Just had report of a super fish from Winforton's,  Cowpond   caught yesterday on a small 1//2" Willy
Gunn by Terry Ward.   28lbs of Wye springer  in good condition but seemingly net marked.  Pictures to follow.

Latesrt   11lb fish from Wyesham on fly to Tim Risdale.


More below re the NRW Byelaw stitch up enquiry,

I understand that Noel Hulmston (Llyn Guides) may be writing to the Minister as procedurally she is responsible for both NRW and the Planning Inspectorate and as such she cannot be considered as independent as the Minister was using her department to provide a recommendation from the inquiry. 

This issue was raised at the Carl Sargent inquest (I am just about to read the coroners findings) as the First Minister instigated an inquiry about his own conduct as such apparently the inquiry could not be classed as ‘independent’.  The same applies with regards the byelaw inquiry and by claiming that this was a ‘Local Public Inquiry’ (normally used to determine planning application appeals lodged by developers) it enabled her to use the Planning Inspectorate.  This is despite the fact that this was in fact an inquiry into ‘the all Wales byelaws’ (recognised as such in the closing statement of the NRW barrister) and could not be claimed as a local issue i.e. a single river system.  In addition once the decision had been made to call it a ‘local public inquiry’ it enabled the planning inspectorate to appoint an inspector who had previously found in favour of NRW at a Planning Appeal into a hydro development when the inspector rejected the developers appeal on the basis of the ‘precautionary principle’ there is therefore the appearance of bias as the whole of the NRW case was based upon the ‘precautionary principle’.  Whilst I cannot challenge the integrity of the inspector he had no fisheries knowledge and did not call any independent expert witnesses as would have happened under an independent chairman of a Public Inquiry conducted under the 2005 Inquiry Act.  I had requested during the recess that the inspector made site visits to compare different rivers as our North Wales rivers cannot be compared with the Wye which was the exemplar for the byelaws, this was rejected by the inspector and yet under planning appeal procedures site visits are considered a requirement.   

Finally by choosing “The Town and Country Planning (Applications and Appeals Procedure) (Wales) Regulations 2017” the Minister avoids scrutiny by the SENEDD as under the planning appeal procedure the Minister is the final decision maker and does not have to debate her decision in the Assembly as would happen under the Inquiry Act 2005 i.e. there can be no challenge other than lodging an appeal within 4 weeks of the decision being made.  We cannot pre-empt what the inspectors report will say but my expectations are he will lean heavily on the precautionary principle in his recommendations and the proposals to introduce legislation to control agricultural pollution which the inspector claimed was in support of the bylaws – it was not it was just a happy coincidence that at some point in the future it may help to reverse the decline in fish stocks.   

I tried to cover these issues in my closing statement which seemed to upset the barrister for NRW who claimed, somewhat petulantly, that CPWF hade wasted inquiry time.  I don’t think he expected our closing statements to be as strong as arrogantly he had written his closing statement during the 3 week recess and he had difficulty updating his closing statement (he was allowed 1.5 Hours by the inspector to do this) to counter the issues we raised in our statements!

Feel free to forward this to your AM.

Chris

This is worth signing.  Stop Icelandic salmon farming going the same was a s the Scots, Norwegians and elsewhre Over 10,000 Individuals Have Signed the Against the Current Petition - and the Government is Listening Opponents of uncontained aquaculture now outnumber industry supporters 2 to 1... But we can't stop now!   NASF Iceland representatives delivering signatures to the Minister of Fisheries. Thank you for supporting the Against the Current Petition. Your voices tell the Icelandic government that open net pen salmon farming is not welcome in the pristine fjords of Iceland.  This week, members of NASF Iceland met with government ministers to show them how many have joined this effort thus far. They also discussed the need for (1) a halt to industry expansion pending environmental review, (2) for more regulations and oversight, and (3) for incentives to move salmon farming to closed containment.  Great news! The Minister of the Environment was supportive of the cause, and the Fisheries Minister emphasized that the regulations and legislations on the industry have been inadequate the past years. NASF Iceland representatives delivering signatures to the Minister of Fisheries. And there's more good news: an Icelandic survey taken by MMR revealed that 45% of participants have a negative or very negative attitude towards salmon farming in open pens. This is in contrast to 23% of those who were in favor of the practice. Our efforts to inform the public about the devastating environmental impacts of uncontained aquaculture are working! The Against the Current campaign has the backing of over 10,000 concerned individuals, but we can't stop now! Debate continues in Parliament and now is the time to drive home the need for a freeze of industry expansion, more regulations, and incentives for closed containment. We still need your help! Here is what you can do now:  Forward this message to friends and family, encouraging them to sign the petition Share our posts on Facebook and Instagram Facebook: Á móti straumnum - Against the current  |  NASF Instagram: @a.moti.straumnum  |  @nasfund Thank you, The North Atlantic Salmon Fund Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.