they feel they have a legal ground for imposing local taxes, then they need to clarify the basis for this belief nationally."
Apart from the fact that we can't fund it anyway my initial thoughts centre around the EA clearly outlining the benefits and acknowleging the importance of the work being done, but then being prepared to abandon the protection of those works. Surely if they need more funding to meet their obligations, then they need to access this nationally, through the licence fee and government funding. They 're not empowered to raise local taxes to meet their obligations.
It will be a shame to have to let the hatchery go, but it was only there to restore the damage done by netting so if the netting's allowed back then it'll have to go as we'd just be feeding the monster if we carried on. There's also no point in maintaining the river improvement works as these benefits will be swamped by the netting in the estuary. I couldn't be party to conning people into believing the should give their time and money freely to netting industries.
It's sad to say we're looking at a wilful act of environmental vandalism by the EA here, as certified by their attempt to hold a sword of Damacles over the anglers who already give more than they should. The only hint of positive is that once the stocks do crash-out then we'll be able to obtain a permenant ban from DEFRA and begin to pick up the pieces in a decade or so.
Not Happy
Mr Curmudgeonly Of Cornwall
EA to cease funding net buy-out on the River Camel in Cornwall
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