{"id":545,"date":"2009-07-30T10:01:40","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T09:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bxttlines.wordpress.com\/?p=545"},"modified":"2009-07-30T10:01:40","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T09:01:40","slug":"pollack-politics-on-the-mull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/2009\/07\/30\/pollack-politics-on-the-mull\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollack politics on the Mull"},"content":{"rendered":"

IT WAS something of a catch for Scottish sea angling campaigners.\u00a0\u00a0 The lads from the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) persuaded environment and rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead to join them yesterday for a spot of fishing in Luce Bay to mark the launch of the Government\u2019s special report<\/a> into the economics of sea angling around Scottish coasts.<\/p>\n

\"Ian<\/a>
Ian Burrett (left) and Richard Lochhead get to grips with pollack on the Mull of Galloway<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He agreed.\u00a0 And I found myself with an invite to join the little party \u2013 which included a key Marine Scotland adviser and skipper Ian Burrett, SSACN\u2019s vice-chairman and projects director.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 SSACN campaigners, Scotland\u2019s leading marine conservation pressure group, were faced with something of a strategic dilemma.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t quite sure how the fisheries minister would play the launch of the\u00a0 economic report.\u00a0 Or what his approach to future actions might be.<\/p>\n

So they readied themselves with two responses.\u00a0 And like all good anglers, waited.<\/p>\n

By early afternoon, there we all were afloat below the cliffs off the Mull of Galloway lighthouse in prime pollack territory.\u00a0 Lochhead, a self-confessed novice angler, had already landed two mackerel with his first cast in Luce Bay.\u00a0 He was surprised and mighty pleased.\u00a0 But that was just the bait.<\/p>\n

Out at the Mull with a fast-running rip tide and a sizeable swell, the minister was on shaky ground.\u00a0 And Burrett didn\u2019t miss the opportunity to drive home his important arguments.\u00a0 \u201cRegeneration\u201d not \u201csustainable fishing\u201d was the big message.<\/p>\n

We baited up\u00a0 and within minutes Lochhead was easily delivering the best results of the three rods, mine included.\u00a0 He was genuinely surprised to see all the fish being returned safely to he water.\u00a0 An atmosphere of competition quickly developed: it was Government v. The Media.<\/p>\n

And more surprises were to follow when Burrett, waving a filleting knife in front of Lochhead to make his point, explained that the fish we were catching were some 10lbs lighter than should be expected.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Around Scottish coasts, the same or worse, results apply to many species which are in severe decline because of commercial over-fishing and it is the main reason sea angling is missing out on millions for the economy because of lost business, he explained.\u00a0 The minister nodded.<\/p>\n

Time for one last drift.\u00a0 We fished. The minister was hooked; he wanted another.\u00a0 We fished again.\u00a0 My rod bent into a serious fish, easily the best of the day, but the angling gods were not in my favour. It jumped the hook at the surface and the minister heaved a sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

There was no weigh-in at the pier, but everyone was full of cheer and good humour.\u00a0 Lochhead had wrong-footed the campaigners with a pledge to create a strategic plan for sea angling, and had spent an enjoyable afternoon improving his knowledge of an important element of his remit with the likelihood of plenty of positive press coverage. He departed a happier and wiser man.<\/p>\n

The campaigners for their part had held the most important individual in Scottish marine affairs captive for the afternoon and had exposed him to some serious propaganda. At the same time garnering goodwill for the future and generating worthwhile publicity.<\/p>\n

Pollack politics on the Mull\u00a0 might just be a turning point for sea angling in Scotland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IT WAS something of a catch for Scottish sea angling campaigners.\u00a0\u00a0 The lads from the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network (SSACN) persuaded environment and rural affairs minister Richard Lochhead to join them yesterday for a spot of fishing in Luce Bay to mark the launch of the Government\u2019s special report into the economics of sea…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btl.longlinemedia.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}