|
NEWS
FOR "JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004"
FROM THE IRISH FEDERATION OF PIKE ANGLING CLUBS
PIKE POLICY REVIEW
The Irish Pike Society and the Irish Federation of Pike Angling
Clubs have jointly considered the recommendations of the Review
Group and we have made a submission to the Central Fisheries Board
as follows:-
We welcome the many positive recommendations of the report, however,
the fact that gill nets will continue to be used on many waters
is an insurmountable problem for both ourselves and many overseas
pike anglers. Their use has recently come to the attention of the
juditiary when Judge Neilon suggested at a District Court case in
Castlepollard that the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board should be
prosecuted for cruelty to pike for using them on Lough Sheelin.
We have suggested the following amendments:-
2.1.4 In designated waters, which are managed preferentially
for brown trout, pike removal by humane methods other than gill
netting, will be an integral part of the fisheries management programme.
Add: 2.1.5 There should be an immediate cessation of the
use of gill nets as a method of removing pike and coarse fish from
designated trout waters.
The pilot project should apply to all trout waters and not just
to the four suggested. If the above amendments are made the report
would be much more acceptable to both overseas and Irish pike anglers
and would bring back large numbers of visiting anglers currently
fishing elsewhere.
On a separate matter, we will be seeking a meeting with the Director
of Protection and Conservation of the Central Fisheries Board to
discuss some non-contentious aspects of the report. In particular,
we are anxious that the wording of the proposed new pike bye law
be comprensive enough to secure prosecutions and we would make proposals
in that regard. We will also be suggesting that pike under the permitted
length, caught and retained by an angler, must be kept whole i.e.
the head cannot be removed. This would remove the possibility that
the length of the fish could not be determined if it was fillited.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The Annual General Meeting of the Federation will take place in
the Greville Arms Hotel, Mullingar on Sunday 7th March 2004 at 2.00
pm. Affiliated clubs may send as many delegates as they wish, however,
only two delegates per club will have voting rights. Amendments
to the constitution, motions or resolutions for discussion at the
meeting must be notified to the Secretary by Friday 6th February.
The Agenda together with full list of motions etc will be circulated
to clubs by 20th February.
FISHING LINE - ARE YOU GETTING
WHAT'S CLAIMED ON THE LABEL?
Last year the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTA)
carried out a survey to determine what anglers want in the way of
tackle and what they thought of the existing material available.
The biggest complaint concerned the quality of monofilament line
available on the market. The complainants claimed that the breaking
strength claimed on the label did not bear up in fact and as a result
EFTTA carried out random testing to see if this was the case.
The tests found that:-
11% tested achieved or were better than their stated breaking strength
5% tested had more than 50% less breaking strength than declared
36% tested had between 30% - 50% less breaking strength than declared
26% tested had between 20% - 30% less breaking strength than declared
22% tested had up to 20% less breaking strength than declared
83% of the lines tested had all samples below their stated breaking
strength
9% of the lines tested had some of the samples below their stated
breaking strength
8% of the lines tested had samples that achieved their stated breaking
strength
These results are alarming and the trade needs to act now by implementing
an industry approved standard before national governments enforce
regulations. EFTTA has invited all companies to submit their lines
for testing and apply for the EFTTA approved logo. A widespread
marketing and promotional campaign will educate retailers and the
public about the meaning of the logo and the quality standard of
the product bearing it. The testing standard that EFTTA are using
is the internationally recognised ISO 2062 standard. Dry specimens
of line will be cut from spools and each diameter will be subject
to ten tests with breaking strength recorded for each sample. The
testing procedure will be carried out in a strictly controlled laboratory
environment and will adhere strictly to the ISO 2062 standard for
dry testing.
NORTH LONGFORD WIN ALL-IRELAND
CLUB COMPETITION
The 2003 All-Ireland Inter-Club competition was held on the Shannon-Erne
Waterway/Woodford River on Sunday November 23 rd 2003. The event
was very well attended by 28 teams from among the Federations affiliated
clubs but unfortunately catches on the day, with 35 fish being recorded,
did not live up to expectations despite pleasant fishing conditions.
The winners of the competition were North Longford Anglers 'A'
team with a total weight of 20lb 2 ½ oz.
(Team members Terry Sheridan, Michael Smith, David Boyle and David
Roche).
(Team received €500 plus the Perpetual Cup and Gold medallions).
Second place went to Cootehill 'A' team with a combined weight
of 17lb 14oz
(Team members Brenton Sweeney, Sean Markey, Benny Markey and Ronan
Murray).
(Cheque €300 plus silver medallions).
Third place was won by Keady 'A' team with a weight of 13lb
4oz
(team members John Marshall, Michael McKenna, Jim Slevin and Raymond
Leonard).
(Cheque €200 plus bronze medallions).
Best fish of the day at 8lb 6oz was caught by Sean Markey.
The Federation would like to express its thanks to Michael Fitzpatrick,
Fisheries Inspector, Northern Regional Fisheries Board for his assistance,
Kilcorby Log cabbins for parking facilities on the day and to the
'Anglers Rest', Ballyconnell, for their hospitality and refreshments
provided at the prize presentation.
KINGSPAN NATIONAL PIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
The 9th heat of the Kingspan National Pike Championship was held
on the Royal Canal at Mullingar, Co Westmeath, on Sunday 7th December.
It was hard going for the 55 anglers who turned up to fish the competition
with only 10 pike were landed.
The top 5 anglers were:-
1st. Jimmy Thompson, Dublin Pike Anglers 1 pike 7-04
2nd. Mickey Prenter, Belfast Individuals 1 pike 7-03
3rd. Pat Cooper, Dublin Pike Anglers 1 pike 2-11
4th. Larry Kelly, Piking Pirates A.C. 1 pike 2-00
5th. Jerome Fisher, Keady Pike Anglers 1 pike 1-13
The 10th heat was held on Lough Sillan, Shercock, Co Cavan, on Sunday
4th January. Sillan is a big water that sometimes fishes badly,
however, on this occasion the reverse was the case with the 63 competitors
catching 40 pike. Best fish at 21-02 was caught by Jimmy Farrell.
The top five anglers going through to fish the final are: -
1 Jimmy Farrell, Dublin Pike Anglers, 2 fish for 31lb 10oz
2 Tommy Sheridan, North Longford Anglers,
3 fish for 15lb 2oz 3 Sean Markey, Cootehill Angling Club, 3 fish
for 14lb 6oz
4 Gerry Keenan, Ardee Pike Anglers, 2 fish for 13lb 5oz
5 Maura Martin, Ardee Pike Anglers, 1 fish for 12lb 5oz
The final heat of the competition, the Stewards Qualifier, will
be held on Sunday 1st February with check-in at the Breffni Arms
Hotel, Arva, County Cavan at 9.30am and fishing 11am to 4.30pm.
This heat is reserved for anglers who have acted as steward over
a number of qualifiers during the preceding ten heats and the following
anglers are deemed eligible to fish this event:-
Joe Coleman, John Shaughnessy, Raymond Leonard, David Roche, Frank
Rafferty, Pat Sheenan, Thomas McCartney, Stephen Gibbons, Terry
Sheridan, John Woods, Alan Heasley, David Dennis, Brendan McCabe,
Phelim Jennings, Paddy McKenna, Pat Flattery, Ray Bergin, Mick Smith,
John McMullen, P.J. Brogan, Pat Brady.
Club Secretaries whose members are listed above are kindly requested
to inform their members of the check-in details for this event.
The Final will be held on Saturday 3rd of April. The 55 competitors
will be notified by post of the venue when selected. The top ten
finalists will comprise the Irish Team to fish the home international
against Great Britain which will be held in Ireland this year.
WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE
New EU environmental legislation came into force in 2000 called
the Water Framework Directive. The Directive is now being implemented
in Ireland with the purpose of ensuring that all inland waters will
be high quality by tear 2015. For the purpose of implementing the
Directive the country is divided into 8 River Basin Districts. For
each of these RBD's a management plan will be put in place to achieve
the stated goal. A number of agencies are involved in this process
including Local Authorities and State bodies. Public participation
by key stakeholders from agriculture, tourism, environmental groups,
anglers and local communities will be part of the process. One RBD
is up and running, the South East RBD. The Shannon RBD is about
to be put in place.
Information meetings will take place in the Shannon region over
the next few weeks. We are encouraging anglers to go to these meetings
and to participate in the process. Overleaf are the venues and dates
for these meetings. All meetings start at 8pm.
Landmark Hotel, Carrick-on-Shannon, 19th January
2004
Crover House Hotel, Mountnugent, 20th January 2004
Abbey Hotel, Roscommon, 21st January 2004
Tullamore Court Hotel 22nd January 2004
Shannon Oaks Hotel, Portumna, 26th January 2004
Templegate Hotel, Ennis, 28th January 2004
Abbey Court Hotel, Nenagh, 29th January 2004
South Court Hotel, Limerick, 2nd February 2004
Devon Inn Hotel , Templeglantine, Co. Limerick, 11th February 2004
Brandon Hotel, Tralee, 12th February
COARSE ANGLING PERMIT
IN THE SHANNON REGION
The subject of the introduction of a coarse angling permit by the
Shannon Regional Fisheries Board received considerable attention
at the Federations 2003 AGM. Following on from the meeting a determined
campaign was launched to move opinion to reverse the introduction
of this permit. A number of different approaches were adopted as
part of this campaign which included the targeting of National and
Regional newspapers to highlight our views on the issue. 7,000 flyers
were printed and were distributed to over 100 tackle shops as well
as approximately 130 angling accommodation providers in the Shannon
Board area. Copies of the flyer were also circulated to all of the
Federations affiliated clubs. All members of the Shannon Board also
received the flyer and explanatory letter and this was followed
up by the lobbying of all T.D's. and Senators with a detailed statement
asking them to support the campaign along with a cover note explaining
our reasons for the action. The final strand of the Federations
approach was the request that all clubs boycott the managed waters
of the Shannon Regional Fisheries Board so as to highlight what
we believe to be an inequality in treatment of pike through the
use of gill nets on Board waters and to bring about a change in
SRFB policy in this area.
The Federation's Executive Committee are now
asking its affiliated clubs to air their views in relation to how
this issue may be approached in the year ahead and in particular
if the boycott which is currently in place should continue in 2004
or if continuation of this action can serve any useful purpose.
It would be greatly appreciated if clubs would outline their views
on this issue in writing to the Federations Honorary Secretary at
the earliest opportunity so that all opinions can be taken into
account and so as to inform discussion at the upcoming Annual General
Meeting.
We would like to thank clubs in anticipation of their assistance
in this matter.
January/February 2004
Return
to Homepage
|
