26 Aug 2024

RICHARD WILSONS – FISH RISE

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Many thanks to Richard Wilson for sharing his thoughts. No fishing this month but an issue that impacts on us all.

Green Energy: Money Money Money

Skip the science, ask a banker

Burn Baby, Burn.

Renewables deliver the cheapest electricity in history. So follow the profits …

If you want to burn money, then investing in a company that’s about to be wiped out by a new technology is a good way to go. History is littered with the wreckage of complacent has-beens mugged by progress. Stranded Assets.

So does this ever happen to countries? Could there be some budding technology, so ignored or sneered at that the threat is overlooked by the masses and their political leaders. Until, suddenly, it blindsides them?

Well, how about renewable energy? Populist opinion says it’s expensive, annoying and tastes like cardboard. And if Donald Trump wins then the fanboys expect to Dig baby, dig and Burn baby, burn. American coal, oil and gas are cheap, right? And a nation that runs on cheaper energy becomes richer than its neighbours. To the winner, the spoils.

The catch in this is that on-shore wind and solar are now a lot cheaper and more profitable to build and run than fossil fuels.

According to the World Economic Forum, the price of solar electricity has fallen 90% in just 10 years, making it “the cheapest electricity in history”. Onshore wind is close behind and utility-scale battery costs have also fallen 90% in a decade (IEA). The days when renewables carried premium prices are gone and the word is spreading: There are fortunes to be made in cheap green energy.

Take Texas, where they subsidise fossil fuels and claim legislative hurdles to obstruct renewables. It’s not working:
Financial Times 2024

Forbes Magazine, not noted for its bunny-hugging, reports that soaring Texan wind and solar energy deployment cut wholesale state electricity costs by $31.5 billion between 2010-2022, with $11 billion in 2022 alone. Whoops. Officially, that’s not meant to be happening.

The Financial Times, also no bunny-hugger, smells profit: “Economics can turn even the biggest climate change sceptic into a clean energy evangelist. This is exactly what has happened in Texas.” So green money is growing political muscle while coal, oil and gas wilt.

Meanwhile, Forbes also reports a massive business opportunity: it says 99% of America’s remaining coal plants cost more to keep running than to replace with wind and solar. And that swapping in clean energy for uneconomic coal would save enough money to finance more than 150 gigawatts’ worth of electricity storage – which, it says, is roughly ten times the total US utility-scale battery capacity as of 2023.

Instead of shutting down these smokestack has-beens, their owners, backed by complicit/corrupt politicians, are investing new capital and tax-payer subsidies to keep them running. They’re increasing utility debt on uncompetitive assets and bilking their customers for the hiked costs. This lays the groundwork for financial disaster. Screwing your customers andtaxpayers on this scale is not sustainable.

Elsewhere, US consumers in states with high renewable generation pay less for their power (Republican South Dakota produced 83% of its in-state electricity from renewables in ‘22). We are witnessing a global flight of capital out of fossil fuels and into renewable energy – and it transcends party politics.

The world is changing, although a lot of people on the left and right margins still believe going green is about hugging trees, hand-wringing and chewing tofu. Forget that: Renewables are the new gold rush. Ask a capitalist. Or read the Economist.
With thanks to Jan Rosenow

Looking ahead, where does this leave major infrastructure investments like refineries, the global shipping fleet carrying oil and gas, and huge pipeline projects? Answer: up shit-creek without the proverbial. Pssst: wanna buy a used oil refinery?

And before someone says electrification needs more mining than fossil fuels; no it doesn’t. The annual hole in the ground needed to service the old energy economy is in the region of 15 billion tonnes (oil, coal & gas). The IEA predicts that by the 2040s we will need 28 to 40 million tonnes of minerals to run the renewables energy economy. On my fingers that’s a big deal. And it creates a lot of stranded mining assets, because there’s going to be a lot less mining.

So the resistance comes from the declining but still fabulously wealthy fossil fuel sector, which faces losing its shirt. Meanwhile, at the political margins, some people can’t see the $s for red mist. Neither the ideologically hard-core anti-growth greens nor their knuckle-dragging opponents in their deeply tedious woke wars (it takes two) are economically significant. So while they hurl brickbats and get lost in click-bait minutiae, the market has left them behind:

And the US is playing catch-up. In the first 6 months of the year it built 20.2 gigawatts (GW) of electricity generation capacity (US EIA), a 21 percent increase from the first half of last year. Which is not as good as it sounds.
Cumulative: 59% Solar, while coal and gas (grey/black top) are disappearing.

We started with the idea that the USA might lose its top-dog status (or worse). So if the future is cheap energy and that buys a big competitive advantage, who wins and who loses? The answer is easy: The amount of wind and solar power under construction in China is now nearly twice as much as the rest of the world combined.

China has 440 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale renewables underway. The US has 40. As it comes online China will reap the benefits.
Source: Global Solar Power Tracker, Global Wind Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor. Projects at or above 20MW for solar and 10MW for wind

And what of Net Zero – that red-mist-inducing 2050 target? Well, it seems safe to say that the first 90% of the journey will deliver cheaper more profitable energy to industry and consumers. Imagine saying that even 10 years ago. The last 10% is generally held to be a bigger ask, but given the amazing speed at which renewable tech is evolving would you bet against this turning out to be much easier than we thought? So we’ll get there because it’s cheaper for users and more profitable for investors.

So what price the USA? My take is that the US fossil fuel industry is already losing global market, wealth and friends. This will accelerate. So there are major geopolitical consequences to Burn Baby, Burn.

The winners will be the Chinese and the countries (and companies) leading the charge into renewables as their costs continue to plummet. A nation or company that runs on cheap energy has a competitive advantage over its competitors that don’t. And it just so happens that the cheapest energy is renewable. So follow the money. There’s still plenty to do, not least the grid, but the direction of travel is set and accelerating.

Renewables are too profitable to fail. And what’s not to like about that?
How’s your country doing?

It helps me a lot if you can share my work with friends and colleagues. And if you’re not already a subscriber, then pls click the button below. Subscriptions are free, or if you’re feeling generous, about the price of a fat slice of cake a month.

7 Jul 2024

Norway: Wild salmon numbers crash

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Many thanks to Richard Wilson for another thought provoking  article. Click on link to read more of Richards articles.

Norway: Wild salmon numbers crash

The politics of profit before conservation.

 

The facts are indisputable. Norwegian salmon runs are shrinking dramatically. The Norwegian Environment Agency says this year’s run is a lot less than half of what it should be – and that 2023 was 30% down on 2022. This is a long-term trend going back years.

The Oslo government’s response is to ban rod fishing on 33 rivers. And it seems likely this ban will spread, although the phrase fiddling while Rome burns springs to mind.

The root problem is that for decades wild salmon stocks have been negligently mismanaged by the Norwegian Government – a confession that’s missing from the finger-pointing list of guilty parties it blames for the collapse. Ellen Hambr, the Environment Agency’s director, says the big threat is climate change and then a range of human activities that include hydro and other river barriers, disease, commercial exploitation and last a bracketed after-thought; (fish farming) – the gorilla on the table.

Some Norwegians underscore this position (it’s the climate, stupid) by pointing to Sweden where there is very little salmon farming and a similar decline in the salmon run. They don’t mention that the almost land-locked Baltic Sea, home to Sweden’s salmon, is becoming a cesspit with a huge and growing dead zone caused by pollution. The Baltic is not a good place to be a salmon.

Climate change, to state the obvious, is universal. Warmer river temperatures reduce smolt size which in turn increases mortality and reduces the numbers returning successfully to sea. Once back in the ocean, the record-high temperatures in the North Atlantic suppress food chains and further impact salmon growth and health. Salmon are an indicator species for climate impacts and, for this reason, their future looks grim.

So we need to act on climate, but that’s not something Norway can do on its own. Cue hand-wringing and empathetic green tears. The poor salmon are victims of a global crisis, what’s a small country meant to do? Shrug,Sigh. More hand-wringing.

So what is the Norwegian Government up to? Why flag climate change, on which Norway has a decent track record but little influence, and treat fish farming as a bracketed afterthought?

As ever, the answer is money. Fish farming is a mainstay of the Norwegian economy. The Government licences an industry that produces half of all the world’s farmed salmon, worth $8b a year (2nd only to its oil and gas earnings). That’s before factoring in the benefits to the domestic economy. It’s not a business with a good track record in anything except generating profits. Last year the fish-farm mortality rate was nearly 63m fish (17% of the total stock). Would you trust these cowboys with your river? How about a chicken farm?

Sea lice, the major by-product of salmon farming, don’t restrict themselves to killing millions of farmed salmon. Many of the fish pens are in Fjords that connect ocean-run Atlantic Salmon with their home rivers, bringing wild fish into contact with farmed lice. According to the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research, fish-farm lice killed an estimated 50,000 wild salmon in 2019 – as many as 30% of the run in some rivers. Since then, fish farming has grown.

Aquaculture has devasting impacts on wild salmon populations and it’s the gorilla on the table the government can’t or won’t see.

Closing rivers can help, and it delivers a financial body blow for fisheries, hotels, guides and all the small businesses that depend on their summer trade from anglers. However, their collective contribution to Norway’s economy is about US$1.25b. A drop in the Atlantic when compared with the wealth-generating fish farms. So no prizes for guessing why wild salmon are sacrificed to keep their farmed cousins in business.

The ban on the 33 rivers is open-ended, and it is assumed it will remain in place until the stocks show sufficient recovery. This could be never, because if Hambr is right and it’s down mostly to climate change, then closing a handful of rivers won’t improve anything much. If, instead, the government curbs the shit-show fish farms then there can be a significant revival, albeit within the context of slower long-term climate decline.

The choice facing the Norwegian government is simple. It can carry on with business as usual and hurry the wild salmon into marginal irrelevance, or it can improve it’s own act. And it’s not just the fish farms that fall within their purview. Take Catch and Release: In 2023, 51,000 out of the 70,000 rod-caught Atlantic Salmon in Norway were killed. What’s that about?

So the bottom line for saving the Atlantic Salmon is money, and the Norwegian government won’t achieve anything much until it reigns in its multi-billion $ fish-farming money monster. Meanwhile, I’m hoping the gorilla on the table will finally throw a temper tantrum and bloody some noses. We can but hope.

There is one small consolation: For the fish that successfully make the run up-river this year the prospects are good. River flows are healthy and, so far, water temperatures are lower than in recent years. The conditions are favourable for those fish that make it to the redds. And in 33 rivers there will also be, because of the bans, more returning smolts for the sea lice to latch onto. We can thank the Norwegian Government for that.

17 Jan 2024

Cold Comfort in a Polar Vortex And the climate deniers reducing global warming.

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Many thanks once again to Richard Wilson for sharing his thoughts with North Devon Angling news for more of Fishrise click the link below :-

Cold Comfort in a Polar Vortex

And the climate deniers reducing global warming.

Real Men, Real Cold, Real Fishing and Fake Global Warming?

Extreme weather in the form of a Polar Vortex is hitting the USA, Canada and Northern Europe. I see that while most sensible people are staying indoors, the climate deniers are out in force declaring the death of global warming. One moment it was all thaw and uninsurable ice-fishing tournaments, now they say it’s too cold for the delicate greenies to go outside.

So are they right? On the one hand, they insist climate change is all bull-feathers while on the other it’s ‘Do you remember the good old days when we had real winters’? To try and steer a path through the confusion, here’s a handy little cartoon strip that explains what’s happening:
Zero degrees F = -20C. ©xkcd  

So nostalgia wins. Winters really aren’t what they were back in the day.

Which begs a question: If the climate is getting warmer, and it is, then what does the future hold? After all, these same climate deniers are both stridently pro- their nostalgic old-cold winters and pro-coal, which is where a lot of the warming CO2 pollution come from.

Well, the good news is that our prospects for containing the worst excesses of climate change are improving. We are fast approaching peak carbon (maybe this year, maybe next) and coal is looking a bit, well, limp.

The world’s green energy generation increased by an astonishing 50% last year (IEA). Solar accounted for three-quarters of this. In the US, utility solar power is expected to grow by 75% in the next two years while coal is in steep decline.

Consider also that the amount of energy each of us consumes has fallen sharply. Everything from fridge-freezers and washing machines to TVs, cars and keeping our houses warm is more efficient. We might have more gadgets, but they consume a fraction of the power of what went before.

They may not know it, but the carbon footprint of climate change deniers is shrinking – so give them a pat on the back. Well done! They’re doing their bit (non-consensual wokesterism – whatever next?).

The global flight of investment capital out of coal and fossil fuels and into renewable energy is becoming a stampede. This is not about greenie sentiment. Renewables have plummeted in price while their technologies have become more and more efficient. Simultaneously, the huge and long-term investment needed for new coal mines and oil refineries is very risky. Would you sink $5-15 billion into an oil refinery with increasingly uncompetitive pricing and diminishing demand? How will you get your money back?

The IEA expects a 250% growth in global green power production over the next 4 years. The COP target is 300% by 2030, so it’s starting to look doable.

And while we are now certain to overshoot the 1.5C warming set at the Paris COP, 2C or thereabouts is looking achievable. This is better than many expected, and will still be disruptive. But, even so, we can do a lot to adapt to 2C, whereas the 5C+ we were heading for would have been calamitous.

We’re getting there. To be sure there’s a lot of work to do – but I’ll back us to get it done.  The direction of travel is set, King Coal is fading and the denialists are coming along for the ride (shh…). Just follow the money.

With thanks to ‘Not the End of the World’ by the brilliant Hannah Ritchie. A great read about positive outcomes. Thanks also to Andrew Kessler for using the cartoon before me – which is how I found it.

2 Aug 2023

ANGLING – Marine Litter Survey South West England

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I was contacted by Shyanti who is working towards a Masters in Marine and Coastal Sustainability. After deliberating I completed the survey as requested. Marine litter is undoubtedly a huge issue that we as anglers witness all too frequently. I would be the first to acknowledge that a minority of anglers contribute to the issues by discarding bait packaging and losing line etc. I also believe that the vast majority of anglers are dismayed at the amount of litter they see on the shoreline and floating in the sea. After carrying out the survey I offered Shyanti the opportunity to post her message on North Devon Angling News to hopefully increase engagement with recreational anglers.

Below is an example of how discarded plastics can lead to injury to fish. This piece of plastic was removed from a porbeagle shark off the North Devon Coast.

Hi Wayne,

Thank you so much for your reply and for completing the survey. Yes! Marine litter is now a huge concern and every stakeholder should come forward to tackle it!

I wrote the following intro about my work with my survey link-

My name is Shyanti Sengupta, and I have an undergraduate degree in Marine Science from the University of Chittagong (Faculty of Marine Sciences and Fisheries), Bangladesh. During my undergraduate degree, I conducted a study on the Bay of Bengal, focusing on the gut content analysis of selected marine predators, including sharks. This investigation revealed a significant presence of microplastics in the fish.

I wanted to explore this further, so I started a Master’s in Marine and Coastal Sustainability (the link) at the University of Exeter’s campus in Cornwall (the link). For my research project, I aim to delve deeper into the human aspects of the critical issue of marine litter by exploring the perceptions of anglers or recreational fishermen in the southwest of England.

By understanding the attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours of anglers towards marine litter, I hope to gain valuable insights into their role in tackling marine pollution. I believe that anglers can play a crucial role in mitigating the impact of marine litter, and their perceptions can influence public awareness and policy decisions, making them vital stakeholders in the fight against marine pollution.

The ultimate goal of my research is to bridge the gap between scientific findings and human perceptions, which is essential for crafting effective strategies to address marine litter comprehensively. Integrating my past research on microplastics with the current study on anglers’ perceptions will contribute to a more holistic understanding of this urgent environmental issue and pave the way for collaborative efforts towards a cleaner and healthier marine ecosystem. Would you like to be involved? Please take this survey here.

Thanks!

Regards

Shyanti

 

5 Mar 2023

DYING RIVERS _ A VOICE OF CONCERN – WHO DO WE BLAME?

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It is to be welcomed that the state of the countries rivers is now being vigorously debated across the media. As anglers we are all too aware of the issues and I for one have tried to promote any actions to raise awareness and address the issues. As a passionate angler and environmentalist, I get very angry at the way we as a species fail to value the planet of which the rivers can be likened to the vital arteries of the land.

Politicians will say what wins them votes and join in the clammer to apportion blame for the state of our rivers. We all do this to some extent venting our anger and pointing out what is wrong. Pictures of raw sewage discharging into rivers, dead fish killed by silage spills etc. Politicians play on our concerns; the water companies and farmers are singled out to blame.

But it’s not that simple. The Environment Agency one of the regulatory bodies who are accused of lack of action. They undoubtedly have good people working within but they cannot do their job because they are underfunded or mismanaged. South West Waters infrastructure frequently fails; underfunded, mismanaged ? Truth is that all of this is very complex and the fact is that if we focus on economics and profits the environment inevitably pays the price.

It is easy to blame not so easy to fix. One fact we all need to keep in mind is that it is us who produce the shit. Easy to blame SWW but it’s our crap they are processing. It is totally wrong to discharge raw sewage but someone has to pay. As more houses are built construction companies make money but does the system plan to enlarge sewer capacities, create new water storage reservoirs. The same can of course be said about health care, Council services, policing etc.

Privatisation of the water companies has been blamed for much that is wrong but it was failing as a public service as a Victorian infrastructure crumbled. The tory government passed the problem to private industry. We vent our anger at the fat cats and the shareholders creaming off the profits yet in the complex world of commerce this is where investment comes from. Morally the water companies should be publicly owned but that means funding from government and would voters pay the price?

We need to put the environment at the top of the agenda. But how do we fund this? The present model doesn’t work. Government bureaucracy moves slowly, too slowly for as we dither and think species decline the salmon being a good example of this. As we raise awareness and ponder the natural world slowly dies before our eyes.

Politics is beyond me. I don’t have all the answers. I know what’s wrong and I know what needs fixing. If you agree then who do we vote for to put it right? We can do our bit and raise awareness. Direct our anger in a constructive way. Report what’s wrong; apathy has no place that’s for certain.

“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might get what you need”.

It is well worth tuning onto BBC 2 on Sunday night at 8:00pm when Paul Whitehouse is presenting a documentary about the state of our river’s.

Paul Whitehouse travels through the north of England, looking at the impact water companies have on its rivers.

Our Troubled Rivers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001jw6x

Paul explores the change in the water industry since privatisation in 1989 and what regulations are in place when it comes to sewage discharge into rivers. He meets concerned locals in Yorkshire looking to highlight the health of the River Wharfe, a conservationist who warns of the ecological decline in iconic Lake Windemere, and the man at the front of the battle for the country’s waterways, Feargal Sharkey.

I REMEMBER WHEN

The old guy said,

 

I remember when the salmon poured into the pools, 

Packed like sardines you could have walked across their backs, (1983)

 

I remember when some anglers caught one hundred salmon in a  season,  (2003)

 

It’s been a better season we caught forty from the river last year,  (2023)

 

I remember when there were salmon in the river,     (2043)

                                                                                                  

I remember being told there were once salmon in this river,  (2063)

16 Nov 2019

INVASIVE SPECIES – FREE WORKSHOPS

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An opportunity to learn more about the complex world of invasive species and how we a s anglers can help stop the spread and identify issues.

South West Lakes Trust and South West Water invite you to a free workshop to find out more about biosecurity, invasive non-native species and discuss what we can all do to help prevent their spread. There are five workshops covering our region and bookings are now being taken through our events page. https://www.swlakestrust.org.uk/events

Presentations will focus on some of the key issues of invasive non-native species and the most current and effective biosecurity methods. Workshop sessions will provide an opportunity for us to discuss the best options for biosecurity facilities at our lakes so we can help protect them and our sports.

These are free events for anyone who uses our lakes for sport or recreation. Complimentary hot and cold drinks and supper will be provided.

Please feel free to pass this invitation on to friends and colleagues who may be interested.

The events are organised by South West Lakes Trust and South West Water and are supported by Angling Trust and Nicky Green Associates. Booking is essential. We look forward to welcoming you.

Invasive Species and Biosecurity Workshop – Brompton Regis

South West Water and South West Lakes Trust invite you to Brompton Regis Village Hall to find out more about biosecurity, invasive non-native species and discuss what we can all do to help prevent their spread.

Presentations will focus on some of the key issues of invasive non-native species and the most current and effective biosecurity methods. Workshop session will provide an opportunity for us to discuss the best options for biosecurity facilities at our lakes so we can help protect them and our sports.

This is a free event for anyone who uses our lakes for sport or recreation. Complimentary hot/cold drinks and pasties will be served from 6- 6.30pm.

Please click here to see the programme, and click the button below to book your place (please inform us of any dietary requirements when booking).

Please feel welcome to pass this invitation on to friends and colleagues who may be interested.

This event is organised by South West Lakes Trust and South West Water and is supported by Angling Trust and Nicky Green Associates.

Invasive Species and Biosecurity Workshop

Monday 25th November, 6pm – 8.30pm, Brompton Regis Village Hall, 8 Brompton Meadows, Brompton Regis, Dulverton TA22 9PD

Workshop Programme

6.00 – 6.30pm Registration, hot and cold drinks and pasties will be provided

6.30 – 6.45pm Welcome and introduction – Kate Hills, Biosecurity and Invasives Manager, South West Water

 What are invasive species, the problems they cause, what SWW and SWLT are doing about Invasive Non Native Species (INNS).

6.45 – 7.00pm Signal crayfish: origins, pathways to introduction and biosecurity risks – Nicky Green, Crayfish Specialist, Nicky Green Associates

 Crayfish ecology, management and research – what we know about signal crayfish in the South West, legislation and what can we do about them.

7.00 – 7.15pm Invasive species: their impacts on fishing and how anglers can help to stop their spread – Dr. Emily Smith, Environment Manager,

Angling Trust

  •   A summary of some of the main impacts of INNS on fishing in the UK.
  •   Negative impacts on native fish populations in the UK – direct predation on fish

    eggs/juveniles, competition with native fish for food/shelter, invasive plants

    blanketing waterways, reducing oxygen level and preventing access to fishing swims.

  •   Easy measures anglers can adopt to reduce the threat of INNS being spread into

    their fisheries and other waterways.

    7.15 – 7.30pm AQUA Biosecurity Accreditation Scheme – Nicola Morris, Invasive Species Officer, South West Lakes Trust

  •   An update on the AQUA Scheme at SWLT lakes.
  •   Current best practice biosecurity advice and methods to help protect our lakes.

    7.30 – 7.40pm Comfort Break

    7.40 – 8.20pm Workshop session

 Group discussions on the potential for biosecurity facilities at our sites and our most

likely options to help prevent the spread of INNS. 8.20 – 8.30pm Closing summary

FREE Invasive Species and Biosecurity Workshop

Tuesday 19th November, 6pm – 8.30pm, Roadford Lake, Broadwoodwidger, Lifton, Devon. PL16 0RL

Workshop Programme

6.00 – 6.30pm Registration, hot and cold drinks and pasties will be provided

6.30 – 6.45pm Welcome and introduction – Kate Hills, Biosecurity and Invasives Manager, South West Water

 What are invasive species, the problems they cause, what SWW and SWLT are doing about Invasive Non Native Species (INNS).

6.45 – 7.00pm Signal crayfish: origins, pathways to introduction and biosecurity risks – Nicky Green, Crayfish Specialist, Nicky Green Associates

 Crayfish ecology, management and research – what we know about signal crayfish in the South West, legislation and what can we do about them.

7.00 – 7.15pm Invasive species: their impacts on fishing and how anglers can help to stop their spread – Dr. Emily Smith, Environment Manager,

Angling Trust

  •   A summary of some of the main impacts of INNS on fishing in the UK.
  •   Negative impacts on native fish populations in the UK – direct predation on fish

    eggs/juveniles, competition with native fish for food/shelter, invasive plants

    blanketing waterways reducing oxygen level and preventing access to fishing swims.

  •   Easy measures anglers can adopt to reduce the threat of INNS being spread into

    their fisheries and other waterways.

    7.15 – 7.30pm AQUA Biosecurity Accreditation Scheme – Nicola Morris, Invasive Species Officer, South West Lakes Trust

  •   An update on the AQUA Scheme at SWLT lakes
  •   Current best practice biosecurity advice and methods to help protect our lakes.

    7.30 – 7.40pm Comfort Break

    7.40 – 8.20pm Workshop session

 Group discussions on the potential for biosecurity facilities at our sites and our most

likely options to help prevent the spread of INNS. 8.20 – 8.30pm Closing summary

25 May 2019

Focus Group on Special Places on the Northern Devon Coast

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I am posting this information on North Devon Angling News as anglers are important stakeholders in regards to the North Devon Coast and most have a deep appreciation for its beauty and natural diversity.

Focus Group on Special Places on the Northern Devon Coast

Local residents in Northern Devon are invited to take part in a Focus Group about Special Places on the Northern Devon Coast. The focus group is part of a wider study, being undertaken by Collingwood Environmental Planning (CEP) and ABPmer, on behalf of the Marine Management Organisation (MMO).

The focus group will be held in Barnstaple on Thursday 6th June 2019 at 7pm.

The purpose of the focus group is to gather feedback from local residents (adults aged 18 or over) on their experiences and perceptions of places on the Northern Devon coast which they consider to be special and to explore the reasons why. This information will be used to help the Marine Maritime Organisation (MMO) to understand how coastal views contribute to enjoyment of the coast so they can consider this in future planning and projects.

The focus group will last a total of 2 hours, and light refreshments will be available. As a thank you, a £50 cash incentive will be provided to participants upon completion of the session.

To register your interest to participate in a Focus Group please email: Sian Morse-Jones at [email protected] as soon as possible.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, there is still time to complete the online Survey on Special Places on the Northern Devon Coast, which is live until Friday May 31st 2019, by clicking the link here: https://vision.abpmer.net/seascape/map

24 May 2019

Pledge for Nature!

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Hello North Devon Angling News

I’m a keen freshwater and sea angler, and also passionate about nature.

The North Devon UNESCO Biosphere is launching a Crowdfunder https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/nature-needs-you to raise funds for a ground-breaking local initiative called Pledge for Nature! – to engage north Devon’s communities in nature’s recovery. We are extremely concerned by rapid declines in the quality of some habitats and populations of some of our key species like breeding cuckoos, lapwings and curlews in our farmland, salmon, sea trout and freshwater pearl mussels in the Taw and Torridge river systems, and even commoner species like hedgehogs, swallows and house martins, wildflowers and insects.

Nature needs more space and wilder areas to thrive. Pledge for Nature! aims to engage citizens and particularly farmers across north Devon in practical actions to tackle the damaging effect that decades of development and intensive land use have had on North Devon’s precious ecosystems. Their actions will help to boost wildflowers, insects and birds in farmland, gardens and greenspaces, plant trees and woodlands, and improve our rivers.

We are asking the National Lottery Heritage Fund to cover the majority of the coordination costs (and have passed the first round in the application process), but we urgently need to raise at least £10,000 as match funding to demonstrate to them that our community cares. Anglers are a really important group to help address some of these problems, and many are already very active (eg I’m a member of the Taw Fishing Club which is doing lots of habitat work).

I’d be really grateful if you could share the link to the crowd-funder site through the North Devon Angling website and social media and help spread the word in any way you can to friends and colleagues. I also attach a poster that can be printed and put up in community centres etc..

Many thanks for your help, and fingers crossed we can beat our target!

 

Mike

CLICK ON THE POSTER BELOW FOR FULL DETAILS

 

Mike Moser

Chair, Nature Improvement Group

North Devon UNESCO Biosphere