S&TA Chief Executive, Paul Knight, will be talking to Keith Arthur on his Sky Sports programme, ‘Tight Lines’, on Friday, February 26th.  The first showing will be on Sky Sports 3 at 6.30pm on the 26^th, with various repeat times on the Saturday.  As well as discussing game angling in the UK, there will inevitably be plenty of discussion around the serious issues facing fisheries and the water environment.  For full details of timings, log on to www.skysports.com/tightlines

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South West Wales Meeting

A meeting has been arranged at the Ivy Royal Hotel, Carmarthen, on Thursday, March 25^th 2010, at 7pm for 7.15pm.  Paul Knight, will give a presentation on the work of the Association, but the main point of the evening is to meet members, their guests and non-members in the area and to find out what they want to see from an S&TA (Wales) operation.  Although Wales is covered by primary legislation from Whitehall, many of the fisheries policy decisions are being taken by the Welsh Assembly Government, and therefore an active and influential S&TA (Wales) is essential.  Please come to the meeting if possible, and bring your fishing friends with you, whether or not they are S&TA members.

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Low Flows Conference

The Low Flows Conference, organised by the Atlantic Salmon Trust and co-sponsored by S&TA, was held in York at the end of January.  The were some excellent data presented, covering the effects of high and low flows on different fish species and the habitat requirements for their various life stages.  Inevitably, hydropower was a major issue, and it became increasingly clear that scientific evidence from fisheries organisations will play a key role in determining the impact of hydro schemes on river systems.  However, the positive news is that the Environment Agency (EA) will take part in the post-conference workshop, to be held in Scotland in March, and so is still in the loop as we try to ensure not just minimum impact on the environment from hydropower, but maximum benefit for fish in the form of new and more efficient fish passes for all migratory species.  View the presentations from the Conference at http://www.coastms.co.uk/conferences/426   

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Environment Agency’s Fisheries Science

Some concerning news has just been received from the EA’s new Evidence Department, which incorporates the Agency’s environmental scientific team.  It appears that the internal science is being drastically cut back, apparently to increase efficiency.  We are still trying to extract the reasoning behind this seemingly bizarre decision, which will mean that fisheries science is cut from 8 operators to less than one full time equivalent, and will keep you informed.  We already have concerns about the level of scientific research and particularly monitoring undertaken by the EA, and this is even more of a worry as measures to achieve good ecological status under the Water Framework Directive begin to be delivered this year.  We will keep you informed of the EA’s decision making process around this issue as we glean more information.       

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Aquaculture

We have had a slight change in our timing plans for handing in our petition.  Our Scottish Working Group is keen that we have one full year’s cycle with the petition, so it will now run until the Tweed Angling Fair at the beginning of May.  This will give an opportunity to boost signature numbers, and then choose the date on which the petition is presented to the Scottish Government, depending on where we are with the Election by then.  You can still sign the petition at http://www.salmon-trout.org/save_petition.asp

Meanwhile, Norway has reduced the number of lice permitted on its salmon farms 0.1, or one louse per ten fish.  While wild fish interests still have severe reservations about the Norwegian Government’s attitude to fish farming, and that this move is too little too late, it is at least better than the deal in Scotland, where the standard is still rooted to 0.5 of a louse per fish.  And, don’t forget, most of the Scottish industry is owned by Norwegian companies! 

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Eden Conference

S&TA is co-sponsoring ‘Trout Stream Management in the Real World,’ a conference organised by the Eden Rivers Trust which takes place on 23^rd and 24^th March at the Tufton Arms Hotel, Appleby. The Trust has put together a very good list of speakers from ‘Planet Trout’ and is already close to a full house of 120 delegates.

This is most definitely not a theoretical workshop - it will have practical benefits to all of those individuals and organisations out there involved in practical stream and river management.  We will report on the conference outcomes in due course.

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Fund-raising Dinner and Auction 2010: 12^th October.  We need Lots!

Thanks to the generosity of members and supporters, we offered a truly mouth-watering array of lots at last year’s Fund-raising Dinner and Auction.  The most popular were collectibles and the “promises”, which ranged from a tour of the Brawn GP F1 Team Headquarters with lunch for 6 people to hosted fishing on exclusive stretches to a guided tour of the Purdeys gun factory. 

We want to do even better this year! While the limit for the dinner will be 30 lots, we plan to expand the selection to include additional items for an online auction prior to the dinner itself. 

Last year -

*The tour of the Brawn F1 headquarters raised £3,000!

* A watercolour by Roger MacPhail, one of the finest wildlife artists of his generation, of a pair of shelducks flying upstream raised £1,250!

* An oil painting of a grouse moor by the excellent landscape/wildlife artist, Alistair Makinson, raised £2,200!

* ‘Long dog and hare’ bronze sculpture by Paul Jenkins raised £520!

These are just a few examples of the type of lot we’re looking for.  Can you help?  Please contact Debbie Creasy – debbie@salmon-trout.org – or telephone her at S&TA HQ – 0207 283 5838.