THE EUROPEAN ANGLERS ALLIANCE
10TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY


10th ANIVERSARY OF EAA

To mark the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the founding of EAA a mini-seminar was held in the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday 25th March hosted by Dr. Gerhard Schmid MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament and Willi Görlach MEP. EAA and the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTA) delivered a presentation on the socio-economic importance of recreational angling in Europe, an activity worth more than an estimated €25 billion to the European economy. Dr. Schmid opened the session by referring to facts and figures from the German national socio-economic-study released in January.
"I knew that the figures for recreational angling should be big, but not that big and I am sure very few people would know. This information should be circulated widely and a pan-European study should be funded", commented Dr. Schmid.
Willi Görlach asked for more action from the European Parliament. "I assume you will find some 70 keen anglers among the Members of the European Parliament. We must form a forum for those politicians".
EAA President Harm Minekus and EFTTA General Manager Janet Doyle called on the EU to fund a co-ordinated and comprehensive socio-economic study into the recreational angling sector under the 6th (research) Framework Program. Figures from the few existing national studies are not comparable, and to develop sound management policies, accurate and comprehensive information is required. Only an EU co-ordinated pan-European study can provide the figures needed.
Harm Minekus commented that "Angling is one of the most important social and economic activities in Europe, and it is a sustainable activity. Angling has a lot of benefits to offer - it provides quiet enjoyment of the environment for individuals and families across the generations and can take place anywhere there is water - in park lakes and urban canals, in rivers and streams, in town and country, by the coast and out at sea.
'The contribution by anglers is not just social and economic. Anglers are society's 'eyes and ears' in the water habitats, watching out for pollution and environmental damage. Anglers and their organisations care about the environment and biodiversity - and have done so for more than a century; long before any environmental organisation was born".
Ms Doyle followed up emphasising that, "Yet, the Commission continues to give priority to commercial fisheries and aquaculture, despite the fact that recreational angling dwarfs those sectors economically. Its time the Commission recognised these facts and offered more support to the development of the most popular recreational activity in Europe. "

The Commission's bias in favour of the commercial sector was evidenced by the failure of a representative from either DG Fish, Agriculture, Sport, Tourism, Environment or Regional Policy to attend the seminar. Approximately 40 people attended.


GENERAL ASSEMBLY

The 10th General Assembly of the European Anglers Alliance (EAA) was held in the Castle De Pont-a-Lesse, near the city of Dinant in South Belgium from 26th to 28th March 2004. 65 delegates from 18 countries attended.

Friday morning 26th March - Board Meeting
A meeting of the Board took place between 09:00 and 12:00 attended by all board members, the Secretary General and the General Manager of EFTTA. The following items were discussed.

Seminar at EU Parliament.
It was agreed that we would write to the missing DG's expressing our disappointment that they did not send any representatives to the presentation and that we would expect more interest from them when we would meet with them in the future. EFTTA will send a letter along similar lines. An EAA press release is to be issued.

New Subscription scheme
The Board was informed that both Austria and Sweden would oppose the immediate introduction of the new band-factor 2 which would have the effect of doubling of subscriptions for 3 countries. Ireland would support the introduction. The meeting also discussed an option to move to a per capita scheme. At present the larger countries pay €0.001 per capita, small countries pay at the rate of €0.03 per capita. In order to arrive at a budget figure of €250,000 it would be necessary to charge a rate of €0.05 per member. This would mean significant increases for the larger countries, for example, France would go from €15,876 to €90,000, UK would go from €8,820 to €20,000. The scheme was unlikely to get the support of the larger countries.

Proposed New Lobby Group
The opinion of the Board was that the establishment of a formal sub-group was un-necessary at this time. It was a good idea for countries who wished to lobby the EU on their own behalf to co-ordinate their efforts with EAA to ensure that there is no cross-over lobbying taking place. It would be bad for us if we give the impression at EU level that we haven't got our act together. There is also a finite amount of lobbying time that the EU will give to recreational angling so we must utilise that time to the maximum.

Board Member - Sea Sub-group
It was agreed that John Crudden would take responsibility for the Sea Sub-group.

Friday afternoon 26th March 2004 - National programme
Delegates to the 10th General Assembly of EAA were welcomed by Christian Bontemps, President of the French speaking Fishermen of Belgium (F.S.P.F.B.)/EAA-Belgium. During the afternoon and evening papers were presented on the state of angling and the piscicultural environment in the Wallonian Region of South Belgium. Following an introduction by the Wallonian Minister of Agriculture the following items were spoken on. Structure of the piscicultural authorities in Walloon Region. Return of the Salmon in the Belgian Meuse. Implementation of the Water Framework Directive and its implication for Wallonia. Freedom of movement of fish in Walloon waters. Plans of Piscicultural management applicable on the River Semois basins. The itinerant school of angling. Women's fly fishing.

Friday evening/Saturday morning - Regional & Sub-group meetings

Sea Sub-Group meeting
A meeting of the Sea sub-group was held on Friday evening 26th March. 8 members attended the meeting.

Opening and fixing the agenda
The Chairman, John Crudden, opened the meeting by introducing himself. The Board in its wisdom had selected him to take responsibility for the Sea sub-group and he would do his best to carry out the task. It was agreed that Tony Williams would record the minutes of the meeting and deliver the sub-group report to the General Assembly. The agenda was agreed.

Report of the Sub-Group meeting of December 03
The meeting agreed that the report of the Sub-Group meeting held in December (previously distributed) was taken as read. Marcel Ordan said that a number of points in the report were not correct. He said that tuna became stressed when caught and as a consequence were not fit for release. On the question of participation in the CFP he said that it was quite OK for EAA to be part of the CFP however in the Mediterranean things were different and the wishes of the people there must be respected if they do not want to become part of the process. They had reached an agreement between commercial and recreational fishermen in relation to tuna. He said that CIPS wrote to the EU in support of EAA in order to increase the pressure on the EU. CIPS was not trying to take over the role of EAA. Following acceptance of the points raised the meeting agreed the report.

Definition of Recreational Angling
Jan Kappel said that the word "fishery" should read "fishing". Marcel Ordan said that some changes were required in the French translation. The meeting agreed to accept the definitions with the added changes.

Regional Advisory Council - Update
The SG reported that EAA had lobbied hard to influence proposed RAC legislation. Following pressure from the commercial sector, the Commission had granted them increased representation on the Councils from 51% to more than 70%. We will be granted one seat out of between 18 and 24 with the slight possibility of a second. The Commission have stated that future management of the CFP will be on an eco-system basis. The commercial sector does not like this approach. The final draft of the legislation to bring the RAC's into being had now been published with agreement expected within weeks.

Areas of interest to EAA
1. Cod. Acording to ICES advice fishing for cod in certain areas should cease however the commercial sector is ignoring this. It is rumoured that the sector does not want the recovery of cod stocks because they are making a lot of money from a big increase in nethrop stocks (staple diet of cod).

2. Bass. Information from the UK indicates that Scottish pair trawlers are switching from fishing for cod to target bass stocks in the SW approaches. We have to strive for protection of the species during the spawning season. The UK Prime Minister's Strategy Unit has reported that bass should be considered a sport fish from end of 2004. In France discussions are ongoing with commercial interests about protecting bass during the spawning season. EAA should ignore the bass lobby in France and accept the discussions taking place as the best approach.

3. Tuna. Agreement has been reached with commercial interests in France to a minimum size limit of 15 kilograms. Spawning grounds are to be left alone.

4. European Eel. Leave this item to the Rivers Sub-group.

5. Marine Protected Areas. EAA will need to develop a strategy on MPA's so we can have discussions with the commercial sector. There would be various levels of protection within them and sea angling would depend on these levels whether complete closure or limited access. WWF were looking for complete closure.


Socio-economic Study.
A new study from the UK indicated that 2 million people went sea fishing last year in England and Wales giving a total spend in the order of 2 billion sterling.

Next Meeting.
The sub-group will have at least one more meeting this year with the venue probably Brussels.



West Region Meeting

A meeting of the West Region took place on Friday evening 26th March. 12 members attended the meeting.

Opening and fixing the agenda
The Chairman, John Crudden, opening the meeting welcomed everyone and wished them a productive Assembly. The agenda as presented was agreed.

Minutes
The minutes of the last Regional meeting were taken as read having been previously distributed. The minutes were agreed.

Report from the Board
The Chairman delivered a report from the Board meeting held earlier in the day.

1. Subscription scheme and Strategy Document. There was unanimous agreement for the proposed subscription scheme and strategy document. EAA-Holland indicated that they were prepared to increase their subscription fee by 100% however the Board must justify the proposed increases.

2. Socio-economic. The meeting heard a report of the seminar in the EU Parliament and agreed with the proposed strategy from the Board to progress the socio-economic study.

3. Lobby Sub-group. The meeting was told that the Board felt that the formation of a new lobby sub-group (proposed by EAA-Holland) was un-necessary at this time.

4. Revision of the Statutes. The meeting was told that because of the illness of the President no formal meeting of the review group was held. The Board would look at any proposals coming from the regions and sub-groups.

5. Rivers Sub-group. The Chairman related the Board's deliberations in relation to the Rivers Sub-group "vision". EAA-Holland expressed surprise at the Board's decision. The vision had been circulated in February together with a call for expression of comments. None were received. The Board had only discussed the document earlier in the day. There was a question as to how the publishing of the document would be funded and whether it would be a Rivers Sub-group or an EAA document. The Board would listen to any proposals.

6. Elections. Elections for two positions on the Board were due to take place during the GA. Harm Minekus indicated that he would seek to be elected to the President's position for another year and Chris Poupard indicated that he would contest the position of Treasurer for a further two years. There were no other nominations from the Region.


Resolutions
One resolution, an amended eel resolution from the Rivers Sub-group would come up for discussion at the GA. A resolution on the CFP was not as yet ready to be presented. A statement on the proposed review of NASCO would be made to the GA as well as an EAA position statement on Aquaculture.

Reports from member nations
Water Framework Directive. In the UK, anglers had achieved stakeholder status and were actively working with other stakeholders to progress the process. In Holland, NVVS had organised a national congress of stakeholders. The big question will be which will have priority status, fish or water. In Ireland, the process was just beginning. Angling representatives were active participants in the consultative process however they had not as yet got stakeholder status.

Adjournment
The Chairman adjourned the meeting to the next morning due to lack of time caused by the over-run of the national programme. The meeting was never concluded as no time slot was available to do so.



Saturday 26th March 2004 - Technical Session

Opening address: EAA President Harm Minekus
At 09:00 the President opened the General Assembly and welcomed delegates to this the 10th anniversary of the founding of EAA. He also welcomed the following special guests, Marcel Ordan of CIPS, Janet Doyle of EFTTA, Marteen Openeer former president of the EAA and Espen Farstad, former Board member.

He stated that he was aware of comments from delegates regarding the documentation appertaining to the General Assembly been late in being sent to them and that this was not in accordance with the EAA statutes. He proposed to open the meeting and then adjourn until 10:00am so that a Board meeting could take place to consider how the Assembly would proceed. The meeting was then adjourned. At approximately 10:00 the President re-opened the meeting. He commented that he was aware that under Article 10 of the statutes the papers appertaining to the agenda should be in the possession of the members at least two months in advance of the assembly. He went on to comment that there was no article in the statutes that said that when the papers were sent late that they could not be discussed. He commented that perhaps decisions could not be taken but that it was possible to go ahead with the Technical session as planned. The Statutory meeting was a decision-making session and therefore there could be a doubt as to the legality of the session. He proposed to bring in a motion to the assembly on Sunday after opening the Statutory Session and would ask the delegates to vote on it. The motion would be a declaration that the assembly is of the opinion that the Statutory Session would be a legal meeting. He motion would need unanimous support. If one delegate voted against this motion he would be of the opinion that the meting would not be legal and he would have to close the meeting and arrange a date for the next meeting. The President then continued with his opening address.

He said that this year the EAA celebrates its 10th anniversary. This was historic and something to be proud of. With scarce finances and few staff, EAA had year by year grown into a powerful organisation defending all European anglers' interests at European level. A major step forward and a necessary one was the decision to install an EAA secretariat in Brussels some years ago. As a result of this EAA had put recreational angling on the map in Brussels. EAA was known and accepted by the relevant parts of the Commission and had established a forum with angling- friendly MEPs. EAA pressure for a EU wide socio-economic study has so far not been successful, however, studies by individual countries had produced startling results emphasising the economic value over the commercial sector. EAA would keep up this pressure. EAA has participated in various EU and International initiatives such as IUCN, EIFAC and REDCAFE. EAA plays a lead role at NASCO and this year attended IBSFC for the first time. Member nations have assisted by sending delegates on behalf of the EAA. EAA contributors are already seen as experts in salmon policy and cormorant management. The development of an EAA scientific committee would assist this process in future by increasing their ability to contribute to these forums.

The work of the sub-groups continues to evolve. The sea-angling Sub-group has worked hard to develop EAA policy on CFP reform and RAC composition. The rivers group has developed an overall policy for EAA encompassing the Water Framework Directive, and has taken up the cause of the eel. Work on migrating species has centered on NASCO (Atlantic Salmon) and IBSFC (Baltic Salmon). All this had been achieved with a very small staff and part time assistance. If this effort were to progress EAA would need more staff and a permanent office and the necessary finance to fund it. He concluded by wishing delegates a productive session. He would hope that the GA would have the courage and foresight to take bold decisions necessary to cement EAA progress over the past ten years and to make the EAA a real force to be reckoned with in the EU corridors of power in the years to come.

Fixing the Agenda
The Board proposed the addition of item 3(a) to raise subscription income. He President said that we needed to double our subscription income. This could be done in several ways and he would like a discussion on this matter by the delegates present.

Strategy paper
This paper was not read out. An amendment was proposed by Paul Knight (UK). He proposed that under the item EAA approach, that promoting angling as a sustainable activity, causing no significant harm to the natural environment be changed to promoting angling as a sustainable activity with proven benefits through fisheries management for the aquatic environment. This amendment was accepted.

Measures to implement the Strategy
The President commented that at this time EAA had only one permanent staff member and that a lot of work required to be done as outlined in the statuary paper. This would require an increase in staff members, which would only be possible with an increase in the contributions from EFTTA and the support of the assembly for a raise in the subscription fees. Peter Martin (Switzerland) requested that the Board should produce a financial plan for the next 5 years. He would have difficulty in going back to his own country and informing them that the subscription fees would increase every year with nothing to show for it. This was followed by similar comments from Austria and Germany. Chris Poupard said that the Board had estimated that we would need at least €250,000 per year to run an efficient office in Brussels. There were alternative ways in which this money could be raised which would be outlined to the meeting in the Statutory Session. If the matter of subscriptions fees were resolved satisfactorily the board would then be in a position to put forward a firm financial projection for the next five years. The question of sending the documents for the GA on time again was raised. The President said that delivery of the documents on time required a lot of work. He accepted that any such criticism should be directed to the Board but that he felt a certain personal responsibility and would inform the Statuary Session on the following day that he would not be a going forward to run for President. Paul Knight (UK) commented that he hoped that in the next twenty-four hours delegates would be able to encourage the President to change his mind. Chris Poupard said that when the President introduced the strategy paper there were few immediate comments and therefore the board took take that as approval of the paper. In subsequent discussions various points were raised that indicated that there were certain countries that would not support this strategy or are not quite ready to support this strategy without further detail.
Peter Mohnert commented that Germany agreed one hundred percent with what was on the paper. They may have some difficulty with the details but they agreed with the overall approach. Germany would support and be happy to implement what was included in the paper. The President conclude that the meeting was in support of the strategy document and the consequences that are predicted.

Strengthening the European Lobby in Brussels
The NVVS on behalf of the Netherlands proposed the following. To put into operation an EAA Lobby Sub-group. The President commented that the board had considered this proposal and did not see the need to have such a subgroup. Only three nations would at this time be involved in such a sub group. Joop Bongers then went through their proposal in detail and concluded by saying that because of the important of good co-operation in the field of lobbying that the NVVS was prepared to make a substantial extra financial contribution for the expansion at the EAA office in Brussels. Chris Poupard said that he did not think that what Holland was proposing excludes co-operation with EAA. An example of co-operation was that Ireland sent two delegations to Brussels to lobby the Commission on two different topics. On each occasion these delegations gave advance notice to the Secretary General. He was then able to accompany them to the commission and assisted with their lobbying. He requested that when member nations lobby the commission it would be more beneficial if EAA policy was adhered to. This was best achieved by co-ordinating the lobby effort through the SG. Bernard Breton commented that it would be preferable to work on a case-by-case basis with the EAA. Espen Farsad (Norway) commented that Norway sees the proposal from the Dutch as a positive suggestion but that he supported the board's position on this and we should maintain the status quo of lobbying through the Secretary General. A delegate from Denmark commented that he was not of the opinion that a new subgroup was necessary. Paul Knight commented that he had a great deal of sympathy with what was being said by Holland but that he was not of the opinion that a formal subgroup structure was necessary however he saw the need for closer liaison between countries with similar problems. Following the coffee break Holland announced that they would undertake their lobbying operations in Brussels in co-operation with the EAA and accepted that a lobby sub-group was not necessary to carry this out. Any country that wanted information on what the NVVS was doing in Brussels could contact them. The expansion of the EAA office was an item that they would help to achieve.

EAA Office -Location, Cost and Partners
Chris Poupard delivered an oral presentation on this subject. As the delegates were aware the EAA office was at present located in the personal apartment of the Secretary General. That this was a very unsatisfactory situation both for him and the EAA. He said that at the moment our budget did not permit us to afford an office. EAA have been in discussion with EFTTA with a view to increase their level of contribution towards the lobby function and to a share of the office costs. EFTTA will consider the proposal at their board meeting in May. He is confident that following this meeting EAA would have the finances to secure a permanent office in Brussels. Preliminary discussions had also taken place with the European and Marine Industry Recreational Group (EURMIG) on the possibility that they might wish to share office facilities with EAA. That concluded this presentation.

Communication Strategy
Chris Poupard commenced this presentation by commenting that EAA is often criticized, and probably rightly, for lack of regular communication with its members. The Board has given this matter some consideration and proposed to address the problem through the further development of the EAA web site. The web site would have public pages as well as pages that were password protected. The latter would be for the members, which would allow them make their own postings. As well as this it was proposed, resources permitting, to produce one to three newsletters each year. Jan Kappel then spoke about the web site and went on to speak about the necessity of better communication between member nations. He also commented on his personal situation regarding his passing of interviews and the possible amount of money he could earn elsewhere. The president at this point interjected to remind the Secretary General that the subject under discussion was the web site. Jan Kappel then concluded by commenting further on the web site. A delegate questioned if the web site would be hosted on Jan Kappel's own computer or on an external server. Jan Kappel commented that this would be down to a question of cost. But that he would investigate the matter further.


Report from the Secretary General to the EAA
The President commented that this report was a very detailed report. As this report was fourteen pages long it was not read out. It had been circulated to delegates with other documentation prior to the meeting. Troels Hegland who as part of his masters thesis on the Common Fisheries Policy had worked in the EAA office for a period of three months gave a presentation on how the EAA is perceived by the European Commission. He commented that the commission saw the EAA as a fairly well known organisation, well organised and well funded. He had spoken to EU personnel just after the EAA's submission on the Regional Advisory Councils. These people were well informed of the EAA's submission. He commented that the people he had talked to in the Commission dealt primarily with commercial fishermen but that there was a general rising interest in finding alternatives to the commercial fisheries sector and ways to use the fisheries resource in a sustainable way. He spoke on the ways lobbying could be done in Brussels. He spoke about the huge number of lobbyist employed in Brussels at the present time. He suggested that if national delegations go to lobby the Commission that they should go under the umbrella of the EAA. He commented that the second place where he would see a prominent position for the EAA lobbying is in the European Parliament. He spoke about the need to identify angler friendly MEPs and to inform Jan Kappel of who these people were and suggested national delegations combine with the EAA in lobbying these MEPs. He went on to comment that the council of ministers was probably the most important institution in the EU. Again he suggested that lobbying at this level by national delegation be done with the EAA. He concluded by commenting that it was his opinion that all lobbying at all levels is best done with the co-operation of the EAA. The president then thanked Troels for his presentation and commented that the Secretary Generals report was still on the agenda for discussion. Chris Poupard then commented that the SG had been campaigning for more representation on RAC's. At present we had one place on each of these. There was a certain difficulty as he saw it with the amount of time a member of an RAC would have to spend per year working on them. He estimated possibly twenty to thirty days per year. As there was six RAC we had the challenge to try to find people that had the time to sit on them. That this was a very serious question. EAA would look stupid if, having looked for these places, nobody could be found to sit on them. He then called or any volunteers from the delegates present. A discussion then took place on the type of people and what qualifications they would require to sit on RAC's. Jan Kappel commented that possibly the best type of person would be someone that had been in the angling business for some years and was aware of the commercial mentality. He mentioned Malcolm Gilbert as a perfect example, but he was of the opinion that Malcolm could not find the required time. The type of person that he had in mind would be someone with expertise like Malcolm. He went on to comment that for the first three years, travel and hotel expenses would be covered but not salaries. A German delegate commented that Germany would like to have a seat in the RAC for the Baltic Sea. The President then commented that it would be a shame that after lobbying for a position on these RAC's we could not take up the positions that we were already offered. He commented that it was up to the regions where these RAC's were to find people to sit on them and also to deal with the costs. That EAA would not be in a position to pay these people. He went on to comment that when regions had names to sit on these RAC's that they be given to Jan Kappel so that he can lobby the European commission to appoint these people. The President closed this discussion by commenting that he thought that it was very impressive the list of activities that the Secretary General reported about and then complemented the SG on his report.


Reports from the Sub-Groups

Report from the River Systems Group
Dik Enklaar, Holland, Chairman of the Sub-group, commented that the sub group previously agreed that they should focus on a concrete goal and that that goal should be realised in one or two years. The sub group concluded that it was very important to formulate a vision on river systems as a common goal for EAA and that this aim was to put sport fishing on the political agenda of policy makers and to gain a broad acceptance for sport fishing as an important recreational activity. This vision was put on paper in Holland with the aim that it could be useful for lobbying by the EAA. He commented that on behalf of the nine countries that were part of the river system he could bring forward the text of their vision prepared in brochure form. He hoped that the General Assembly could agree on the text for that brochure. He was aware that there was a constant lack of money in the EAA. He further commented that the nine members of the sub group have all stated that they were willing to make a contribution towards the printing of the brochure in question. He also hoped that possibly the EAA could contribute towards the cost of printing this brochure. The President then asked the assembly if any nation objected to the text of this brochure and to print this document as an EAA document. There were no objections. The question of the EAA contributing towards the printing cost of this brochure was also raised. The President hoped that some money could be found to do this. The Dutch delegate commented that they spread information only to members of the sub group and to the Secretary General and that possibly the SG could arrange to spread this information to other interested nations.

Report from the Sea Angling Sub-group
Tony Williams, UK gave this report. He commented on the number of meetings that this subgroup had since the last General Assembly. A full report had been written for the GA but that some things had arisen since this report had been written. He spoke on the definition of angling that had been proposed and the agreement that had been made with CIPS.

RAC's
Regional Advisory Councils would be an advisory arm of the common fishery policy. Sadly from our point of view the commercial sector had a majority of seats on the RAC's, which were obtained by putting pressure on the European Commission. Legislation was now close to final agreement, and if agreed in its present form, the commercial fishermen will be able to control everything in the RAC's. The EAA has proposed submitting minority reports to give our viewpoint if necessary. He would be of the opinion that these reports would be taken notice of. But that maybe minority reports might not be necessary. He commented that in any case after three years the RAC's legislation would be reviewed. This will give the EAA the chance to press for greater representation. The big problem he said was delegates needing to spend twenty to thirty days a year on RAC's plus all the necessary background reading.

Cod Stocks
The commercial sector is not taking ICES advice to stop catching cod to allow a recovery of this stock. The commercial pressure was so powerful that the EU and national governments had caved in to this pressure. He commented that there was one report that suggested that the commercial fishermen in the North Sea do not want the cod stock to recover because the cod are not eating the nethrops (Scampi, Dublin Bay Prawns) and that these nethrops are now prolific and that the commercial fishermen are making a lot of money from catching them. Bass he commented is another hot topic in sea angling.

Bass Stocks
Because of the scarcity of cod immediate pressure is being put on bass stocks. The good news is that in the UK a government strategy unit has suggested making Bass a sport fish in UK waters. Mr. Ordan had advised him that he is already in discussion with French commercial fishermen regarding the protection of Bass during the spawning season. He said that he also believed that the socio-economic studies that had been carried out had brought pressure to bear because of the value of recreational fishing.

Eel stocks
The Sea Angling Sub-group had discussed the river eel but as this is a freshwater fish as well as a migrating fish it was thought best dealt with by the rivers sub-group.

Marine Protected Areas (MPA's)
He posed the question would these areas be completely closed areas or would there be access to some fisheries. This had not yet been clarified. He commented that there was a project in the UK, (South West Invest in fish) which has got a million pounds worth of funding and involves all the stakeholders in a round table conference including representatives from France, Spain and Ireland. Their mission was to manage the fisheries to the South West of England in a sustainable manner. He was of the opinion that they would be the first people to talk about MPA's.

Tuna stocks
Tuna had also been discussed in the Sub group. He concluded by commenting that Marcel Ordan being the expert on Tuna would be best suited to speak on the subject of tuna in the Mediterranean. The President thanked Tony for his presentation. Marcel Ordan commented that he was of the opinion that the problems with regards tuna were going to be solved because the tuna fishing representatives in France now have a new President and this new president wanted to protect the species. Tuna fishermen have noticed that if tuna are put into cages that they were able to sell them in the winter. In summer, prices for tuna were low but if fishermen put tuna into cages in the summer and sell them in the winter they could get better prices. The tuna remain in the cages for about four months and in this time they get fatter, not necessary heavier. Nations like the Japanese enjoy this fatty flesh. There was also now a greater willingness by commercial interests to manage stocks in the Mediterranean Sea more sustainable. They are discussing with the new President of the commercial sector what the minimum size for tuna should be, the managing of spawning beds and the respecting of quotas. He commented that the minimum weight swordfish should be caught at should be fifteen kilos. He requested the co-operation of the EAA in lobbying for this. He spoke on the subject of white tuna in the Mediterranean and commented that scientists did not at this time have sufficient data regarding this species. They did not know for definite the level of stocks in the Mediterranean or if this species was threatened or in decline. He commented that they had asked their scientists to examine the situation so as to better clarify the situation. This concluded his comments. The President then thanked him for his contribution.



Report from the Migrating Species sub- group

Chris Poupard gave this report.

Baltic Salmon
He commented that the summer past was very dry over most of Europe and as a result there was a slight decline in spawning salmon in Finland and Sweden. There was a very real problem regarding seal predation developing in the gulf of Botnia. He commented that spawning success generally was good which would bear well for smolt production next year. The Finnish and Swedish action plan called for an increase in wild salmon by 2010. Currently the level of wild salmon in the Baltic is growing at about ten percent per year. He commented that EAA attended the annual meting of the International Baltic Sea Fisheries Commission in Lithuania for the first time. EAA was represented by EAA Sweden. A TAC of 460,000 salmon was set for 2004 against ICES advice of a figure of 410,000. He pointed out that neither Sweden nor Finland took their full TAC last year. As regards IBSFC and the Baltic as a whole, the Migrating Species group sought better engagement from colleagues in EAA Denmark, Poland and Germany in relation to Baltic Salmon. EAA supported a call from EAA Sweden for a total ban on drift nets in the Baltic Sea, which was also supported by WWF and other organisations. He was very pleased to inform the delegates that the Council of Ministers had recommended a total ban on Drift nets in the Baltic Sea by 2008.These nets would begin to be phased out by 2005. The main reason that these nets are to be phased was because of the by catch of marine mammals. In Norway a certain parasite was giving a particular problem. One new river a year in Norway is being affected. He commented that a ten-year eradication plan is being designed at a cost of thirty to forty million Norwegian Kroner a year. So far, the Norwegian Government had given twenty million Kroner. There is also serious consideration about the risk of the re-introduction of the paradise from neighbouring rivers in Sweden. EAA has brought this matter to the attention of EAA Sweden. In the UK the main event was the buy out of the majority of the English North East coast drift nets just now been completed. This buy out was a public private partnership with the UK government contributing one point two five million pounds. The private sector is contributing around two million pounds, which is still being raised. This is being co-ordinated by the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (UK). He said that in Ireland the Government has committed to reduce the drift net quota to the level of one hundred and forty thousand fish. This level is recommended on scientific advice. The Irish Government is committed to achieving this level by 2005. Last year the quota was 220,000 fish, which was not quite achieved. There have been some initiative mainly by Orri Vigvasson aimed at buying out some of these nets and these initiatives are continuing. The Irish drift nets intercept salmon from all over Europe and that it was also certain that they intercept Wallonian fish from the Meuse, which he raised with their Minister yesterday. It would be very helpful to EAA if member countries would take a more active part in lobbying the EU on salmon matters. This year was the twentieth anniversary of NASCO and a number of commentators, including himself, have called for a review of that organisations mandate to make it more effective and to give the organisation more teeth. The sea trout group, formed in Scotland in 1996 with objectives to fight for the regulation of aquaculture and the restoration of sea trout stocks have recently appointed a part time lobbyist. Fiona Cameron, a former journalist, will be based in Scotland and will be liasing closely with EAA on relevant topics in Europe. This matter he commented is of close interest to Norway and Ireland. That concluded his presentation.

Subscription increases
Chris Poupard spoke of the necessity of raising subscriptions. He commented that what he had to say was not a firm proposal and had nothing to do with the band factors and the subscription scheme that would be discussed in the Statuary Session. His comments were to give delegates an idea the length of time it would take to achieve the target that EAA was aiming for if subscription income was increased by certain amounts and he hoped delegates would consider the ideas put forward before the Statuary Session. He presumed that the base line was €100,000 and if there was an increase of five percent a year that this would be a waste of time. If the subscription was increased by 20% per year EAA would get close to where they wanted to be by year four. An increase of 25% would get the EAA close to where they wanted to be by year three. Another option was an increase of 30% in year one and 10% per year afterwards would get close to where they wanted to be in year five. One final option was an increase in subscriptions of 50% in year one and then 10% per year would mean that EAA would get close to where they wanted to be in year four. He commented that the board had come to the conclusion that a budget of about €200,000 to €250,000 was needed to operate an efficient office in Brussels. He had given the delegates some ideas of how this money could be raised and asked them to discuss it amongst themselves and that hopefully that they would have some ideas on the matter when it came to be discussed in the statuary session.



Reports from the Regions

Northern Region
This report was given by Jens Thygussen. He commented that there are four countries in the Northern region at the moment. These countries do have a lot of national problems, but he would not elaborate on these at this time. One meeting had been held in Region North since the last General Assembly. Estonia and Latvia had been invited to this meeting, which was held in Helsinki in December of last year. Unfortunately due to weather conditions the representative from Estonia could not attend. A reply was not received from Latvia to their invitation. He is now aware that Estonia wished to become a member of the EAA and that Region North would be very happy to have them. That concluded his report.

Southern Region
This report was given by Bernard Breton. He commented that the Southern region had been having discussions into several items and that there was agreement that the region was opposed to small hydropower electric power stations. He commented that there were now new species in river areas where previously they were completely absent mainly because there was interconnection of water systems. On sustainable aquaculture the region had talks with some people involved and they hoped to broaden these talks to include more people from the industry. He spoke about illegal fishing for tuna in the Mediterranean and commented that countries in this area wanted this practice stopped. France very precise figures for the last ten years for migration species like tuna. Catches of juvenile fish was still a problem. Countries like France and Italy had good relationships with the professional fishermen and they discussed common problems. He hoped for EAA support in solving problems that applied in the Mediterranean Sea as well as in Atlantic waters. France had been in contact with professional representatives of commercial fishermen in these areas with regards to such problems. In the Mediterranean Sea he commented that the minimum catch weight of swordfish should be fifteen kilos. He concluded by commenting that France respected minimum sizes. The president thanked him for his contribution.

Central Region
This report was given by Ference Szalay. He commented that the delegates were probably aware that there were ten organisations from eight countries as members of the central regional. Major efforts had been made to make contact with Macedonia without success, so when he spoke about the central regional he excluded Macedonia. After the last general assembly the central region working group focused on co-operation among their federations. In the last year they had held a conference in the Czech Republic and that gave them the opportunity to look at certain options as to how they should proceed. Their first task was to carry out a census of the cormorant population, which was completed in November 2003. They were still awaiting the results, which would be circulated as soon as they became available. The region would implement any agreements reached following on from the REDCAFE/INTERCAFE programmes. Another problem they had, common to other regions, was small hydroelectric power stations. He concluded by stating that the central region intended to have a future and to continue the activities that they were involved in.

Report from the West Regional
John Crudden gave this report. He commented that the West Region consisting of Holland, the UK and Ireland. The region had held one meeting since the last General Assembly. The items discussed in the regional had already been discussed that morning at the various sub-group meetings so he didn't propose to speak further about them. For the future he commented that the region looked forward positively to retaining the regional structure. The President thanked him for his report.

Future of the Regions
The President opened this discussion by asking delegates if it was their opinion that the EAA should continue to be structured as regions or was there a preference of going forward with another type of structure. After a discussion the President concluded that the delegates were happy with the existing structure that the EAA was operating with at this time.

Definition of Recreational Angling
The President asked the Secretary General to comment on this item. Jan Kappel commented that a short and a long version had been produced. One was for normal use and a version for academic use. He then requested comments from the delegates. Espen Farstad (Norway) commented that basically the definitions were acceptable to them but that some points in them were more like policy statements. Chris Poupard did not totally agreed with Espens Farstad comments. He commented that some points were policy but were also a definition. He went on to say that once an angler sells his catch he is not a recreational angler but a commercial one and that this was a practice the EAA should oppose. Further comments on this item were made from the floor. Chris Poupard said that a lot of work had gone into preparing these definitions and delegates were looking at about the twenty-fourth draft at that time. Marcel Ordan commented that fish caught by recreational anglers couldn't be swapped or sold otherwise these anglers are not recreational anglers. Comments were made on the translation of certain words from English into French such as recreational. Direct translation it was said with the same meaning in French as English of this word was not possible. It was suggested that the word leisure instead of recreational be used as this could be directly translated into French. Jan Kappel then commented that what was now needed was that experts examine the English definition and find the best French words to use in translation. Tony Williams commented that he had been involved in preparing this angling definition. What had to be done was to bring this definition down to a simply definition of angling particularly for Jan Kappel to use at European Union level. Delegates could take the short definition back to their own countries to stick to the principles of the definition and add other things that delegates required in their countries. He said that they had started this definition from a huge document giving a lot of information. International advice was taken and also advice from scientists, but in the end they came back to the basic definition that delegates had. He commented that there may be one or two words that when delegates take it to their own countries that they may want to change but he earnestly requested anglers to agreed to use the short definition. A Danish delegate suggested the following amendment "Recreational angling is the activity of catching or attempting to catch fish by rod, pole or hand held line for non commercial purposes". The president concluded this discussion by commenting that all comments made would be considered carefully and that a final conclusion on the matter could be taken in the statuary session.

Socio-economics studies
Tony Williams commented that a new study had been done recently in the UK however the report will not be published until the middle of April. This study shows that recreational angling in the UK was worth about €1.6 billion a year and that two million people go sea angling at least once a year. A Netherlands delegate commented that the Dutch government was currently conducting a study and that the results of this should be available in the middle of this year. A German delegate commented that a study existed but that there was no agreement yet in Germany as to the contents of this.

Progress towards a pan -European Socio-economic Study
Jan Kappel spoke on the mini session in the European Parliament held on the 25th March. The seminar was hosted jointly by Gerard Schmid MEP, Vice-president of the European Parliament and Willi Gorlach MEP. EAA and EFTTA delivered a presentation on the socio-economic importance of recreational angling in Europe, an activity worth more than an estimated twenty five million Euro. EAA and EFTTA called on the EU to fund a co-ordinated and comprehensive socio- economic study into the recreational angling sector under the 6th Research Framework Programme. Figures from the few existing national studies are not compatible, and to develop sound management policies, accurate and comprehensive information is required. Only an EU co-ordinated pan-European study can provide the required figures. Both the EAA President and EFTTA General Manager called for full recognition of the socio-importance of sea angling.



Cormorants

Redcafe/Intercafe Updates
The President invited Bruno Broughton to comment on this item. The REDCAFE project finished about a year ago and its final report is now being written and would be available shortly on the Internet. Funding would be available to continue with research into the successor of REDCAFE and when he had obtained the full details of this he would pass them to the Secretary General for distribution to the members. Countries with a legitimate interest could be part of the group which would be limited only if it got too large. Countries had never been excluded as long as they had something to contribute and could get to meetings. German delegates commented on the number of cormorants in Germany and the necessity to control them. They had certain difficulties with the conclusions of the report. Bruno Broughton replied that in the formulation of this report that anglers involved, as well as people from four other interest groups. He said that it was up to each individual country as to how they utilised the findings in the report. A delegate from France commented that they were allowed to kill twenty five thousand cormorants each year. The debate concluded with Bruno Broughton again commenting that if countries wanted to be involved in the continuing research that as far as he was aware that they would be facilitated.

Scientific Committee
The Assembly agreed that a scientific committee be formed. The paper circulated on this matter was in French. The names given on this paper are as follows. President, Ference Szalay, Committee, Dr. Robert Arlinghaus, Bernard Breton, Dr, Gerard Masselot, Benoit Sottiaux, Dr.Gabor Guti, Jen Thygssen, Dr. Cornec, Dr. Gerard Bellan.

Resolutions
The President commented that a resolution on eels was proposed from the Rivers sub-group. A Dutch delegate commented that they had received a paper from the EAA secretariat and asked why this paper had been written. Chris Poupard said that the paper the Dutch delegate had received was a re-worded version of their resolution. Some confusion then arose about the original resolution and the re-worded version. The President asked if the Assembly would agree to drop the re-worded version in favour of the original version. There was no objection.

NASCO Review
Chris Poupard said that the paper on the proposed review of NASCO was not a resolution but he would appreciate EAA's support for the proposal. He said that this paper was an individual initiative by four people who wished to see this review take place. He commented that this matter would be raised at the statuary session and that he would appreciate the support of the delegates on this matter.

Reform of the CFP
The President commented that there was no resolution on this matter. He was of the opinion that it was more important to fill the seats on the RAC's with capable people rather than have resolutions on this matter.

Other resolutions permitted by the President
Bernard Breton proposed a resolution on Lakes. The president commented that there was only a French version available. That delegates could discuss it when there was an English translation available. A statement, rather than a resolution, was put forward by the French later in the meeting. A written English version of this statement was not made available.

Closure of the meeting
The President commented that no further technical business had been notified to him. He thanked the delegates for their co-operation in concluding the meeting on time. He would open the Statutory Session on the following morning and would ask the delegates at that time to vote on the legality of that meeting.



Sunday 27th March 2004 - Statutory Session

The Statutory Session was opened by the President at 09:00. After welcoming delegates and guests he announced that the Board wished to withdraw the proposed new subscription scheme. There would be a new proposal put before the Assembly for the formation of a working party whose task would be to formulate a new subscription scheme including an implementation and financial plan for the next five years and that would report to the board within six months. After consideration by the Board, member nations will be advised of it by October 2004. The aim would be that this plan would be put before the General Assembly in 2005 for ratification. The working party will be chaired by the Treasurer, Chris Poupard, with members nominated by each region. This working party could arrange its own timetable and meetings. EAA would fund the cost of two meetings. He also commented that he expected that EAA would have a new office in the second half of 2004. He then put a verbal motion to the floor as follows; "Despite receiving by the members the papers for this assembly later than required by the statutes never the less delegates would consider the statuary session to be a legal meeting". There was no objection to this motion and therefore it was passed. The president then declared the meeting to be legal.

Minutes of the Technical and Statutory sessions Leipzig
No comments were made on these minutes. They were then adopted.

Report of the Board-President
The President commented that this paper was part of the documentation already sent to delegates and that he did not intend to read it out. He then went on to comment on the Seminar that had taken place in the European Parliament on the 25th March. He stressed the importance of having the continuing support from angling friendly MEP's and he considered the meeting to be a useful exercise.

Proposal for changing the subscription scheme
The President commented that the proposal from the Board in relation to a new subscription scheme as earlier stated had been withdrawn. The President then asked Chris Poupard to comment. He said that the reason that the Board had withdrawn the subscription scheme was because it obviously was causing so much concern amongst certain regions. He commented that this was only a short-term scheme. The Board was more concerned about the future of the organisation. He again explained the proposed setting up of a working party etc. He hoped that at the GA in 2005 delegates would be in a position to approve or comment on the proposed scheme. As the EAA will fund two meetings he commented that an adjustment would have to be made to the budget. This change was not reflected in the budget as resented to the Assembly for the coming year. He commented that, funds permitting, the board would undertake to establish a new office in Brussels in the second half of 2004. Comments from the floor were in favour of what was proposed. The President concluded that delegates were in favour of the proposals made.

Membership status of certain countries-Those that have not paid
The Treasurer commented that this information had already been circulated to delegates. The Board had decided that some of the old debts from the VVVS should be written off. Figures from 2002 showed Slovenia owing €605 and Macedonia €706. In 2003 figured showed UK owing a subscription fee. He was in discussion with the UK regarding this money. They (the UK) were sure that they had paid this money. This matter had yet to be clarified. Switzerland still owed some money. Hungary he said had overpaid. The Irish payment had been made. There was an amount outstanding from Poland. In 2001, Italy had sent money through their bank but it went missing in transfer. He requested the Italian delegates if they could make some more efforts to sort out this problem. A delegate from Italy commented that he had proof that the money in question had been paid. The President then concluded this discussion by commenting that discussions should take place between the Treasurer and individual countries where clarification was required on differences regarding fees paid to the EAA.

Fixing members and number of votes
The number of votes was fixed at fifty-eight. The President then appointed a voting committee of two members.

Committee on revising the statues -progress report
The President commented that because of certain difficulties during the past year including his own health problems no progress had been made on this item. He commented that if delegates had any points to make on the statutes that they could be made to the EAA secretariat. The Board would then consider them.

Treasurers Report
The President read the report of the EAA external accountants for 2003 to the meeting. They had concluded that the accounts of EAA were in perfect order.

Internal auditors report
The internal auditors reported that they had found all EAA accounts to be in perfect order. The President thanked them for their work during the year.

Formal discharge of the Board
The President then requested delegates to formally discharge the Board from their liabilities for the 2003 financial year. Delegates then formally did so.

Budget 2004
Chris Poupard commented that there was difficulty in putting together a budget for 2004. There was uncertainty about acquiring additional funding from EFTTA and the proposed new subscription scheme would not be put in place until at least 2005. In his proposed budget he had estimated income of €106,000 assuming that the new subscription scheme would be put in place. As this would not now be the case the estimated income would be closer to the 2003 figure of €103,345. He had included a figure of €10,000 from sponsorship. The reason he included this was that without it there he would be a negative balance to the budget and that he could not put forward a negative budget. He commented that the EAA may or might not achieve €10,000 in sponsorship but that hopefully some other form of income may be obtained from some source be it sponsorship or EFTTA. He commented that he had assumed no inflationary increases to the money paid to the SG but that might change. He had estimated the cost of an office at €10,000. Hopefully EAA may be able to share the office with EFTTA but there is still uncertainly as to the exact amount of money that EAA will have to spend on this office. He proposed an increase to Christiane Beele who worked part time for the EAA. She was being paid a relatively small amount of money for the amount of work that she did. He commented that the Board had hoped to save money by not having external auditors but that without them EAA would not qualify for any European grants if any such grant could be got. He was proposing a similar amount be spent on projects as 2003 at €8,547. The overall budget he concluded would show a very small surplus of €931 taking into account the extra figure of €10, 000 that we' hoped to receive. He said that because of the EAA's fairly healthy financial position we could sustain a deficit for 2004 if we did not receive the extra financial income. It was important that the new working party came up with an acceptable scheme to increase EAA income over the next five years. After certain comments from the floor the President asked the delegates to approve the budget even with the uncertainness that were in it and to mandate the Board to adjust the budget as necessary. Delegates agreed to this. The President then commented that delegates would be informed as soon as possible regarding a revised budget.

Re-election of internal auditors
The President suggested that if there were no other proposals the internal auditors that were appointed for 2003 be re-appointed for 2004. The delegates agreed to this.



Approval of items from the technical and statutory sessions

EAA Strategic Plan
The EAA strategic plan was adopted by the meeting.

Subscription scheme
The President commented that the Board had previously withdrawn the subscription scheme. The President then called on the Regions to supply names of people to sit on the new working group chaired by the Treasurer. The Central, North and South Regions supplied the name of their representative all of whom were in attendance. The West Region nominated David Kent, UK, who was not present. Chris Poupard requested that the representatives should meet after the assembly to fix the date of their first meeting. The first meeting was scheduled for 1st May 2004. The President suggested that delegates lobby their national organisations and suggest to them that they contribute a little more money to make EAA sustainable.

Definition of recreational angling
The President commented that the Board had discussed the various comments and amendments suggested in the technical session and that the Danish amendment was acceptable to the Board. That read as follows "Recreational angling is the activity of catching or attempting to catch fish by rod, pole or hand held line for non-commercial purposes" The President said that delegates should feel free to use the definition in their own countries with some slight changes as necessary. The delegates agreed to this.

Resolutions promoted by the technical session
Bernard Breton proposed a resolution on man-made lakes. Delegates commented that it was not clear from the English translation from the translators as to the content and full implication of this resolution. As the resolution was only available in French the President requested that it be translated into English before it could be discussed further. At the conclusion of the debate the resolution was downgraded to a statement by a French delegate with the option to enter it as a resolution when translated to English.

Resolution to save the European Eel
A Dutch delegate commented that they had worked late the previous night to finalise the wording of this resolution, which he hoped would get the support of the delegates. The President commented that he needed to clarify the text of the resolution as some of it was in bold letters and some was very faintly printed. Jan Kappel commented that the faint lettering were adjustments that were made to the original resolution with the agreement of the Dutch. The President then asked the assembly if they could adopt the resolution. Comments were made from the floor that the resolution as it now was written had not been circulated. The President then postponed further discussion on this matter until the document had been circulated. The resolution was passed later in the meeting passed following distribution.

Twenty year of NASCO
This item had been discussed in the Technical Session. Chris Poupard said that this was not a resolution as such. He was asking for support from the Assembly for this review. The President concluded after comments from the floor that EAA would support the call for an NASCO review.

Memorandum of understanding with CIPS
The President commented that a paper on this item had already been circulated to delegates. The Board's recommendation was that delegates approve this recommendation. Marcel Ordan commented that there was certain changes made to the original French text. Chris Poupard commented that it was difficult to directly translate exactly each word from English to French. Marcel Ordan commented that, as far as far as he was concerned the French version was the one to be used. A debate then commenced as to the reasons the EAA needed an agreement with CIPS. The President commented that one of the points of agreement with CIPS was that they would handle competition angling and EAA would handle political questions regarding fishing. After comments by some delegates as to why this letter of understanding with CIPS was necessary the President concluded the discussion by commenting that comments made by some delegates demonstrated how necessary it was to have second thoughts about this letter of understanding. He proposed that a decision on the matter would not be taken at this meeting and possibly the EAA would bring forward another text or possibly not. That concluded the debate on this item.

Election of President
The President commented that there was no candidate for this position. He said that the criticism that the Board got at the start of the Technical session regarding the documentation for the GA not being delivered to delegates in time was correct. He commented that he would have to take the consequences and step down from his position. Following comments of support from the floor the President agreed to stand for the position for one year only. Harm Minekus was then elected unanimously.

Election of Treasurer
Chris Poupard commented that given the decision of the President and the fact that there were no other candidates for the position he agreed to let his name go forward for Treasurer. He was unanimously elected.

Date and Place of the next General Assembly
A Danish delegate said that a number of delegates present would like Denmark to host the next General Assembly. At this time he could not formally give an undertaking to do so however he would go back to his organisation and would investigate the possibly. He commented that it would be helpful if Denmark could have a guaranteed from the EAA that their organisation would not end up with any debts. Chris Poupard commented that this years organising committee had expressed similar comments and a satisfactory arrangement had been made with them.

Address by Marteen Openeer
Marteen Openeer addressed the General Assembly at this point. He congratulated the EAA on what had been achieved in the last ten years and also made some other general commentary comments on the organisation.

Closure by the President
The President then formally closed the Assembly. He thanked the delegates for their attendance and wished them a safe journey home and commented that he hoped to see them all in Denmark in 2005.

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