500 signatures reached
To: George Eustice MP, Minister of State at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones
Give Welsh Salmon and Sea-Trout a chance!
I want George Eustice MP and Wales's First Minister Carwyn Jones to:
Suspend all large scale commercial net fishing and factory ship operations around the Welsh coast for a minimum period of 5 years
Suspend all Coracle and Seine Netting Licences in Welsh river estuary's for a minimum period of 5 years
Implement and enforce compulsory migratory fish 'catch and release' angling legislation on all Welsh Rivers for a minimum period of 5 years
Implement a comprehensive stocking programme of native fish for every river by encouraging anglers to donate live fish for hatchery breeding purposes, similar to the highly successful River Tyne restoration programme
Tighten and enforce current legislation to eliminate the menace of farming and industrial pollution incidents
Why is this important?
In order to save from extinction and to re-build Welsh Migratory Salmon and Sea Trout stocks to their former glory of yesteryear! The National Rivers Authority (NRW) admits that migratory fish stocks in Wales are in a 'very bad condition'! My friends and I have fished the River Tywi for over 30 years and have seen a dramatic collapse in migratory fish stocks over that period, to a point today when it's hardly worth going out on the river to fish at all. Hotels and B & B's were busy in those days back then but now, like the salmon and sea trout, there are very few of them left! Very few rod and line anglers will kill their catch these days but will instead safely return their catch to the river so that they may continue on their way to their spawning grounds! Commercial trawlers and estuary nets-man kill everything that gets caught in their nets! Factory ships digest everything that they catch, including the sand eels that the salmon, sea trout and even sea bass rely on! By suspending these unsustainable fishing practices, both at sea and in our river estuaries the people of Wales and visiting anglers will not only see improving fish stocks but the Welsh people themselves will experience a significant boost in the Welsh Tourist Economy, similar to that of the highly successful and world renowned Scottish salmon angling economy of today. By calling time on the commercial exploitation of salmon, sea trout and sea bass, to name just 3 species, the Welsh Government and the people of Wales will see increased employment prospects in hotels, restaurants and shops as tourists flock once more from all over the world to fish the amazing rivers of Wales for a chance to catch that hopefully less elusive Sewin (sea trout) or salmon! If the current decline in fish stocks is allowed to continue and with no anglers on the rivers to report pollution incidents then the rivers of Wales will almost certainly decline beyond any hope of future recovery! That will be a sad day for Wales and a sad day for us all!
