Isle of Wight Angling Trust Marine Region

IW Angling trust marine committe AGM 

held on 16^th APRIL 2018

Minutes (DRAFT)

At 7.30 pm, President, Richard Russell, convened the AGM with Alan Deeming taking notes.

1. Attendance See attendance list.

2. Apologies received from Andrew Wenden.

3. Minutes of the 2017 Meeting were read out, approved by attendees & signed by Richard Russell.

4. Matters Arising: None raised

5. Treasurer George Bernowicz issued the audited Statement of Accounts for the period from the 2017 AGM and pointed out that they were £85.99 down but still in good financial health as shown. Mike Richardson had audited the paperwork to confirm. There had been no income at all, bearing in mind that the only source of income for the period between 2014 & the 2017 AGM had been the profit from one open competition & no such competition had been run during the remainder of 2017.

Alan Deeming asked if paying the annual membership fee for Solent Forum remained acceptable & the meeting agreed that it was.

Proposed by Alan Deeming & seconded by Cliff Williams that the accounts be formally adopted. Approved by all present.

George requested approval to continue with Mike Richardson as accounts auditor & this was agreed.

6. Records Officer George Bernowicz reported that one new record claim had been approved:

Gilt Head Bream (Boat)  5lbs 0½ ozs  Will Merwood

7. Competitions. In the absence of the competition secretary, it was reported that no IW divisional open competition had been organised during 2017.  Alan Deeming asked if it was likely that any affiliated Island club would be interested in running an IW div of AT open beach comp, possibly in conjunction with one of their own. Those present felt that, given the diminishing interest in club competitions, it was unlikely that any club would be interested.

8. Propositions: Chairman/Secretary, John Rackett, advised that no propositions had been received & he further advised that adequate notice had been provided to affiliated clubs on the IW

9. Election of Officers

President: George Bernowicz proposed Richard Russell for president & this was seconded by Alan Deeming. Carried unanimously.

Richard Russell observed that there were no eligible attendees other than the officers who had been elected at the previous AGM & he therefore suggested that all be elected again en bloc.

Alan Deeming advised that Andrew Wenden had informed him that he was no longer able to take any official role on the committee.

Alan also advised that he had no knowledge as to if Kevin Basham wished to remain as competition secretary. The attendees felt that there was no point in electing a competition secretary if no divisional competition was envisaged.

With the above exceptions, the attendees approved the en bloc re-election of officers as follows:-
       Chairman: John Rackett   See contact us page

Secretary: John Rackett   See contact us page

Treasurer: George Bernowicz  See contact us page

Records Officer: George Bernowicz See contact us page

Competition Secretary: Not appointed (Volunteer to organise a comp very welcome.)

Publicity Officer/AT Web links: Antony Stanyon   See contact us page

Delegates to national committees & other bodies: Alan Deeming See contact us page

10. Alan Deeming gave briefing on his various involvements on behalf of IW anglers plus various matters of interest including Bass restrictions, Brexit, inshore netting, loss of angling access to East Cowes sea front, closure of only practical public slipway in East Cowes & ongoing possible threat to local wrasse stocks.            (For full details please see under "Our Work" "Other")

President, Richard Russell thanked Alan for his efforts & asked if Alan knew if anyone from the Wessex div was equally active. Alan responded that the Angling Liaison group set up by Southern IFCA that he attends has several representatives from the Wessex div.

11. A.O.B. 

George Bernowicz queried if Southern IFCA officers regularly patrol the Island & if they paid particular attention to illegal taking of undersized Bass such as from Ryde pier. Alan responded that they do indeed patrol the Island but they direct their limited resources according to a risk based plan. They do not supply a “blue light” service but any reports of suspected illegal activity should be reported to their office. Such reports allow them to get a picture of trends in illegal activities & allows them to make plans to address such activities if they are deemed to be significant

Ray Gough, representing VBFC, said that there were no notices on Ryde pier showing fish minimum size limits nor were there any relating to Bass restrictions. He also queried where the boundaries are for the area of Ryde sands where bait collection is prohibited.  Alan deeming responded with a verbal description of where the late Tony Williams had obtained a concession allowing bait collection immediately in front of the hovercraft terminal. Alan also undertook to convey to Southern IFCA officers the other points raised.

Post meeting note: A chart of the restricted bait gathering area on Ryde sands was subsequently forwarded by Alan Deeming to the president of VBFC, Tim Wakely. Alan also received a response from SIFCA saying that they would note the information supplied & would be hoping to provide suitable notices on Ryde pier. They also intended visiting the local tackle shop in Ryde plus would look to arrange for an officer to meet with VBFC.

Cliff Williams reported a rumour that AT was intending to reduce support for RSA & asked if Alan Deeming had any information on this. Alan responded that he had no knowledge of this but would investigate through his AT official contacts.

Post meeting note: Alan Deeming received a categorical denial from the AT chief campaigns co-ordinator plus a similar denial from an AT board member, of any intention to reduce support for RSA. Indeed, they pointed out that support has increased recently as the result of the appointment of an additional AT employee. It should be borne in mind that the freshwater side of AT receives significant funding, above that derived from AT membership fees, resulting from the revenue from rod licences which all freshwater anglers are required to have. Sea anglers pay no such licence so AT funding for RSA, beyond membership fees is somewhat limited & susceptible to possible fluctuation. The AT head of marine suggested that possible issues regarding future funding for training across the entire range of angling (not just RSA) may be the root source of the rumour.

 AGM Meeting declared closed at 8.15 pm