Sustainability Committee

Inquiry into access to inland water in Wales

Access to Inland Water in Wales.

I wish to submit evidence to the Sustainability Committee and have answered the draft questions published and then added additional comments and observations.

Q1. What is your interest in the issue of access to inland waterways

I am an angler but have in my younger years previously canoed and rowed. I have been fishing for more than 60 years. I rowed for four years and have also canoed recreationally.

Q2. Are you a member of an organisation related to your use of water?

I am currently a member of three angling clubs with fishing in Wales, the Llandysul Angling Association, the Ffynnon Taf Angling Club and the Ogmore Angling Association.

Q3. Which stretch/es of water do you own/use/manage?

I regularly fish on various stretches of the Teifi, Taf and Ogmore rivers.

Q4. Legal Rights

I am happy that both my legal rights and those of other water users are clear and well defined. My understanding of my legal rights over the stretches of waters that I use is as follows:

I pay for an Environment Agency (EA) rod licence for migratory fish which gives me the legal right to fish for salmon and sea trout with rod and line but not any specific right to fish on any particular stretch of water. I then pay a membership subscription to a fishing club or a fee direct to the owners of the fishing rights for the right to access the river and fish in the river in question. I am then legally entitled to fish those water but not others, within the fishing rules set out by the EA or landowner.

On all rivers that I fish any other recreational use, particularly by canoeists, rafters and gorge walkers is a trespass unless they have entered into a voluntary agreement for access and egress and also at times possibly in contravention of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act as they wilfully disturb fish spawning areas.

I am content with the current situation and do not wish to see any changes in my legal rights and definitely do not want to see increased access for other water users without the full agreement of the anglers/landowners and riparian owners.

Canoeists claim that the law is unclear but the law is perfectly clear as access to inland water in England or Wales without a specific right of navigation or a voluntary agreement is a trespass.

Q5. Voluntary Agreements

The Afon Teifi on which I fish has a voluntary agreement for the gorge at Llandysul but this, from what I have seen, has largely been ignored as canoes and rafts have travelled past me on a number of occasions many miles above and below the bounds of what was the agreed area. The Taf and Ogmore angling associations, to which I also belong, as far as I know have no voluntary agreements for the waters they control.

I understand that primarily the canoeists will not currently enter into discussions on voluntary access agreements despite being offered as they will not accept any conditions for such access and they believe that they will be able to have free and unfettered access as a result of WAG rewarding their campaign of civil disobedience with a legal right to such free and unfettered access.

Q6. Please can you briefly outline what you think are the key issues for recreational access to inland water in Wales and how you would like to see them addressed.

For me the main issue is that WAG seems determined to reward anarchy and illegal activity by canoeists and rafters not only by giving them what they want but to do so against the wishes of a far larger number of anglers. There are over 77,000 rod licence holders resident in Wales, I am one of the many more licence holders from England who visit Wales for angling holidays and as I am retired I spend some six weeks annually within the principality contributing to its economy. The other water users are far fewer in number and contribute far less to the Welsh economy and yet WAG seems to want to favour this minority at the expense of anglers.

Anglers pay typically between £50 and £650 per annum to gain access to rivers through clubs, significantly more if they pay direct to the riparian owner or join a syndicate. Anglers also pay an annual fee to the Environmental Agency. The canoeists currently pay nothing towards the maintenance and upkeep of the river and intend for this to continue.

Anglers are heavily regulated by law and the canoeists are either not regulated or choose to ignore the law. If free and unfettered access to inland water is granted then this will presumably apply equally to anglers, making all fishing rights valueless overnight and, even if it doesn’t, the value of many fishing rights will fall substantially as a result of disturbance. WAG will surely face compensation claims from thousands of riparian owners whose asset values have been destroyed. In these difficult economic times with pressures on key services it seems strange to enact legislation that rewards anarchy with such a high potential cost against it.

I believe that voluntary agreements are the only workable way forward. Canoeists currently have access to a reasonable amount of Welsh inland waterways and are having purpose built white water facilities constructed for training ahead of the 2012 Olympics.  They could have access to more via voluntary agreements but access would be controlled in such a way that canoeists gain access during periods not in the fishing season or likely to disturb spawning fish. For voluntary agreements to work canoeists have to recognise that anglers pay considerable sums for access to rivers, clubs have purchased fishing rights that have been paid for by the membership. The canoeists may also have to pay for access and have their craft registered to be identifiable.

There is another major obstacle in that all canoeists would have to abide by whatever agreements are reached, and accept that where no agreements are negotiated there is no legal access. The current situation in my experience is ‘two fingers’ and similar comment to “We’ll do what we like mate!”.

Further Comments

One of the key species that attracts visiting anglers like myself to Wales, creates the highest value fisheries and is the quarry of choice of many Welsh and visiting anglers is the sea trout or sewin. Wales has the best sewin river fishing in the UK and almost every Welsh river has sewin present.

If a pool is disturbed by other water users during the day the sewin will not settle and cannot be caught. The sewin is such a nervous fish that the most productive sewin fishing takes place at night when they lose some of their caution. The normal fishing tactic requires stealth (no heavy footfalls, no shadows cast on the water, no silhouette visible, etc) which is a stark contrast to canoes and rafts splashing by directly overhead.

If canoeing and rafting takes place on these rivers and damage the sewin fishing then the first result will be that I, as a visiting angler, and numerous others will go elsewhere and many Welsh accommodation providers and other local Welsh business will lose vital trade. The result will be declining interest and clubs may then lose their members and the fishing will lose value prompting claims for compensation.

I strongly support objections to any rewarding of law breaking.

I urge the Sustainability Committee to maintain the status quo, support the rule of law, support your Welsh voters and to promote voluntary agreements with canoeists.

Yours sincerely

Ian McDonald