Notes of National Angling Advisory group meeting Wednesday 28 March 2018 Trust’s Hatton office. 1 Attendees and apologies for absence Ian Trayer (Chairman), Peter Birch, John Ellis, Peter Henery, David Kent, Kye Jerrom, Andy Strickland, Dick Pilkinton, John Johnson, John Castle, Dennis Hunt & Peter Fieldhouse. Apologies for absence were received from John Sutton. 2 Notes of previous meeting and matters arising not covered elsewhere. It was confirmed that the notes were an accurate reflection of the discussions at the previous meeting. It was agreed that it would be useful for a senior member of the Trusts Enterprise and Fundraising team to attend a future meeting to explore with the group what potential fundraising options for fisheries and angling might exist. JE and PH were in early stage discussions with Angling Direct regarding coaching and other opportunities. JE confirmed that the input from the additional NAAG meeting on December 6th had been most useful and has been included in the internal report regarding the future structure and role of the team. DK reiterated the view that angling clubs very much saw themselves as paying customers rather than local interest groups or users. The group felt the reorganisation represented a great opportunity to further develop and improve communication with angling clubs on the ground. There was concern expressed from several quarters that the lack of communication between the Vegetation Management programme of the Environment Team and canal users was causing problems. This could potentially be solved if this and other national works programmes were placed online as soon as they are available. This would be very welcome and provide sufficient time for feedback, especially around timings to fit around clubs planned events. It was agreed that the F & A team would contact all customer clubs with their key local and national Trust contacts once the regional structure was in place. Whilst no further progress had been made with the development of the heritage fishing tackle display, members felt that there was a strong link with the Let’s Fish Campaign and the getting adult anglers back into fishing component of the Angling Trust contract. JE to action as time permits. RP confirmed that police intervention around the issue of unsafe fishing underneath overhead powerlines at Bulbourne had led to positive outcome with the culprits being issued with a formal warning by the police. It was noted that the electricity industry had responded to the public endangerment issue. An additional bonus was that the local police rural crime officer had attended the club’s AGM and was taking an active interest in fisheries law. Members felt that a blog article on overhead powerlines and angling would be useful. JE to action. 3 Chairman’s Comments 1 IT reported on a scurrilous article that appeared in ‘PikeLines’, the quarterly publication of the Pike Anglers Club. It was written by John Tate, a former Chairman of Barnt Green Fishing Club, and contained a series of wild, outrageous (and untrue) comments about the Fishing Club and the Trust. It was picked up by the Trust’s outreach service. The first reaction of IT and JE was to respond vigorously but when it became clear it was a private Club publication and the Editor, on the website, disclaimed any responsibility for his author’s opinions, it seemed best to let it go. 4 National Fisheries & Angling Manager’s Update Report. 4.1 Fisheries staffing structure, short term arrangements. Paul Breslin has taken a secondment for 12 months with the Environment team, North West waterway from 15th January 2018. Given the impending restructure, it has been decided not to replace Paul on a like for like secondment basis. JE will act as Fisheries & Angling Manger for the four northern waterways. Peter Henery has been contracted to manage the Let’s Fish campaign and Martin Stark to assist JE with fisheries technical issues and revamping the FAAP documents to bring their content into line with the new regional boundaries. Management of the Tees Barrage fish passage work has now passed to the F & A team and Martin has also been contracted to manage this. 4.2 NAAG Retirements and new appointments Alan Hughes, Dan Griffiths, Dennis Hunt and Andrew Wedgbury will officially commence their appointments on 1st July 2018 for a period of three years. Messrs Pilkinton and Fieldhouse will continue as group members until December 2019, an 18-month extension. Both have extensive experience in angling participation in what could potentially be a significant period of expansion of the Trust’s work in this area. John Sutton has also agreed to remain as part of the group until December 2019, a 12-month extension. David Kent is to be offered a third and final three-year term from July 2018. John Castle and John Johnson will retire from the group in July 2018. The next tranche of vacancies will be advertised in early 2020. 4.3SSSI Site Management Framework. Fish Population and Fisheries Management. The group welcomed this document as a significant step forward in incorporating sound fisheries management at the Trust’s 63 SSSI’s. The document will be formally signed off by the respective CEO’s at a public launch in the early summer. 4.4 Standard Angling Agreement Document Update It was agreed that a new clause pertaining to Check, Clean and Dry should be added with immediate effect along the lines of ‘undertake reasonable endeavours to ensure that permitted users carry out appropriate Check Clean & Dry measures’. It was suggested that an accompanying blog article linked to existing advice would be useful. It was confirmed that clause 5.7 had been incorporated into the agreement as follows ‘the Trust are to use reasonable endeavours to inform the Licensee in advance of any fisheries management activity to be carried out by the Trust, the Environment Agency or other third parties authorised by the Trust and to invite the licensees to attend the operation where safe to do so’ 4.5 Zander management update Grand union & other locations. 2 JE confirmed that zander removal work is currently ongoing at the following locations • Grand Union Canal Three Locks north to Whilton Marina (Buckby Bottom Lock) where around 800 zander weighing over 1900 lbs had been removed in March 2018. • Grand Union Leicester Line South Kilworth to Kilby Bridge (including the Foxton to Kilby Bridge SSSI) • Ashby Canal (whole of) including the Ashby SSSI • Trent & Mersey. Stoke on Trent & Stone areas. It was noted that controlling clubs on the Grand Union have made financial contributions of around £5000 to support this work. Unfortunately, Old Bury Hill fishery have not yet completed the fencing work necessary to enable zander to be transported live to this fishery. Following a discussion around KIFR permits, it was agreed to explore potential options for totally enclosed stillwater sites in the Fens or possibly in the Severn or Avon catchments. The Trust have compiled two blog articles for invasive non-native species week, one with the help of the EA on the perils of top mouth gudgeon and one focussing on zander, complied by Dr Phil Smith whose doctorate thesis focussed on zander on turbid Midlands canals. It was agreed that the Trust standard marina access agreement need to be reviewed to better cover fisheries management activities and clarify fishing rights situation. PB & JE to take forward internally with colleagues. 4.6 Middlewich branch breach A major embankment failure occurred between Stanthorne Lock and Wardle Lock in the early hours of Friday 16th March on the Shropshire Union Canal Middlewich Branch, which consequently has been drained. MEM Fisheries staff spent a full day on Saturday 17th March rescuing nearly 10,000 roach, perch, gudgeon, bream and eels (largest eel was 4lbs) from the three-quarter mile length. The fish were released further along the canal beyond Wardle Lock, towards Middlewich town centre around the confluence with the Trent & Mersey. JE confirm that to the best of his knowledge there were no non-native invasive fish species present at this location and therefore there were no issues of escapees into the Weaver catchment. 4.7 Earlswood Reservoirs Update. Following a KIFR enforcement notice from the EA, the Trust agreed to drain Engine pool to remove Wels catfish, a non-native fish species. The reservoirs overflow into the Blythe SSSI. The valves were also in need of urgent repair, so the work was undertaken concurrently. Around 30,000 lbs of fish were rescued, a biomass of circa 1300lbs per acre, predominantly carp. The restocking venues for carp included Trench Pool, Thorpe Lea, Clattercote, Harthill, Lower Gailey and the Grand Union Canal Leighton Buzzard. Most of the silver fish were relocated into Windmill Pool with some transferred to the Grand Union Canal at Wigston & Leighton Buzzard for fish population reinstatement following previous fish mortalities. Despite the complete emptying of the water and electrofishing of the pools, not a single catfish was recovered. 4.8 Bittell Reservoir Update The fish rescue was completed during early November. Work is currently behind schedule and it may not be possible to undertake much fishery reinstatement prior to the autumn of 2018. 4.9 Competitions update. 3 The stillwater championships has been renamed the Boddington classic and all available pegs sold out within 14 days. James Lewis (Angling Trust) is looking to launch a series of 12 to 24-hour long carp matches, using some of the Trusts reservoirs. (Clattercote & Boddington with the final at Barston) The Trust had been approached by Gary Palmer who has expressed an interest in running a lure fishing championships, comprising of six regional heats with an inner-city final in central Birmingham We will share his proposals with the group once we have them in writing.