The latest edition of Fish, the magazine of the Institute of Fisheries Management landed on my doorstep yesterday.  As usual this is packed with interesting stuff, much of it relevant to game fishery management so I will come back to a few of the items over the next couple of days.  One article immediately caught my eye and consists of a letter from DEFRA outlining proposals to modernise salmon and freshwater fisheries legislation.  DEFRA have been trying to get Parliamentary time to revise legislation for some time now and a specific fisheries Bill fell foul of the Parliamentary time table earlier in the year.  The problem is that some of the proposed changes require primary legislation which is difficult to slot in because of the sheer volume of new legislation that the Government believes we need.  The aim now is to include the necessary clauses in the Marine Bill which has an agreed slot.  The full scope of the proposals are well worth studying as they will impinge in one way or another on how we manage our fishery and how we fish for both migratory and non migratory salmonids.  There is some good stuff such as clearer definitions of freshwater fish and their protection, a clause on the need for fish to have free access to feeding, breeding and nursery sites and ways of addressing the growing problem of theft of fish.  Also included is a major revision of the current licensing system which, put simply, will repeal the deeming provisions whereby a salmon license is deemed to allow fishing for trout etc and replace them with a power for the Environment Agency to specify which type of fish the holder may target.  The aim here is to give the Agency the flexibility to introduce licenses that reflect the kind of fish that angler's are interested in and assist the more focused management and conservation of fish stocks.  The Agency is currently considering issuing a whole raft of separate licenses. 

Other proposals include Provisions on Illegal Instruments, Power for the EA to make emergency measures, reform of law on close time by-laws, reform of law on introduction of live fish, and the extension of Net Limitation Orders to cover eel fisheries!

Lastly there is a proposal to ban the sale of rod caught salmon and sea trout and introduce a "Wild Salmon Dealer Licensing  Scheme".

All this will go out to consultation shortly and we should ensure that our views are known to our various representative bodies.

Leaving all that stuff aside for the moment, the Tarn was looking great this morning now that we have a return to bright warm weather after yesterday's dull, cold interlude.  There is a light south westerly stirring the surface and sufficient cloud to diffuse the light.  The river is now pretty low and well past its best so wild fishing will be a challenge until we get some rain.

Ian