The Scottish Government has launched a pre-consultation on the Sustainable Inshore Fishery Trust’s (SIFT) application for a Regulating Order for the Firth of Clyde. SIFT was founded with the support of Fish Legal and Angling Trust in response the dramatic declines in inshore fish populations on the Firth of Clyde and elsewhere. Angling Trust now calls on all its members to support this application which could form a blueprint for the recovery of other parts of the UK’s coastline.
The purpose of the Regulating Order is to reverse decades of decline in mature fish stocks through establishing a network of fishery measures designed to facilitate recovery. The loss of mature fish populations in the Clyde, Britain’s largest inland sea, has led to a dramatic decline of a fishery once famous for hosting international angling matches and angling festivals.
The Scottish Government has initiated a pre-consultation on SIFT’s proposal and anyone interested in supporting the recovery of the Clyde should sent comments to clyde-ro@gov.scot before 18 January 2016.
For those short of time Angling Trust recommends sending a simple message along the following lines:
“I support SIFT’s proposals for the Firth of Clyde because they will restore this fishery to its former glory and this will have great environmental, economic and social benefits for the region as well as for the UK”.
The Scottish Government will take into consideration the responses of the pre-consultation and decide whether the Regulation Order should be published as a draft Order and taken forward to formal consultation.
Robert Younger solicitor Fish Legal and co-founder of SIFT comments:
“For too long the economic benefits of recreational sea angling on the Clyde have been ignored by the marine policy makers. The good news is that it is not too late to recover inshore fish stocks in this once important fishery, provided we send a clear message to the Scottish Government that we will no longer tolerate decline”.
Mark Lloyd CEO of Angling Trust and Fish Legal said:
“The Firth of Clyde should be one of the jewels in the crown of British recreational sea angling and I would urge all anglers to encourage the Scottish Government to fully back SIFT’s innovative and progressive proposals for recovery. If they are implemented, they could be adopted in other parts of the country”.
