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Fergal, from the heart

C

Chris Guy

Senior Member
Richard Parsons said:
He's a brilliant orator and becoming a bit of a legend. Despite so many people listening, very few of the people that need to act are doing anything. I realise my view is a little simplistic, however, but the blatant destruction and pollution of our waterways can't go on for much longer, can it?
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The problem as I see it Richard is that the media only highlight issues that THEY believe the public should be made aware of.
In these current turbulent times, the cost of living, energy, falling pound, war in Ukraine, NHS queues, strikes etc etc all "outgun" polluted rivers.
Feargal Sharkey has long fought a campaign to prosecute polluters and get our waterways cleaned up and I admire his tenacity. Sadly however I think central government will only act when the situation is irreversible.
I am reminded of a great book called Silent Spring written by Rachel Carson (I think?) about industrial polluters. A good if scary read.
 
The problem in my eyes is doubled, with the ever increasing amount of abstraction. Especially in the south and east. Continued building of residential housing and commercial, raping our ever depleting ground water reserves. Water companies giving the nod to councils, to
take this water, when in reality there isn't enough to go around for nature as well as all the new builds.
 
The issue of poor water quality in our rivers has had a spotlight shone on it thanks to the efforts of doughty campaigners like Feargal. The levels of awareness amongst the wider public seem higher than ever before, there is definitely traction.

The solutions to these issues are complex and require changes in legislation and significant investment, personally I have little confidence in the current PM to drive through these changes anytime soon, after all she was the Defra minister that oversaw the regulatory castration of the EA. But all politicians follow the political winds and the more pressure that campaigners can keep applying, and the more awareness that is raised with the wider public then the less political resistance to the changes required can be out up by the free-market, anti-regulation ideologues.

But aside from just raising awareness, action needs to be taken to challenge the legality of the current situation with sewage discharges. The judicial review of OFWAT being pursued by Wild Justice offers the real prospect of forcing change. As does the action against OFWAT being pursued by WildFish.

There is a long way to go, but I'm optimistic. Things are headed in the right direction.

wildjustice.org.uk

Ofwat desperation - Wild Justice

At Tuesday’s in-person hearing in front of Mr Justice Bourne to decide whether Wild Justice will be given permission to […]
wildjustice.org.uk

wildfish.org

WildFish submits formal complaint following failure to enforce sewage pollution laws to protect English rivers | Wildfish

WildFish (formally known as Salmon & Trout Conservation) has submitted a formal complaint to the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP) on the failure of OFWAT and Secretaries of State to enforce law on sewage pollution of English rivers. This comes after Government admits that sewage...
wildfish.org wildfish.org
 
He's been really good, we couldn't have had a better spokesperson.

Its come at a really important time as well. All Truss's talk of tax cuts and growth hides another agenda which is deregulation. RSPB, Wildlife Trusts and National Trust have all criticised her plans to scrap environmental legislation. We're looking at less government intervention at a time when we need more.

Cuts in government funding are coming, nature and the environment will be at the front of the queue
 
Wild Justice and Chris Packham are the devil in disguise, make no mistake they would outlaw fishing for sport if they could :(.

Fair play to Feargal Sharkey he's passionate about river destruction 👏
 
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Joe Winstanley said:
Utter nonsense.

Your repeating the guff you have been spoon-fed by astro-turfers funded by the grouse shooting industry. Do your homework.
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Yes, I can see your a fan of his ;)

Chris Packham

If anyone hasn't seen the Walks that saved my life, on BBC please check it out. It gives a tremendous insight into this man, his love of nature, his battles with mental health, his obsessive love of dogs, well Poodles really. All filmed alongside the beautiful Itchen, well done Beeb totally...
barbel.co.uk

His comment about comparing people who shoot with psycopathic murderers is a bit over dramatic don't you think? 🙄
 
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Rhys Perry said:
Well they both kill things for kicks so....
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All my shooting is for crop protection, but I get its not everyone's cup of tea 👍. I find persecution of raptors on game shoots abhorrent, and guilty individuals should be strung up.

We practise safe catch & release whilst coarse fishing, but some parties will say we're 'tormenting' the fish for kicks?

Im not convinced the anti field sport groups would differentiate between us, and would be quite happy to ban both if they could 🙁
 
Rich Lowe said:
His comment about comparing people who shoot with psycopathic murderers is a bit over dramatic don't you think? 🙄
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It would have been it that was what he said.

Except he didn't.

When being interviewed about fox hunting he gave the following answer:

“I dont understand it, I suppose. That’s the bottom line. To me, it has to have a psychopathic element, if you’re taking pleasure from killing things, just for that pleasure. If you’re going to eat it, if you’re culling an animal that is otherwise damaging the environment because it’s too abundant, I have no problem with killing animals. But if you have no reason but pleasure, then that surely is psychopathic.”

www.theguardian.com

Chris Packham: ‘It has a psychopathic element, taking pleasure from killing’

The Countryside Alliance says he is an extremist and wants the BBC to fire him. But the conservationist insists he is on farmers’ side, and unafraid to go on opposing foxhunting and badger culling
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Joe Winstanley said:
It would have been it that was what he said.

Except he didn't.

When being interviewed about fox hunting he gave the following answer:

“I dont understand it, I suppose. That’s the bottom line. To me, it has to have a psychopathic element, if you’re taking pleasure from killing things, just for that pleasure. If you’re going to eat it, if you’re culling an animal that is otherwise damaging the environment because it’s too abundant, I have no problem with killing animals. But if you have no reason but pleasure, then that surely is psychopathic.”

www.theguardian.com

Chris Packham: ‘It has a psychopathic element, taking pleasure from killing’

The Countryside Alliance says he is an extremist and wants the BBC to fire him. But the conservationist insists he is on farmers’ side, and unafraid to go on opposing foxhunting and badger culling
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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Just not convinced Joe, he caused lots of grief over the general licence. Farms local to me were worrying they wouldn't be able to protect their crops, which let's be honest is their livelihood.

He also had to apologise for falsely accusing farmers of shooting lapwing.
www.fwi.co.uk

BBC's Chris Packham 'sorry' after lapwing shooting accusations - Farmers Weekly

BBC presenter Chris Packham has been forced to apologise after suggesting illegal shooting is contributing to the decline of an iconic farmland bird.
www.fwi.co.uk www.fwi.co.uk

Just seems to me he will put the boot in whenever he can, and the BBC are quite happy to give him biased airtime. If he won the hearts of the shooting and fishing community he would have a lot more clout to fight water pollution & abstraction, which can only be a good thing.
 
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