Pete, do you not think that you have gone a bit OTT here? Although it's a bit back to front, lets look at your last statement first, to demonstrate my point. You said, and I quote 'He deserves a medal, not ignorant abuse' (the 'He' being Tony Bostock). The point is chap, the only reference to Tony of ANY kind previous to your own, was where Lawrence suggested that folk should contact him ref. the SRT stance on otters...and there was nothing at all 'ignorant or abusive' about that as far as I could see.
Terry, in his OP, asked a simple question. Are the SRT more interested in supporting the interests of game fisherman, rather than those of coarse anglers? In your reply to that you seem to support the theory that perhaps they are, when you say that to be seen to be doing so 'Will tick a box when it comes to attracting funding'. You then go on to say that 'All species will benefit
in the end'....which to me does sound an awful lot like you are saying that coarse fish just need to hang in there, because once the stars of the show are sorted, they will eventually get something from it too. Now I know that I have taken those comments slightly out of context, and that you do also list the directly coarse orientated projects that SRT have carried out too, but it still suggest that Terry was possibly correct in his assumption that they are indeed mainly concerned with game fishing.
Lawrence states that SRT supported otter reintroduction's into the Teme and Severn basin. He asserts that one only has to contact Tony Bostock to confirm that claim...which kind of points to it being a fact in my book. He also states that they support the removal of Powick Weir, and that they and the EA admit that this will lower the river levels 'by 1.5 meters'
You have as yet not refuted the otter claim, and your answer to the weir removal fears is that the lowering of the river will 'Likely be a very localised short term thing'. See, there's the rub, right there. I for one would need far more concrete evidence than a 'likely to be' before I went ahead with something as potentially disastrous as completely removing a weir! Ok, being a bit silly there, because Tony hopefully does have more to go on than that...doesn't he? Whatever, when folk ask legitimate questions, they need better answers than that. I for one may well have chosen an efficient fish bypass system to deal with the issues, as they do very successfully all over the US and in many places in this country too. However, I admit I know far, far less about these things than either you or Tony, so perhaps all will be well. Let's hope so.
Pete, I really don't wish to cross swords with you, despite my comments above seeming to fly in the face of that thought. The fact is that although I don't know you personally, I am well aware of the fact that you do huge amounts of work in improving the environment, the riverine part of it in particular, and I salute you for that. However, I think that in this day and age of universal corruption, graft and financial shenanigans wherever you look, which sadly includes every government in this world, and even the Vatican for Chrisakes....you absolutely cannot expect Joe Blogs or anyone else to take anything purely on faith any more, to blindly accept that what others do is always done right...OR done for the right reasons. However unpleasant it may seem, however unpalatable it may be...the gravy train that Lawrence mentioned and I supported him on, really does exist....you know that as well as we do, and it was neither ill informed, spiteful nor negative of us to bring that into play. You cannot hide the elephant in the room, it always gives itself away eventually
Now, before you jump up and down screaming, I am NOT saying that either you nor Tony have any part in that. I just mention the fact because it's very existence means that folk are bound to be wary in any situation where there is a possibility that is could be a factor. When you are in a position which brings you into the angling public's eye, and you are potentially controlling the future of those folks favourite hobby, a hobby that they really are passionate about, then you ARE going to get criticism at times. It may not always be fair criticism, it may not even be correct at times...but nevertheless, it will hit the fan, and you and Tony have placed yourselves right under that fan.
Fun though ain't it
Cheers, Dave.
