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My Brother popped over for a coffee this evening. He's been sunning himself in the harbour on an inflatable this afternoon. I've decided he's half way to being one of the Idle Rich. All he needs now is some MONEY ! Enjoy your day Terry. Jim

There is a special meeting of the RSAG group being held at the SIFCA offices to discuss this. This represents anglers and charter boats (and by virtue of the membership- tackle shops). Please bear in mind why the potential for restrictions is even being discussed. We have all witnessed a decline in stocks in our lifetimes, and notably and significantly in the past 10 years. These sites have been identified as being some of the last and best refuges and crucial sites (nesting sites, nurseries etc) of our favourite species. We all argue that restrictions are required, and for equity those restrictions must apply to everyone (we have argued for exactly that with regards to Bass, and dislike it when that isn’t the case). Like Charlie said earlier, we have moaned that there have been no restrictions on the existing MCZ’s. We moan about the beam trawlers. We moan about the nets. Like it or not, we are seen as contributing to the general decline of fish stocks, along with the trawlers, the nets, the microplastics, the ocean warming and acidification... and like it or not, as much as we practice C&R and all the good things, it is correct, we are an additional (small?) pressure on stocks. There’s no point putting in restrictions on sites that don’t have anything living on them, or at times when the species are somewhere else. We have to protect the sites where the fish live, when they are there, so that future generations will be able to see with their own eyes what a Bream/Bass/Wrasse/Ray/Dogfish looks like. Yes, proposing things like C&R on these sites are things that we can do. Realistically though, these type of ‘good behaviours’ are the things that responsible anglers (like us) already do, but the sites can’t be designated as ‘nice anglers only’. Equally those people that ignore good practices now, will ignore restrictions in the future, so any new regulations MUST be backed up be effective monitoring and enforcement, or they will be pointless. Again, frankly, the SIFCA have a lot of water to cover with very little resources to do so, and this is one reason for the lack of regs on the original MCZ’s. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-44592957