Minutes of the meeting held on Saturday 10th September 2005 at BASC Head Office, Marford Mill, Rossett, Wrexham

SUMMARY

• Declaration of interests
• Around the regions
• Changes
• WLC forum
• East Coast conference
• Marsh Insurance
• English Nature and consents
• Regional conferences
• Wildfowling conference
• CLA
• Findhorn
• Goose bag reduction
• New explosive regulations
• WHT
• Avian Flu
• Centenary and book
• Wildfowling magazine

Committee Members Attending

 Graham Crompton-Howe – Chairman
 Tom Wylie
 Tim Russell – Secretary
 John Graham
 Alan Jarrett
 Graham Downing
 Keith Scott
 Tom McGoldrick
 Lee Freeston
 Mark Cokayne

Also attending:

 Jackie Suckling – Minute Secretary
 Peter Marshall
 Matthew Perring

Apologies for Absence

Apologies had been received from Andy Walbridge and Michael Rae.

1 Welcome

GCH welcomed everyone to the meeting.

2 Minutes of Last Meeting

The minutes of the last meeting were agreed and signed as a correct record.

3 Matters Arising From Last Minutes

Item 10 Greylag Geese – there was a request for clarification on whether the recommendation from the last meeting was for everyone or as some committee members thought, just for the goose guides.

Due to increased communication on the subject we need to clarify this point further.

The recommendation from the last meeting was read out to assist the committee, it was:

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

The following position has now been agreed by the committee:-

After further discussion the Committee confirmed that because of the apparent decline in migratory greylags from a peak of 115,000 in 1990 to 70,000 in 2002 that BASC Scotland should ask BASC goose guides to accept this voluntary reduction from 3 to 2 geese per person per outing for themselves and their clients.

The committee confirmed that the original recommendation should be promulgated to all BASC members who might visit Scotland and the north of England to shoot migratory greylags. The committee also felt that for clarity, any publication regarding this recommendation should be accompanied by a clear explanation that the reduction only applies to migratory greylags and not to feral populations. It was agreed that attaching a distribution map for migratory greylags to any publicity about this might simplify understanding.  

The new Chairman then took the chair.

4 Declaration of Interests

The WLC chairman explained to the Committee that in future when an agenda is issued, he wants committee members to declare an interest in any agenda item if they receive a benefit either financially or in kind. This practice was introduced at BASC’s Council meeting this year.  The purpose of such a declaration is to ensure that all meetings are conducted in an open manner.

5 Around the Regions

Members were asked to prepare and present at future meetings a 5 minute review of local issues, meetings attended Etc on behalf of the WLC and provide appropriate feedback on such meetings.  With this in mind, members were asked to update the committee on activities in their region.

6 Changes

The chairman asked that all committee members should get more involved with individual clubs in their regions in order to increase the communication between the committee and the clubs.   It would also be prudent to see email being used more often to communicate such issues.  With that in mind the chairman would like committee members to forward a bi-monthly update to MC by email, so that if there are any problems or anything that needs to be actioned immediately and subsequent action can be taken, sooner. 

The Chairman suggested that when the BASC Wildfowl and Wetland Officer is traveling around the regions doing his Conferences, that if possible, Committee Members go along and support him, showing a unified stance at these events. 

7 Use of the Bulletin Board

The Chairman outlined his plan to start regular communication between committee members through a bulletin board.  Not all the Committee Members knew how to access a board so instructions on how to use one would be circulated. 

8 East Coast Conference

The Chairman asked who was going to the East Coast Conference.

The Chairman asked those members who are not going, if they could spare the time to go along. 

9  Insurance

It was noted that this is an item on the East Coast Conference agenda and that a list of key questions was being produced before the conference, to ensure relevant answers could be given.

10 English Nature and Consents

The committee received a summary of the background to this. EN has created a forum of conservation officers involved with wildfowling consents. They want their officers to share experiences and act in a similar way around the coast. In an attempt to have a consistent approach to consents the group put together a paper on the criteria for issuing consents. In early April EN came to BASC head office with a first draft of their paper to discuss this with BASC staff and Chairman.  The paper was in a very rough form and contained numerous tracked changes. BASC made verbal comment on the paper, questioning the time limit and visit limit proposals in particular. BASC asked EN to revise the paper and send a second draft that would be commented on formally. The second draft still contained the six year time limits and visit restrictions, the justification for these was questioned by BASC in an emailed reply to EN. 

EN have now agreed that all consents will have to be judged on a case by case basis. 

11 Regional Conferences

The dates for the Regional Conferences are:

1st Nov – Here - BASC

3rd Nov – Lagan House, Lisburn, Northern Ireland

10th Nov – Chilworth Manor, Southampton

16th Nov – WWT Slimbridge

The date and venue of the Humberside event is still to be confirmed

Please note that as a result of increased work because of avian flu conference dates will be set again

12 2006 Wildfowling Conference

Barnsdale Hall Hotel, close to Rutland Water has been provisionally booked for Saturday 14th October 2006.  The Committee were asked to email possible agenda items to the Wildfowl and Wetlands Officer.

13 CLA

This was another success and the clubs that attended were very happy with how it had gone and had received several enquiries regarding new membership.

Preparations are going well for the 2006 CLA at Broadlands, and the south coast clubs were already briefed on attending and perhaps putting together a display.  It was pointed out that as the CLA are settling on 4 venues, the same clubs will be attending each venue, therefore it would be prudent to invite clubs outside the locality to help boost their membership etc.

14 Findhorn

The Committee were informed that no changes had been brought in this season.   

15 Goose Bag Reduction

Covered under matters arising.

16 New Explosive Regulations and Implications for Home loaders

The committee received a presentation on the new BASC Guide for Sportsmen to the Manufacture and Storage of Explosives Regulations (MSER) 2005.  The Chairman suggested that committee members go back to their regions/clubs to make sure they are aware of the changes to the regulations.

17 WHT

The Chairman told the committee that Council have asked the WHT Trustees to review their business due to concerns raised at E&F about the amount of BASC money donated out of profits to the WHT, and the amount of BASC staff time spent running the Trusts. Committee members were asked to try and encourage the clubs to support the WHT stamp programme as interest has declined over recent years.

18 Avian Flu

The committee heard that BASC are in daily contact with Defra regarding the H5NI Avian Flu.

There has been an outbreak in Russia, Defra have said that there is a slim chance of infected migratory birds coming to the UK.  BASC have been in regular contact with Defra, the RSPB and WWT about likelihood of infected birds reaching the UK, there is a possibility that sampling might come into force.  This could fall to volunteers from wildfowlers, and it is good news that Defra have looked to wildfowlers to help with this.

19 Centenary and Book

The committee were informed that a book is being written on WAGBI/BASC for the centenary. 

20 Wildfowling Magazine

Already covered earlier.

21 Any Other Business

Lead Shot the committee were informed that it is almost certain that Defra will only be conducting a scoping study this year; investigating the possible methods they will use to measure the compliance of the lead shot ban on Wildfowl in England and Wales. It is very unlikely that Defra will pursue a full scale investigation into the compliance of the England/Wales lead shot regulations this season.

Date of Next Meeting Saturday 4th March 2006