Water Framework Directive

As anglers we all complain about water quality in this country and the state of our fish stocks.
At present the CFB and regional fishery boards are sampling water and fish stocks as part of the Water Framework Directive.
http://www.wfdfish.ie/
Most of the rivers and lakes which were selected for sampling in 2008 have already been sampled.Starting on 1st September the selected estuaries will be sampled.After this is completed a report of their findings will be published and we as anglers can and should submit our comments to them.Results of sites sampled can be viewed on their web site.The SWRFB held two meetings during the week one in Killarney and the other in Bandon the attendance in my opinion was disgracefull.14 people attended the meeting in Killarney and 8 in Bandon and out of the 8 in Bandon I think that all of us were Salmon anglers.How many times have we heard one of us complain about trawlers fishing inshore nursery areas,crabs fished out of Youghal harbour,untreated sewage and nitrate run off in to our estuaries.Where were the sea anglers at this meeting?.Its in all our interest to have good water quality and we should take a more active involvement in the protection of our sport not just talking about it.If there is a meeting in your area please show your support and give an hour of your time and attend the meeting.

Agreed.

Seems the Salmon Anglers are ahead of us on this one.

The Salmon anglers are well ahead here. The are now a very well organised and strong lobby group... You just have to see their results... They are an excellent example to us all.

Kev

It is a shame that there were no sea anglers present at the meeting in Bandon. Were clubs notified of the meeting? I am away from the club scene and the first I've heard of a meeting was when reading your post.

The Sea Anglers have their own representative on the WFD Southwestern River Basin Advisory Council.
Regards.
Tim.

For those that are interested there is a WFD meeting in Dublin on Wednesday 15 October.
http://www.cfb.ie/pr/2008/erfbwfd.htm
The meeting in Cork was attended by only 8 Salmon anglers,this may have been due to its publicity.The first I heard of the meeting was on the CFB website a week before the meeting when I read that a meeting was to be held in Kerry in Killarney,there was no mention of the Cork meeting which was held in Bandon.I found out about the Cork meeting when I rang the SWRFB to ask them a few questions about the WFD.The SWRFB didn't put any information about the meeting on their website until about 3 days after the meeting.Local newspapers did mention the meetings but if you didn't buy a news paper on the day then there was a good chance that you wouldn't have heard about it.And to answer Jim's question I think that they did mention at the meeting I attended that they didn't notify clubs but were using their media campaign instead.If clubs in the area could notify their members it should draw a few more to the meeting.The meeting only lasted about an hour with time to ask questions at the end.