Netting of the Salcombe Estuary

[treefella]

Hi everyone

I know we are primarily a river fishing forum but a lot of us fish the sea and estuaries for bass and mullet. The Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority are proposing to open up the Salcombe Estuary to a six month fix net fishery from 1st October to 31st March each yea


www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk/formal-public-consultation-changes-to-the-netting-permit-conditions/


The consultation period runs from 1st December 2023 to 19th January 2024, there is no form to fill in you have to submit a written objection via e-mail or post.

I find the whole thing concerning and could lead to opening up every estuary in the south west to these measures. Only last October illegal nets found in the estuary killed 47 grey mullet and 17 bass

www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk/illegal-gill-net-recovered-from-salcombe-kingsbridge-estuary/

I hope many of you can post a short e-mail opposing this measure.

Many thanks

David

[johnesmithson]

Crazy. If allowed, there would also inevitably be a by-catch of the few migratory fish that are still running these rivers. I can't quite get my head around the concept of a 'recreational netting permit'! If you are using gill nets in an estuary it isn't just for sport or to feed your family. In my view, these estuaries should be declared SSIs, and netting suspended permanently.

[treefella]

The Salcombe/Kingsbridge estuary is a SSSI,I can't believe some of the statements in the document

"mortality rates of 18.8 percent of bass caught during the netting trials within the Salcombe estuary is acceptable"

"that sea trout are present at unknown scale, for feeding purposes"

So that would be sea trout form the rivers Dart,Teign,Avon,Erme,Yealm and they have audacity to call themselves a Conservation Authority.
I belive Natural England has jurisdiction over SSSIs so I will be sending them a email

[yeoman]

There are more than a few commercial fisherman opposed to this, which tells you all you need to know.

[terry]

Please forgive my ignorance but what are they trying to achieve by doing this. It seems contrary to what any thinking conservationist would want these days.

[johnesmithson]

An update: I followed Treefella's link at the top of the thread, and made contact with the Conservation Authority. Here is the reply I received today (unedited).



Good morning, Dr John Smithson.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to the formal consultation – The Review of the Netting Permit Conditions.

I can confirm receipt of your response which is one of many we have received. When the consultation ends on 19th January 2024, I will be reading through all the responses in more depth.

I will prepare a report for Members of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority’s (D&S IFCA’s) Byelaw and Permitting Sub-Committee (B&PSC) and for all stakeholders to examine via its publication on the D&S IFCA website.

The report will demonstrate how the formal consultation (Review of the Netting Permit Conditions) was conducted and will be a detailed summary of the responses received. The report will not contain any personal information. The report will provide the opportunity for stakeholders who responded in the formal consultation to see how their views were documented.

Your Question:

I did see a question in your own response which I can hopefully answer immediately.

Recreational netting is, as the word suggests, a hobby activity undertaken by some – we have over sixty people (permit holders) in our District that operate a net as a leisure activity, sometimes working it with friends or family members.

The same applies for potting as a hobby – under a different Byelaw (a Potting Permit) – with a maximum of 5 pots per permit holder, catch restrictions, catch for own consumption only etc.

Recreational netting is managed with a Category Two Netting Permit that contains restrictions – catch limits, net lengths, spatial conditions etc.

The recreational (Cat 2) Netting Permit Conditions are very restrictive with only one net of 25 metres permitted for use by each permit holder (at sea).

The catch, if anything is caught with nets of that length, cannot be sold (legally) and is therefore for own personal consumption.

The use of recreational fixed and drift nets is prohibited in all estuaries.

Next Steps, further Information and where to find it on our website:

The B&PSC will consider what changes to make to the Netting Permit Conditions at their next meeting in 2024.

The next B&PSC meeting is expected to take place in late February 2024, but the exact date has not yet been confirmed. When confirmed, the meeting date will be posted on our website. Information, including the formal consultation report, to be used at the next B&PSC meeting will be published before the B&PSC meeting takes place.

Our website provides access to all papers and reports presented to the B&PSC and the minutes from those meetings are also published. The information is available on the Authority Meetings Tab by opening the folders relating to specific B&PSC meetings. A larger collection of information, including minutes from meetings, can also be found in our website Resource Library (Section B), again by opening relevant folders.

Our website contains a range of information about our work including Latest News, found on the home page.

www.devonandsevernifca.gov.uk/

Your view is important, so thank you once again for engaging in this process.

Kind regards,

Neil.

[treefella]

There is a long post running on the World Of Sea Fishing forum with some interesting information


www.worldseafishing.com/threads/netting-threat-to-major-devon-estuary.42682317/

The Angling Trust and the Devon Wildlife Trust are opposing the proposal, I have sent emails to a lot of people and organisations,
Natural England has replied and said they are investigating.

[treefella]

From the Angling Trust . On the 4th January, we will be hosting an online angler engagement forum to present on our intended response to the consultation and conduct a Q&A. This will give you more information and advice on how you can respond to this consultation. You can sign up for this event via the following link:

events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d6f45e85-3302-475f-a7ad-a575ae15042d@7247e80e-4267-4086-a593-a3045dd9e505

[treefella]

The Angling Trust have also done a interview for BBC Spotlight which should aired this week.

[treefella]

Angling-Trust-consultation-response-DSIFCA-10012024.pdf

[treefella]

file:///C:/Users/dogbe/Downloads/Angling-Trust-consultation-response-DSIFCA-10012024%20(1).pdf

Angling Trust response ,can't get link to work

[treefella]

anglingtrust.net/2024/01/10/the-angling-trust-submits-its-response-to-the-ds-ifca-proposals-for-the-netting-of-salcombe-estuary/?fbclid=IwAR1fXVnWLY8ncpUwJQm-hgIpxvVJZqzCu7FpoiaAx16yAijKtD1hLCK0_hM

[treefella]

This week two members of Wyvern plus Grant Jones from the Angling Trust attended the big meeting at Exeter racecourse for the Devon and Severn ifcas vote on allowing netting to return into the Salcombe estuary for six months every year.

11 votes in favour of maintaining the prohibition of fixed and drift nets within the Salcombe Estuary.
2 votes against.
There will be no net fishery within Salcombe Estuary!
Congratulations to everyone of you that took the time to write into this consultation. Plus an amazing bit of work led by Grant Jones and all at the A T.

[boisker]

At least they reached the right outcome👍

[terry]

I was only wondering yesterday what the outcome of this was going to be.
For once common sense seemed to have prevailed.