The minutes of the last meeting were signed and agreed.

The following items were discussed:-

Bag Return Form

The committee reviewed the new return form which had been changed to reflect comments from the last meeting. The committee went on to discuss the summary form which clubs would use when giving information to statutory conservation agencies (EN, CCW, SNH). The committee agreed that the new data collection form and summary form should now be made available to all clubs.

Wildfowlers and Flight Ponds Codes of Practice

Suggested amendments to these codes had been received from the committee prior to this meeting. A list of amendments was tabled for discussions and further alterations were suggested. The remaining changes will be incorporated into the codes and circulated to the committee for their final approval.

Crown Estates

The committee discussed the current system of leases for Crown Estates and were of the opinion that longer term leases would be preferred.

Lead Shot Review

The committee were advised that the Defra review had been put back to 2006 and that Defra intends to monitor compliance with the legislation next season. The Scottish Executive has prepared draft regulations for restrictions for the forthcoming season and will be consulting on them shortly. The committee recognised that the issue of compliance could not be discussed completely within this forum and recommended that BASC initiate broad based discussion about compliance with game shooters and other shooting organisations.

The committee were advised that a "hotshot" device is currently being used in the USA to detect lead shot. The cartridges are passed through the device which then highlights any lead present. BASC are to trial this device and if successful recommend to clubs.

Wildfowling Evenings

The committee were made aware of the dates and venues for the forthcoming wildfowling evenings which are being run by the newly appointed Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer.

Wildfowling 4 Year Plan

The committee reviewed the 4 year plan and noted the areas where the Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer had already started to make some progress.

The committee were reminded that the venue for the next National Wildfowling Conference is at St Annes-on-Sea, the date is 2nd October 2004 and the event will be hosted by the Lytham and District Wildfowlers Association.

Regional Representation on the WLC

The committee discussed a proposal that membership of the committee should be based on regions. The committee felt that its present structure served the needs of the members very well and that there was already adequate regional coverage. It was agreed that it is always a good thing to review the structure and role of committees occasionally and that this subject would be revisited sometime in the future.

Sponsored Goose Ringing

The committee discussed a proposal to introduce a goose ringing scheme that would be sponsored by BASC members. There followed some discussion on the amount of information which could be gathered from this project and to what extent BASC members might wish to involve themselves. It was decided that an article covering this subject would be included in one of the forthcoming editions of Wildfowling News to gauge how much support the scheme might attract.

Nick Frearson

A collection took place amongst the committee to help purchase a painting, to be donated to BASC, of the late Nick Frearson punting at Lindisfarne.