SC(3) - AIW44

Sustainability Committee

Inquiry into access to inland water in Wales

Hi im 15 and last year I started kayaking, I am writing this as 3 days ago, i was in Wales paddling the tryweryn which i must add, was one of the top adrenalin experiences in my life, i absolutely loved it, and want to do it as much as possible. It's almost upsetting, when i heard about some of the stories of people not being allowed to paddle a river because the local land owner didn't want them to, they give reasons such as

Leaving litter,
Being Noisy,
Walking on their property,
Damaging Fish stocks and
Spreading disease.

Now I can appreciate that a very small percentage of kayakers do this, although im sure the affects of fishermen are worse.

I have never left litter, i'm sure a very small amount of Canoeists do, and im also sure that the problem is a lot worse in fishermen.

Noise, we are never really noisy, we have little need to be, and even if we are we are never on the same stretch of water for any long time, we are constantly moving on, compared to fishermen who are constantly in the same spot, and can play music from radios/ mobile phones, we cant obviously do that!

I do admit that we have to walk occasionally on peoples property, we obviously try to limit this as much as possible, but usually this is because we want to scout the river checking for weirs or obstructions, or to help people who who are out of there boats.

Now, i cant say i'm an expert about this, but i would have thought we would not damage fish stocks' very much - at least compared to fishermen, we are floating in the water above any spawning beds, we don't catch the fish and take them home.

Spreading disease - I was once accused of doing this through spreading disease by not washing your kit, I know each person is different but i always wash my kit after use, i think most people do - if you don't it can deteriorate quickly and it's not cheap!

In my opinion i think people should be allowed to paddle any river with a minimum width of 1.5 meters and a minimum depth of 0.3 meters on the day (they can variate due to rain levels) And i understand that to access some rivers you will need to walk across private property, i think land owners should just live with this fact and maybe a small fee could be charged to do this, if the walk from a public road is more than 100 meters, im not sugesting putting a pavement through someones garden, but letting a few kayakers few between the hours of 10am and 5pm say?

Anothers sugestion of mine is that all barbed wire across rivers must be removed by the local land owner, as it's not only bad for us canoeists it kills fish, and is just horrible stuff which should just stay on prison fences (but thats another matter).

Now i know very little about politics, but if there is any way you Welsh goverment people could suggest something along these lines to the English goverment this would be much appreciated.

Now i know i'm just some silly 15 year old kid, but i really hope you take my opinions into account as what i'm saying is a fair point and what im aiming to achieve is for everyone to have fun.

Thanks very much if you have read this far, it took a long time to write this!

Cheers - Harry Watson

Ps a reply would be much appreciated.

pss - if you dont understand where im coming from, go to the national whitewater center, and try rafting, if you dont enjoy it well.. Your just nuts !