Minutes of the meeting held on Saturday 5th March 2005 at BASC Head Office, Marford Mill, Rossett, Wrexham

The main items discussed were as follows: -

• Crown Leases
• Clubs Giving Up Crown Leases
• Draft Advice Note on Shooting from Boats
• Wildfowling Manual
• Wildfowling Roadshows/Regional Conferences
• Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations
• Greylag Geese
• Wildfowling at Findhorn Bay
• Humber Estuary Update
• Northern Ireland Update
• Wind Farms and Coastal Erosion

Committee members present:

Graham Crompton-Howe - Chairman
John Graham
Tim Russell – Secretary
Graham Downing
Lee Freeston
Alan Jarrett
Tom McGoldrick
Keith Scott
Andrew Walbridge
Tom Wylie
John Harradine
  
Also present:  Jackie Suckling – Minute Secretary
Conor O’Gorman
Mark Cokayne
Donald Muir

1 Apologies for Absence

Andrew McFarlane

2 Minutes of last meeting

The minutes were signed and agreed as a true record.

3 Matters Arising

The EU guidance on disturbance was circulated.  This was part of a much larger paper on wildfowling that was presented to the WLC in 2001.  Following discussion it was agreed that the definition of disturbance was not very clear. BASC are working with English Nature and other statutory conservation agencies to understand the issues more, when questions are raised about disturbance on estuaries. At the moment disturbance is not causing a problem to clubs or individuals as far as we are aware.

A suggestion was put forward to the committee that the 2006 Wildfowling Conference be held at Rutland Water.  The conference would start on the Friday with say a boat trip with the usual festivities taking place and use the Rutland Conference centre on the Saturday for the conference itself.

Action Point 1:  MC to look into the venue for the 2006 Wildfowling Conference

4 Crown Leases

BASC have reported back to the Crown the views of the WLC regarding annual tenancies. The Crown are happy not to promote these to clubs, they will however remain available for any club that wishes to use them.

5 Clubs Giving Up Crown Leases

At the present time, there are three clubs that have said they want to give up their Crown lease for various reasons:  cockle pickers, too much paperwork, lack of funds.  The committee discussed this at length and it was agreed that if the clubs were giving up the lease because of lack of funds, the shooting land should ideally not be lost.  It was suggested that if clubs are having problems raising funds to meet the cost of the lease, they should contact the Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer and he could help them with fund raising initiatives. If the club did not want to continue shooting the land and wished to relinquish the lease, it was suggested that BASC take it on.  It was acknowledged that managing land from BASC HQ would be difficult and may not be acceptable to some landlords who might be looking for local people to manage and warden the site.  It was agreed that in the first instance as soon as BASC becomes aware of a club wishing to give up their lease they should be contacted by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer to see if a successful fundraising programme can be developed to help the club keep the lease.

It was recognised that land is very hard to come by, and that BASC and the WLC cannot make clubs keep the land.  The committee discussed the possibility of setting up a group within this group to discuss this in more depth and, if necessary, to put a recommendation to Council once it has been properly formulated.

Action Point 2:  MC to formulate ideas and circulate by email.  If we come up with a plan we can put it to Council.

6 Draft Advice Note on Shooting from Boats

The draft advice note on Shooting from Boats was circulated to members by email and comments need to be back with MC by Friday 11th March 2005. MC will incorporate the changes and send the next draft to the Committee by 18th March for any further changes.

Action Point 3:  JS to email a copy to Donald Muir.  Members to submit comments to MC by Friday 11th March 2005.

7 Wildfowling Manual

Section 3 of the Wildfowling Manual has had to be rewritten due to the changes in the FSA rules.  The child protection section is in the final stages of being amended and then it will go to the printers for printing and publishing.  The Chairman asked if it would be possible to put the manual onto CD.  MC will check on the copyright laws on this.

Action Point 4:  MC to check on copyright laws

8 Wildfowling Roadshows/Regional Conferences

The committee discussed the forthcoming roadshows and regional conferences that were taking place this year.  MC is to attend several roadshows and the emphasis is to make them more exciting rather than just sitting in a lecture theatre and listening to a speaker.  MC will speak to the clubs involved first and get an idea of the points that they wish to be covered and try and tailor the roadshow/conference towards this.

Action Point 5:  Committee members to get feedback on what their individual club requirements would be back to MC, by end of March
MC that the Wash clubs are asked to help with the CLA wildfowling display.

The members then discussed when the next Wildfowling Conference should be held so as to not clash with other roadshows/conferences.  The members agreed that October was the best month.

9 Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations

The Committee were informed that access to environmental information has existed in the UK since the 1992 Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). The Freedom of Information Act 2000 makes provision to replace the 1992 EIR with Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The new EIR was implemented in February 2005 and came into force with the implementation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The 2004 Environmental Information Regulations will apply to public and other authorities, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Guidelines on the interpretation of the Regulations are provided by Defra. In Scotland, similar regulations apply under separate guidelines from the Scottish Executive. Public bodies would include the statutory conservation agencies (EN, CCW, EHS NI).

The Regulations require public and other authorities to ‘make environmental information available to any person who requests it within 20 working days, or within 40 working days if additional time is needed’.

The definition of environmental information is very broad and will include bag return information held by statutory agencies.

The committee discussed this point at length and recognised that the threat to clubs was minimal. It was pointed out that in many cases using bag returns was a very good way of showing how low shooting levels actually are.  It was agreed that the information provided by clubs to statutory agencies should be standardised and that we should agree with the statutory agencies the minimum amount of information that they should receive. BASC have already agreed with EN the minimum requirement for information but we will revisit this with the other agencies as well.

Action Point 6:  TR to find out if there can be further reductions in the minimum information required by statutory agencies.
TW to liaise with TR on FOI Act and historical data

10 Greylag geese

It was reported that the Scottish Executive’s Goose Science Advisory Group (GSAG) have carried out a PVA (Population Viability Analysis) study of the Icelandic greylag goose population. PVA utilises all available information about the geese in a scientifically-sound and objective way to provide an assessment of the population’s current status, factors likely to be affecting it, and likely future if either the factors remain unchanged or if they change in various ways.

The results indicate that the population is declining at around 3.5% a year (although doubt remains over the true population size), and that shooting mortality (in total around 50,000, in both Iceland and UK), the main cause, is unsustainably high. It suggests that a reduction in kill of around 5000 per year would at least stabilise the population.

After discussion it was suggested that the BASC code of practice for goose shooting should recognise this, and recommend a daily bag limit of 2 greylag geese (a reduction from 3). The Committee also recognised that part of the problem in assessing the situation with migratory greylags is accurate population counts, in light of probable changes in their wintering distribution. It suggested that BASC and its members assist organisations such as WWT as much as possible in proposed new studies to improve understanding of this population.

Recommendation:  That BASC recommend through codes of practice and other methods a reduction from 3 to 2 greylag geese per person per outing.

Canada Geese - Changes to the General Licence

Discussion took place regarding the changes to the general licence and the fact that Canada geese are now on the list of bird species that can be taken out of season. Several members voiced their concerns at this change to the licence and the fact that somebody may go out and shoot large numbers of Canadas and bring about criticism from the public. It was pointed out that the licence set out the terms under which it should be used, and that it was likely, that if people had been granted a special licence to control Canadas in previous years, these were the people who would most likely need to shoot Canadas under the new open licence.

Questions were also raised regarding the definition of crops, ie is stubble classed as crop, or wind blown wheat? 

It was pointed out to the Committee that we should welcome the change and help members to work within the guidelines.  Defra are now being seen to be pragmatic about controlling populations of wild animals. There was general agreement that as we have the licence the best action now would be to get advice out to members on how it should be used.

Specific aspects to be clarified included the apparent overlap between the licence provisions and the open season under the WCA 1981 up to 31 December, and the practical and legal requirements relating to the use of rifles for licensed control.

Action point 7:  MC/JH to put together a paper/advice sheet for circulation to the committee/members.

The Research Dept produces a monthly literature review and the Committee were asked if anyone wanted to be added to the mailing list.

Action point 8:  Post a hard copy of this publication to Tom McGoldrick

11 Findhorn Bay

The Chairman thanked Donald Muir for volunteering to come down from Scotland to bring the committee up to date with what is happening at Findhorn Bay.  He briefly outlined what has been going on since 1998.  The committee then discussed this item at great length.

Concern was raised about the LNR designation for the site and how that had happened.  DM explained the process that had been followed to reach that position.

DM advised the committee that there is a meeting due to take place on 11th May regarding Findhorn Bay which DM will be attending, and he volunteered to report back to the WLC after this.

The Committee felt that it was important that any changes to Findhorn should not restrict Shooters from outside Scotland. They also felt that as Scotland was a popular location for visiting wildfowlers any changes to status of wildfowling locations should be discussed with the Wildfowl and Wetland Officer as he was the first point of contact for wildfowling enquiries.

Action point 9:  DM to report back to WLC after the meeting on 11th May 2005

Action point 10: DM & MC to liaise over this issue and any other wildfowling issues in Scotland where visiting wildfowlers are concerned.

Agenda item 13 was taken next to give Tom McGoldrick time to catch his flight back to Belfast.

13 Northern Ireland

Tom McGoldrick appraised the committee as to what is happening in Northern Ireland.  SACs are not getting involved in consultations and BASC seem to be the organisation that is representing the membership.  There have been discussion in Northern Ireland regarding alterations to their seasons to come in line with Eire; as yet these have not been resolved.

12 Humber Estuary Update

The Committee received an update on the Humber Estuary.  A large area of Alkborough flats is to be realigned and BASC is working closely with the local clubs to ensure wildfowling will be included as an activity on the new site.

14 Wind Farms and Coastal Erosion

The Committee were circulated with suggestions that could be used to form a paper to go to Council covering wind farms and coastal erosion. The Committee were asked for their suggestions as to how BASC should be involved in these two areas.

Wind farms – the Committee recognised that providing alternative sources of energy was part of a much wider political agenda that BASC should not get involved in.  The Committee were also of the view that BASC should not get involved in debates over costings for wind farms or provide input into environmental impact assessments. The Committee felt that where there were proposals for wind farms wildfowlers had an important part to play in environmental impact assessment, because they know a great deal about the flight lines of birds in the area. This local knowledge would be essential to an accurate environmental impact assessment.

Coastal erosion – the Committee recognised the fact that erosion was an important issue and that where re-alignment projects were being carried out it was essential to make sure provision was made for wildfowling over new areas of marsh. The Committee were of the view that the best way for BASC to be involved with coastal erosion was to work with the Environment Agency and English Nature so that we know from an early stage where re-alignment will take place, BASC can then work with the clubs and the Agencies to ensure wildfowling is accommodated. The Committee were informed that the Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer was already in contact with EN and EA regarding identification of new sites.

It was also agreed that we should be encourage clubs to purchase land within the sea wall ie agricultural land and be pro-active in creating new salt marsh. 

15 Any Other Business

The Committee was made aware of the problems on the east coast and very serious attacks by antis against wildfowling clubs.  When the attacks took place the number of antis ranged from 2 to 7 and they were using verbal abuse, sticking screws into tyres and on occasions lights.  On two occasions there has been a police presence.  MC mentioned that he has been kept up to date of what is going on and has asked the club to keep accurate records.  He has spoken to David Barnes regarding the legal issues and there may be a way of dealing with this subject.  David is keen to take this case and it seems the clubs involved hold a reasonably strong position.

It was suggested that clubs should be keeping accurate records and try to identify the antis involved. GD said that in his area they were working together with local “Farmwatch” to help collate their information.

Wildfowling Club Accounts

Information was passed to the committee regarding a wildfowling club that had gone down the incorporation route.  It had failed to submit its accounts (18 months late) and has been fined heavily, in the order of £3,000, for late submission.  If clubs decide to go down this route they must be aware of the fines that can and will be imposed for late submission of accounts.

Fowlathon

Eric Begby is doing a “fowlathon” next season and MC asked that the clubs associated with the WLC committee support his venture.

Date of next meeting: Saturday 10th September 2005