THE ROD AND LINE (SALMON AND SEA TROUT) BYELAWS 2017

THE WALES NET FISHING (SALMON AND SEA TROUT) BYELAWS 2017

JOHN EARDLEY Personal Background • Strategy Officer - Campaign for the Protection of Welsh Fisheries • Local Fisheries Advisory Group Representative - Prince Albert Angling Society • Secretary - Clwyd, Conwy & Gwynedd Rivers Trust. • Track record of working in partnership with NRW, its predecessors and other partners including: i. Obtaining broodstock for the Mawddach Hatchery ii. Stocking out of juveniles from the Mawddach Hatchery iii. Active participation and partnership working in both habitat improvement schemes and the management of invasives. iv. Water Framework Directive (WFD) Meirionydd Catchment Plan element of the Western Wales River Basin Management Plan. Although I am a visiting angler, I present my evidence with the full backing and support of the 2 major angling clubs and vast majority of riparian owners on the & Afon Wnion in the area. Are the measures proposed in the byelaws necessary, proportionate and reasonable in view of fish stocks throughout Wales? “Salmon Fishing is not, and never can be, an exact science, because the fish enter fresh water to breed, not to feed. The art of catching them cannot be learnt from fact or fancy – though inevitably each fisherman has his own theories – what really counts is experience.”

Arthur Oglesby – SALMON

“What do they know of fishing who know only one fish and one way to fish for him?”

Jack Hargreaves - FISHING FOR A YEAR • Rod and line angling is a relatively inefficient way of fishing, particularly as it is widely accepted that salmon, and to a great extent seatrout, do not feed in freshwater

• In the case of both netting and illegal methods of fishing, the fish have no choice in whether they are caught or not.

• Fishing for more than 40 years in a small clear river such as the Afon Wnion gives an insight into fish behaviour that will never be revealed to anglers on larger rivers • Salmon may take for a variety of reasons including aggression, a trigger from their past or curiosity. • Often they will simply “nudge” a lure or bait without taking it into their mouth • There will be many days/weeks when fish show no interest whatsoever in a lure or bait and nothing is caught (by legitimate angling) even if there are large numbers of salmon in the river. • There will be certain conditions which are favourable but these can be relatively short lived. • Never are all the fish in a shoal caught by legitimate angling. Even if the most expert anglers were to fish every waking hour it would be impossible to inflict the type of damage on a river suggested by statements such as “Neither species can sustain uncontrolled killing of fish”. • With the reduced angling effort that we are currently witnessing it becomes ever less likely that anglers are going to endanger the stocks of salmon in a river During the NRW Board Meeting at Canolfan Cae Cymro, Clawdd Newydd on 9th July 2015, Board Member Professor Lynda Warren made the point that the introduction of the national spring salmon measures in 1999, which requires all rod caught salmon to be released prior to June 16th, had done nothing to address declining stocks and therefore how were these proposals going to achieve anything different?

The response was “We don’t know how much worse it would have been”

The most significant words being “We don’t know…………………………” The River Tyne has been restored from heavy pollution to become the most prolific Salmon River in England and Wales, routinely responsible for around 25% of the total number of rod caught salmon. During the 2017 season 3357salmon were caught on rod and line A MAFF document reveals that between 1951 and 1961 the total rod catch was 59 salmon! There is ongoing debate as to what extent it was habitat improvement or stocking from the Kielder Hatchery that was responsible for this improvement One thing is certain however. Catch & Release would have played no part whatsoever. To suggest that without a legislative approach Salmon will disappear from Welsh Rivers is not supported by the figures from the Tyne The NRW 2014 “Know Your River” document for the Mawddach states that “the Salmon rod catch – release rate in 2014 was 72%. This is excellent and needs to continue to improve to conserve stocks. The North Wales average is 64%.”

In 2017 the release rate had increased to 86.5%, largely through education and cooperation by angling clubs and riparian owners alike.

At this point, the introduction of Mandatory Catch & Release cannot realise any worthwhile benefits particularly as an increase in illegal activity will result in greater losses. The motivating factors for anglers to pick up a fishing rod and head to the river to try to catch a salmon is no longer as simple as it once was.

Unfortunately what NRW are failing to grasp is that Mandatory C&R drives anglers away and this was perhaps best illustrated at the joint Dee & Gwynedd LFAG held at Coed y Brenin visitor centre on Tuesday 24th November 2015 when NRW’s Principal Fisheries Advisor stated, that anglers would continue to fish because they are already putting 80% of their fish back anyway.

This completely misses the point! Anglers will fish and return most, and in some cases all, of their fish but when they are told that they cannot even retain one fish, the majority stop fishing altogether. We have been contacted by Laurence Hutchinson (Director of Freshwater Solutions) who is an expert in the field of aquatic ecology. In his evidence, which is included within the CPWF documentation, he points out that NRW’s proposals are counterproductive to the recovery of our rivers.

“Removing fish from the river takes the pressure off the remaining fish population also competing for diminished ecological resources. The reduction of inter-specific competition in this case has its benefits and should not be ignored. It would appear that the rod fishermen, coracles and the remaining nets are allowing these small populations of fish to survive and are not in fact the cause of their decline as the NRW claims” The effectiveness of barbless hooks, methods etc.

The more difficult we make it to hook and land a salmon, the fewer anglers there will be on our rivers. Therefore decisions must be (to quote NRW) “underpinned by sound and quality-assured evidence” and not based on the opinion of someone who has no real experience of the issue in question.

The “occasional” local angler is one of the first to be affected

Proposed examples of ill informed method restrictions would include: Applying additional and complicated restrictions on Rapalas (and their equivalent) when simply debarbing the existing hooks will achieve the desired outcome

“Each autumn a specified number of adult Salmon and Sea trout were brought into the Mawddach and other hatcheries in Wales specifically for spawning purposes. The hatcheries operated a very strict protocol where only the best quality fish in terms of their physical condition were accepted. One of the methods of capture for these broodstock was by rod fishing with lure. This method of capture became the preferred way of capturing broodstock because these fish were always in top quality condition on arrival at the hatchery.” Keith J Scriven (Former Manager Mawddach & Maerdy Hatcheries) Ill-informed assumptions on worm fishing methodology which gives rise to greater risk to juvenile salmonids and does not take into account the loopholes that arise when anglers can simply claim that they are fishing for another species (in the unlikely event that anyone would ever check). Furthermore the approach to worm fishing can vary considerably from one area of a river to another, let alone between different rivers. The suggestion that allowing shrimp fishing from the 1st September to 7th October (5 weeks) is a reasonable concession to less able anglers when an artificial shrimp pattern can be fished on a fly rod from March 1st to October 31st (34 weeks) by someone who is more able bodied. The reasoning that this avoids the risks associated with higher water temperatures in summer shows a total lack of knowledge of those many North Wales Rivers which have gorge pools that are well oxygenated and where a combination of small surface area relative to volume and extensive riparian shade has a major influence on restricting summer water temperatures.

Also, shrimp fishing is acknowledged by all, including NRW, as the least damaging to the fish, most being lightly hooked near the front of the mouth, and is likely to produce the highest survival rates Restrictions on hook types and sizes when there is so much variation between manufacturers and patterns

“The fishing restriction byelaw (Byelaw 13 as advertised) was withdrawn. We took a very close look at all of the responses we received back and I made the call that, although the intention was sound, the delivery was flawed. To prohibit flying Cs and other methods was impossible to set out legally. The intention to fish with care and empathy cannot be set out in a byelaw and, we have made the decision to proceed with improving angler handing, equipment, methods and (I hope) the ultimate safe release of salmon through codes of practice.”

Heidi Stone

National Salmon Programme Manager Environment and Business Directorate, Environment Agency 60cm slot size for Sea Trout

• I note that NRW has decided that there is no need to legislate to protect small sea trout (although anglers would universally accept the raising of the size limit) as they have decided that anglers already return most of these fish anyway.

• Personal experience would suggest that the vast majority of anglers already return 60cm+ seatrout and therefore what evidence is there to suggest that this legislation is necessary?

• When collecting seatrout broodstock for the Mawddach Hatchery we were told that 60cm+ fish were regarded as less fertile than their smaller counterparts and I therefore cannot help but question the rationale behind this proposal. Statistical Data

At a meeting with NRW senior fisheries staff in Shrewsbury on the 15th February 2018, there was agreement that no-one in the room had any idea, even to the nearest 200, how many salmon had entered the Mawddach during the 2017 season. The heavy peat stain and nature of the pools makes fish spotting all but impossible whilst the scarcity of anglers means that rod catches in no way reflect the stock of the river. The NRW 2018 juvenile surveys revealed that the results for both salmon and sea trout parr and fry were the “best on record”. In short the NRW stock assessments do not reflect the true state of the river.

NRW Fisheries Bulletin – January 2019 The annual sites on the Ogwen, Seiont, Gwyrfai, Llyfni, Glaslyn and Dwyryd were all good compared to the historic data for both salmon and trout. The Dwyfor and Dysynni were poor for salmon compared to the historic data, however the trout numbers were good. The• At Mawddach the same meetingcatchment NRW had senior some staff very acknowledged positive results that since with they the had only spent one day between them on the river during the last 5 years, and that the fisheries team is so severely depleted, that our knowledge of the river is greater than Wnion and Mawddach having their best results on record for both theirs. Given the current financial restraints, partnership working is the only sensible option. Unfortunately the salmonintransigent and trout. nature Fishing of NRW’s efficiency stance iswill blocking have beenthis most improved obvious at of both paths. these sites as the high temperatures increase conductivity, which •increasesThere isfishing considerable efficiency. evidence Conductivity that attitudes is tousually game anglingvery low change at these with age as anglers adopt a more relaxed attitude to sites.our Spawning fishing. Allied would to changingalso have demographics had to be successful this is likely to toget result such in high lower exploitation of fish stocks and will therefore densities.impact upon stock assessments. The general methodology and the effectiveness of the new Sea Trout Stock Assessments.

There are still considerable concerns that the assessments are unable to respond effectively to shortfalls in data from missing catch returns, changes in angling effort, river flow patterns and the timing of runs of fish, all of which can skew a river’s stock status classification. The effectiveness of stocking programmes and whether these would these be useful in restoring stocks. Sunday 19th August 1984 saw a major pollution incident on the Mawddach when a settling lagoon at the Gwynfynydd Gold Mine was breached and contaminated water entered the upper river. Despite major rescue efforts by fisheries staff and anglers the losses were considerable. Following an out of court settlement with the owners of the Gwynfynydd Gold Mine, a Trust Fund was established which was used to build and operate The Mawddach Hatchery in order to mitigate for the damage caused by the pollution incident.

The Hatchery opened in 1987 and stocked fish were microtagged and identified by fin clipping We endeavoured to cooperate with NRW’s predecessors, Environment Agency Wales, in both the collection of broodstock and the stocking out of their offspring and as a result developed an excellent working relationship. On Tuesday 3rd July 2001 the Mawddach catchment suffered the worst flash flooding in living memory. There are many of us who believe that the impact of this flooding was even greater than that of the 1984 gold mine pollution. Stocking of juvenile salmon & sea trout from the hatchery helped mitigate for this disaster The Mawddach is also adversely affected by the Ardudwy Leat which was constructed to divert water to Llyn at the time of the construction of the Nuclear Power Station in the 1960’s.

Stocking from the Hatchery has also helped mitigate for fish lost to the system via the Leat • The 2017 NRW “Know Your River” document for the Mawddach states that: “In 1984 a major pollution incident on the Mawddach killed thousands of juvenile salmonids and over 2000 adult salmon and seatrout. Since 1987 a remedial stocking programme has operated on the Mawddach which is due to end in 2021. In 2015 salmonid stocking was terminated due to a policy change by Natural Resources Wales (NRW). Any mitigation stocking was to be delivered through opening additional habitat & habitat works. As the Mawddach anglers have a contract till 2021 the option is with them whether to continue stocking or move to habitat works.”

• The NASCO document Atlantic salmon at sea: Findings from recent research and their implications for management states that: “The decline in abundance of wild salmon stocks as a result of mortality at sea has given rise to increasing interest in stocking of salmon in order to rebuild stocks. However, the need to stock should be very carefully considered as poorly planned activities could diminish the ability of wild populations to adapt to warmer conditions. That is not to say that stocking does not have a role to play in stock rebuilding or restoration but there is a need to fully consider the risks as well as the benefits.” Socio Economic Impacts • “We believe that any decline in uptake of fishing will be small and transient, and that this should be acceptable to the overall fishing community as an investment for future stock improvements.” - Page 120 of the NRW document “Technical case supporting a public consultation on proposals for new fishing controls to protect salmon and sea trout stocks in Wales”

• A questionnaire survey of 70 anglers on the Mawddach in 2010 (All of the original survey and analysis sheets are available for inspection should anyone wish to question the validity of the data) showed that only 22.86% of anglers would continue to fish for salmon if Mandatory C&R was introduced (a number of these were local anglers who said that they would only buy a trout licence in the circumstances).

• The local anglers who fish for salmon on an occasional or casual basis are one of the first groups to stop fishing when 100% Catch and Release is introduced as they no longer feel that it is worth purchasing a licence or paying club subscriptions in the circumstances. At the November 2016 Gwynedd LFAG we were informed that Tyne there would be a short Wear consultation in January 2017 with the new bylaws becoming th operational before 16 June 2017 Ribble

4 Anglers immediately moved their caravans away from Dolgellau Severn Dolgellau and have not returned 24 Static Caravans owned by anglers

7 Full Season Touring Caravans owned by anglers

£24,623.59 to the farmer Contribution to the Local Economy

Weekly Shopping £1,150.00 Going out for meals/drinks £353.75

Petrol/Diesel £372.50

Other items e.g. Electrical Goods, Building Materials £411.25

Average Spend per Angler £2,287.50

x 31 Caravans

x Rest of Wales Adjustments to river classifications in England has resulted in 6 rivers being reclassified as “Probably at Risk” rather than “At Risk” and, due to a different approach by the EA, will not now be subject to mandatory measures. The fact that 5 of those rivers are located in North West England, and are therefore both close to the border and large centres of population, poses a very real threat to both angling clubs and angling tourism, particularly in North Wales, PAAS pays rents totalling Lledr £13,842 on waters that are only suitable for bait fishing Wnion Cleifion Dulas North Twymyn

Dulas South “20% downfall on “at the time of membership” “We have been writing we have 3 approached by an vacancies instead unusually high number of riparian owners from of a waiting list” across Wales asking us to consider taking on their A survey of the impact of the wasters” proposed new bylaws in the spring of 2018 revealed that a number of clubs had seen “at the time of membership decline “a number have at this time still not writing we are joined and we expect down roughly “A number of Club to lose more next 20%” members stated that they year” would not join our Club until they knew if bylaws would be implemented this year or not” The introduction of 100% Catch and Release in 2018 by the EA on the Border Esk has had a major impact on membership numbers of both the major angling club and private syndicates

The Longtown syndicate over the last 5 years has had a full complement of 30 The Border Esk and Liddle Angling Club members. (the only principal Esk member club) has As a result of the new catch and release seen its membership fall by 46% this year, bylaws 18 anglers have stopped fishing and the syndicate at the prolific Longtown this year Willow Pool managed by the Carnegie ……local Longtown business will suffer, family have had their rods fall this year notably The Graham Arms and the March from 20 to 12 and advised the family they Bank for accomodation, The Spar and the will not renew their lease next year Gretna Cafe for food and the Esso Service station for fuel. Angling clubs invest considerable sums of money in maintaining and improving their fisheries

Both PAAS and DAA spend considerable sums of money in the local economy in order to maintain their waters. During 2016 that total was well in excess of £3500, spread across a variety of businesses including Huws Gray (Dolgellau), Wynnstay (Dolgellau), Travis Perkins (Machynlleth), Major Owen () and Coleg Meirion Dwyfor (Glynllifon). Riparian owners have also spent in excess of £2000 in recent years for the same purpose. Working Parties have a beneficial effect on the health and well-being of those who take part • A significant contribution to the local environment by tackling both Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam on the banks of both the Mawddach & Wnion

• Partnership project with the local Rotary Club and National Park which is delivering a catchment based approach.

• This is both skilled (members have undergone the appropriate City & Guilds Training in their own time) and physical work and it is hard to see where the will and motivation to continue will come from if anglers feel that they have been driven off the rivers. From this…………………

…………………… to this The implications for the maintenance of our fisheries and future habitat improvement works are clear and obvious.

We have routinely attracted 15 – 30 volunteers for working parties.

In 2018 the number of volunteers plummeted to 4!

BODSAA also reported a 75% drop in working party volunteers in 2018 The Enforceability of the proposed byelaws

The NRW Enforcement Officer responsible for the Mawddach & Wnion covers an area that stretches along the coast from to Aberystwyth and then inland as far as Newtown and Oswestry.

With few legitimate anglers present on the river there is no deterrent for would be poachers and no ‘intelligence gathering’ for NRW’s hardworking but woefully understaffed enforcement team.

NRW Enforcement Staff told the Gwynedd LFAG members on 5th December 2018 that they are receiving fewer and fewer intelligence reports from anglers which is making their work more and more difficult. They attribute this lack of intelligence to the fact that anglers have been alienated by the current proposals.

We were also told that the current number of enforcement officers (16.25 FTE equivalent) will be reduced when they are reorganised into 10 teams.

If Mandatory Catch and Release is introduced, NRW Enforcement Officers cannot police it. On the other hand, angling organisations can, and do, police their own rules both through club bailiffs and peer pressure from other members. Anglers driven away > Increase in illegal activity > Fewer fish surviving to spawn Other Factors A better solution In 2011 angling volunteers from the Mawddach worked with Richard White (Project Manager at Afonydd Cymru) on a project to survey parts of the Mawddach catchment. After training a number of streams were surveyed including Upper Mawddach, Cain, Wnin, Babi, Nant Las, Wen & North and South Crawcellt Although the water quality indicators remained good the amount of life became sparse P1 in the upstream area. Stones 2 P1 were covered in a brown, slimy 2 P1 P coating as shown in Photo 8. P1 0 9 Could this be attributed to 1 GBS WFL/ peat or is there another BAR explanation? GBS P7 P P 8 6 GBS P LWD 5 BAR ODD WFL/ P P1 BAR 4 P1 4 P 5 BNK 3 The barrier caused by the weir on the Ardudwy Leat has a FTG massive impact. In low flows the barrier is totally impassable to GBS migratory fish since the flow is restricted to 2 x 10cm pipes. However in periods of peak discharge water flows over the weir and it is possible for fish to pass upstream. However the only current exit for both adult and juvenile fish is through the leat towards Trawsfynydd Lake meaning that all are lost to the Mawddach system! Furthermore the landowner at Ffridd-bryn- coch on the Afon Crawcwellt (South) assured that water entering through a leat from the south near to Maesgwm is particularly acidic and instead of entering the catchment downstream this is now transported to the top of the catchment along the Ardudwy Leat where it can pass into the Afon Crawcwellt (North). Could this explain the declining insect life in this upper section?

Afon Crawcwellt (North) – Map 2 P1 P2

P3 P4 6 sea trout redds observed in the first year More gravel traps have since been added

A change in attitude as anglers are keen to see further developments and think about the fish they catch in a different way From: JOHN EARDLEY [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 24 June 2016 13:22 To: Rees-Jones, Joel Subject: Follow up to Telephone Conversation

Hi Joel, My thoughts on a possible way forward in terms of stock exploitation were as follows: To establish for each drainage basin a ‘management’ group made up of representatives of Angling Clubs, Riparian owners and NRW. This would use the information from catch returns, NRW’s ‘Know your River’ document and (crucially) observations from people who are actually on the river on a daily basis in order to set appropriate exploitation levels for the next season. I realise that this would require a time commitment from NRW but smaller rivers could be grouped together to take place (separately) on the same day. There would be a number of advantages in working in this way:

• It avoids a ‘one size fits all’ model which would not be appropriate for many rivers • It is much more flexible and allows us to respond to changing stock levels • It would allow us to introduce zero exploitation in the short term without the need for statutory legislation • It would further partnership working between NRW and stakeholders and give those stakeholders some degree of ownership • It would enable angling organisations to police stock levels (NRW has insufficient enforcement officers to do this) • It would reduce the risk of driving visiting anglers away

Clearly this requires considerable development but I do feel that it is an idea which should not be dismissed out of hand.

John “I have forwarded on with my views on this (generally positive). My only concern is that we are already getting criticism for assessing stock levels using the current methods. I am not convinced that setting exploitation levels on observations will always give a true indication of stock levels. Plus it would be late in each season to set levels (once sufficient fish were in the system and had been seen for example). The remainder I can see real merit in.”

“I have passed it on and received a few very positive comments back, obviously there are issues associated with it but it is something we will discuss more internally.” What does the future hold?

Wales deserves better than what is being proposed here.

Are we really prepared to extinguish all hope by abandoning the good practice that has seen release rates rise from 0% to 86.5% in the relentless pursuit of a mandatory solution that will deliver little or no gain?