charlieannear

Is the Boat Watch scheme around here as organised as this? Fowey estuary

The latest from the front: Council get opportunity to have their say

Happy Birthday!

Good luck PJ!

Good session and excellent photos Lofty.

Thanks All! Jim- please keep your clothes on! Charlie

I was recently one of a handful of members to attend a presentation on the Bass MLS (Minimum Landing Size) at the North Haven yacht Club (nice clubhouse!). It was a very interesting presentation by Nigel Horsman, and here are some of the main facts about Bass and key points from evening... -Bass can live for 30 years and are slow growing -A 10lb Bass is around 15 years old -A 42cm Bass is around 6-7 years old, and at that level of maturity they grow at a rate of 6-7cm per year -A 42cm/6-7 year old Bass will have just reached the level of maturity required to spawn/breed -The current MLS for Bass is 36cm This shows that the current MLS allows the retention of Bass which have not had the chance to breed -A 42cm Bass will have reached the level of maturity required to spawn and will grow 6-7cm in a year, meaning that a 48cm Bass will have experienced 1 breeding season. -Like many species, the first time they breed, they aren't very good! -Therefore a 54cm Bass will have had 2 breeding seasons- 1 practice and 1 good one Records of Bass spawnings in the last 20 years show that there have only been 2 'good' years: 1989 & 1997 The Marine Strategy Framework Directive aims for good environmental status by 2020. one of the measures of success is: "Characterised by a high proportion of old, large individuals." Catches of Bass- Economics Commercial -No quota protection for Bass <1% of Commercial landings are Bass <400 Commercial boats land more than

House is still in bits (but getting there!) so here are a couple of picks from the news: Living in a wreck The Economics of Angling

A bit more Wind Farm related news from recent weeks... Too close for comfort? Artists impression

Go to Google maps and stand on the sea front at Whitstable here, you can see this wind farm: Kentish Flats Not sure how far away they are...

I like your thinking Jim, glad you're not giving up on us!

Happy Birthday!

There's a new 'catch' survey, asking different questions, now available here: Sea Angling 2012 And the latest incentive of participating "Complete the online catch and economic surveys or answer our surveyors questions if approached while fishing, and you could win fishing tackle worth nearly

I've been a bit quiet this month due to house bing in various stages of deconstruction, but here are a few articles which I've noticed online... Marine Conservation in New Zealand Environmental Impact of Gas Rig leak Swimming Robots! New Reef in Weymouth

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Probably fit us all on at once!

Hi Dave I've got a permit to attend...

A large proportion of 'our' electricity, is supplied by French electricity generating companies, and a high percentage of their generating capacity is from nuclear power stations, and many of them are on the French coast (i.e. Flamanville, Paluel, Penly, Gravelines). We are closer to most of the French nuclear power stations than we are to the UK ones! As a great innovator, the UK was at one point at the forefront of Wind Turbine design and manufacture, but as usual, other countries now seem to be able to build them bigger, better, quicker and cheaper. We simply don't have the foundries that can turn out these bits of metal big enough. The Victorian engineers will be spinning (at carefully calcutated and regulated revolutions per minute) in their graves... Until we crack how to produce limitless, free electricity from sea water (conspiracy theorists would say that we probably already know how to but the technology is supressed by the power companies) then we will have to put up with wave hubs, tidal power and wind farms, beacuse no-one wants nuclear or coal fired power stations on land, and wind farms of the scale required to generate enough power on a large scale take up too much space. Or we can give up our lightbulbs, TV's, games consoles, computers, Sky boxes, fridges, ovens, iPods, mobile phones, power tools... people don't seem to keen on that either! A few hundred years ago there were probably similar protests about the monstrous new fangled technology harnessing the wind to process grain and hops!

I'll contact Peter Tinsley and find out.

DWT (Dorset Wildlife Trust) have recently held an underwater photography competition, and there are some nice photos here

"New nature zones covering hundreds of thousands of hectares are to be set up across England, Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman has announced." One of the 12 Nature Improvement Areas (NIA) will be Wild Purbeck: a variety of river, wetland, heath and woodland habitat as well as the largest onshore oil field in Western Europe. More information here: The Planning Portal

Mike (Tiderunner) was able to go along to the presentation in Christchurch, where he was able to obtain the flyer, below: At the March Club meeting, there was a short discussion regarding the size and location of the proposed site, whether it was one out our preferred spots, whether it was definitely happening, and what level of 'exclusion' might be involved. Mike said that he got the impression that there was perhaps a shortage of local knowledge within the project, and that maybe there is an opportunity for the club to get some more information from Eneco. With the Committee's agreement, I'll contact Eneco and see what they say...

Hi All, just bumping this thread, well, the top part of it at least (will any of the contributors mind if we cull a few of these later posts?) A bit more information on the Sea Angling 2012 Survey. It is being run by the MMO (Marine Management Organisation) and it is a... "...government-sponsored project to provide data on recreational sea angling that can help improve the scientific understanding of fish stocks off our coast, as well as ensuring that the needs of sea angling can be represented as effectively as possible in future marine policy development. The data collected will enable national and local policy makers to make informed decisions on fisheries management, and provide the sea angling community with information to help them develop their own views and policies. This will benefit anglers and businesses while helping to conserve and improve fish stocks by ensuring management decisions are based on the best possible scientific data. The project will look at how to provide the most cost-effective information on: