Evenings are drawing in and Portsmouth were playing at home so perhaps that’s why we had just a few of our core supporters at the meeting. OK, so some people had Covid and others had to work, but those are pretty poor excuses. Anyway, with our small but merry band we quickly proceeded with our agenda so some of us could go over to the ECA for the Langstone Harbour Meeting, more of that later.
Steve went through the current standings which are reproduced below. The Species Hunt Cup leadership is changing daily because the top three (at least) are very close. Do remember to photograph your fish before throwing it back though.
There were several eligible catches for the Fish Of The Month medal, but in the end the important decision was which fish would Steve Tambling win with and we decided a turbot of 7lb 9oz was the best candidate.
The Cod Pool stands at £240 so if you haven’t paid, get your £10 to Steve before you catch that winning cod. You can’t pay afterwards!
The Inter-Club competition will be hosted by LHFA this Sunday 8th October, but you can sign in at the Southsea Marina Office. £5 entry, winner takes all for Best Specimen.
The Cod Open is most likely to be held on Sunday 5th November, weather permitting. Hold the date and more details to follow, but it’s highly likely to be exactly the same as all the other years we have run it.
The last order for our 10-Year Anniversary printed t-shirts and polo shirts is being put together, so if you don’t want to miss out please order on this form before 9th October.
Finally – an update on the shed which we have used for storage. As the tenant who allowed us to use the shed is leaving the marina, we urgently need alternative storage. Premier have asked us what space we need so Steve, Stuart and I will put together a request for Premier to consider.
The next SMAC monthly meeting will be on 7th November. There being no other business, a few of the few nipped over to the ECA for the advertised Langstone Harbour Advisory Board meeting. Just quickly on that, because it’s not SMAC business really but it is relevant. As we hadn’t read the leaflet properly it wasn’t quite what we were expecting. Anyway, it was interesting and the bar was rammed with mostly sailing and environmental folk. There were four presentations from different organisations each with an interest in the Harbour.
First up was Solent Seascape Project, with some decent funding and can actually demonstrate some practical results in improving the marine environment – oyster beds, seagrass, kelp beds etc. The Trawler-Free Zone on the Sussex coast shows that the seabed recovers surprisingly quickly. The Clean Harbours Partnership presentation was about monitoring storm discharges by the water companies and didn’t seem to have much in the way of practical proposals to be honest. We are all frustrated by the lack of direct Govenment intervention on this.
Langstone Harbour Board’s message was about the future use of the Harbour and supporting commercial use, leisure use and environmental protection. We know from the Annual Report there is a huge deficit in their budget, mainly because of the drop in revenue from dredgers and leisure use. They are currently exploring more ways of increasing revenue, some being commercial services but others being considered include walk-ashore moorings instead of swinging moorings. It’s good that they are trying to fill the funding gap rather than waiting for the Council to make them cut costs. Final presentation was from Fay Pasani of the RSPB who is acting for the Three Harbours Partnership. She has the probably impossible job of aligning 20 stakeholder organisations into a common strategy. This did appear vague at present but the intention is good – to have multiple partnerships with a common goal rather than the separate, conflicting and overlapping activities that are happening at present. Her presentation style reminded me of Sarah Pascoe which was a nice thought to end on.
Thank you ECA for hosting another interesting evening.
