Welsh Canoe Association Campaign
I'm sure some of you will already have been sent this via email, but if not.
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Dear fellow anglers, fishery owners and interested parties,
I work closely with Moc Morgan of the Welsh Salmon & Trout Anglers' Association and Chris Bond of the Federation of Welsh Anglers.
As you probably know, the Welsh Canoe Association has been leading a campaign at the Welsh Assembly demanding that canoeists are given free and unfettered access to all parts of all Welsh rivers at all times of the year. The Petitions Committee recently more or less agreed with everything which the canoeists want and the matter has now been passed on to the influential Sustainability Committee.
A group of us have been working to try to stop such a change in the law taking place, in the knowledge that, in our view, such an influx of canoeists and kayakers would radically degade the unique ecology and tranquillity of Welsh rivers for ever. One of the measures we have taken is to draw up a Pledge of Support for signing by the public, to demonstrate to politicians the depth of support we think there is for our views amongst normal people and especially Welsh voters.
The text of this pledge is as follows:-
We, the undersigned, pledge our support to the laws covering the private ownership of Welsh rivers above the tide and consider that these laws should be maintained and respected. We think that canoeists and others who want to use these waters should enter into access agreements with riparian owners and be prepared to pay for their enjoyment of the use of such assets, in the same way that anglers do.
These pledge forms will be available for signing at the Royal Welsh Show, held by Builth Wells, next Monday to Thursday inclusive. I know it's a long journey for some, but, if you could try to get to the show for at least one day and encourage as many as possible of your club members / friends to go as well, this would help our cause enormously.
The forms will be in the following stands/tents: WS&TAA/FWA, Country Landowners Assoc, Countryside Alliance, Farmers Union of Wales, West Wales Tackle, Born to Hunt and Songbird Survival. On the first four of these we intend to have at least one volunteer by the forms explaining them to the public ... but we have rather a small band of active volunteers ! So - if you go to the show - could you, as well as signing the form, offer to take over for a while from whichever one of us is on the stand, to allow him or her to have a cup of tea and a bit of a respite. We are likely to be particularly short staffed on the Wednesday and Thursday on the CLA and CA stands. This would be very much appreciated !
Over the course of months on the internet, the canoeists managed a little under then thousand signatures on their e petition calling for 'open access'. If we could achieve 10k+ signatures in just four days our arguments would be greatly strengthened. I personally feel that, if enough of us present our views in a logical and reasoned manner and show that large numbers of the Welsh public are behind us, then we should not lose this argument. However, the canoeists are very well organised and very determined (as any scroll through their websites will show) - if we do nothing then we will almost certainly lose by default and then Welsh rivers will never be the same again.
With kind regards
Max Coventry
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www.gamefishingguide.co.uk
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Although I still believe we need more.
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