PROFESSIONAL BOATMANS ASSOCIATION

Fishing and Diving Issues

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Angling and Diving Trips (Helping ensure they are a success)

Common sense is the main criterion but the following points and reminders may help to avoid potential problems when booking a charter trip. This is a permanent feature on this site and suggestions and contributions from skippers and customers are welcome. Just email the webmaster.

Booking

• Book early if you are looking for the best tides, especially at weekends.
• Check that the vessel is licenced and the area and type of activity is what you require.
• Establish costs and the required deposit and ensure this is sent by the agreed date.
• Double check the day and date of the trip.
• Ensure you know from where and at what time the boat leaves and how you get there.
• Check with the skipper the day before to see if the trip is on (if there is any doubt about the weather remember that the latest forecast updates are not available to the skipper before about 7.00 p.m.). If the skipper cancels don't be too upset, he will have good reason and will be more upset than you are.
• It is often a good idea to also check with the skipper a week or so in advance to see if there are any problems.

Arrival at the boat and boarding

• Arrive in good time. This is especially important if you are an individual or a small group sharing the boat with others. The skipper has other customers to consider and in such circumstances will have to leave without you.
• Listen to the skippers instructions on where to store your gear. This is especially important for divers air cylinders. Angling groups might like to consider that the large tackle boxes, which are so popular, take up a lot of room on a boat. 12 of these boxes and there is not a lot of room left to fish.
• Listen to the skippers safety briefing and ensure you know where the life jackets etc. are located.

During the trip

• Try to keep the decks reasonably clear so that movement is as unrestricted as possible.
• Use the cutting boards for preparing your bait. Cutting up mackerel on the gunwales is a keel hauling offence!
• Divers should kit up in good time so that each pair is ready to enter the water when the skipper gives the word. On some occasions there may be only a short tide window on a site.
• Put loose/scrap line and rubbish in the waste bin.

At the end of the trip

Check that nothing has been left behind and pay the skipper.

Some further observations for anglers

The stern and in particular the corners, is usually the easiest place to fish. Some clubs draw lots at the start of the day to give everyone a fair chance of the best spots.

When fishing on the drift the windward side of the boat is easiest. The skipper may alternate the drifts to give everyone a fair chance, however this is not always possible as most boats drift differently depending which side is to windward and one of the drifts may not cover the wreck effectively. If the lines of the downwind anglers are sweeping sharply under the boat the chances of tangling can sometimes be reduced by using heavier leads, super braid line and shorter traces. On some occasions however fishing may be impractical, in which case why not organize a rota system so that some anglers stand down for a drift.

When fishing at anchor tangles will be reduced if the anglers towards the bow use heavier leads, or thinner lines.

On a crowded boat it is best to fish with a single hook. It is not the time to use feathers (except for mackereling) or a 'Christmas tree' of muppets!

The International Offshore Bass Fishery

Measures are being taken by MAFF to control the previously unregulated 'Offshore Bass Fishery' exploited by French and Scottish pelagic pair trawlers. For a background on Bass biology and the Offshore industry see Bass stocks and the offshore fishery.

The CEFAS Final Report on the 'Offshore Bass Fishery sampling and tagging 1999/2000 has been published (Nov 2000). For a summary of some of the key points see Summary of report. An updated page of the latest results from the tagging project can be seen at the CEFAS web site http://www.cefas.co.uk/Basstagging.htm

Bass Tagging

Bass are possibly the most exciting sportfish present in UK waters and are definitely the fish most anglers want to catch.

The Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society (B.A.S.S.) has mounted a highly political campaign, spearheaded by Malcolm Gilbert of Ammodytes, to restore Bass stocks and this has prompted MAFF to show more interest in conserving the Bass population. New limits have been imposed on commercial pair-trawlers who target the huge shoals of breeding Bass in the western approaches each winter and now a Bass tagging exercise is being organised.

John Leballeur at B.A.S.S. will identify area coordinators and feed tagging data back to Graham Picket at MAFF in Lowestoft. An early recruit as area coordinator for Suffolk is Stewart Smalley, PBA member and skipper of the fast sportfishing charter boat, "Aldeburgh Angler". Stewart commented:" We boat about 300 Bass from 2lb to 14lb each summer and return many of them alive to the sea. So I am delighted to help with this tagging work especially if it means the present excellent sport continues".

PRESS RELEASE From the Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society. ( B.A.S.S.)

Further information is available from: Malcolm Gilbert. Tel: 01736 797086

The BASS Restoration Project.

• Support from the fishing tackle industry for the Bass Restoration Project is growing, with the recent addition of 'Pure Fishing' to the list of stakeholders in the project. The Bass Anglers Sportfishing Society are looking for support from bass anglers and all angling related businesses to achieve the following:
• Restrictions and ultimately closure of the winter offshore bass fishery in the Western Approaches.
• Recognition by fisheries management authorities of the value of recreational sea angling in economic and social terms.
• Changes in legislation and fisheries policy to reflect the fair and sustainable management of a commonly owned resource.

If these objectives can be reached, BASS feel confident that more and bigger bass will become available to recreational anglers, providing the opportunity to develop and expand sport angling for bass throughout Europe. Many BASS members also fish for a wide variety of other species and are convinced that much of their political representation will pave the way for recognition of the salt water sport angling industry in general. The EU campaign is being effected through the National Federation of Sea Anglers, who represent the UK at the European Anglers Alliance (EAA). The EEA have a full time lobbyist based in Brussels whom they share with the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association.

BASS are distributing information leaflets which are available from: The BASS Restoration Project, 12 Bafford Approach, Charlton Kings, Cheltenham, GL53 9HP (with SAE 19p, 220mm x 110mm). Much more information can be found on their website: www.ukbass.com

GPS Navigation.

Selective Availability has been removed from the Civilian GPS signals. For full details see Interagency GPS Executive Board.

Still cant find that wreck you are looking for. Although removal of S.A. greatly improves the ease of finding a mark there are still some factors which you need to be aware of (Not the least of which is, was it correct in the first place). Read on.

• Now that Selective Availability has now been removed from the Civilian GPS signals you will have accuracy, with a top of the line set, to within a 5 meter radius for 95% of the time . Accuracy can be further increased with differential GPS. This involves a separate or built in receiver which receives signals from land stations around the coast. These land stations receive the signals from the GPS satellites, compare the information with their own, very accurately known, position and transmit the correction to suitable GPS receivers within their range (up to about 150miles). Differential GPS removes some natural errors in the system other than those which were due to selective availability. My 8 channel Valsat receiver indicates 2-3 meters most of the time but I have not yet got around to plotting the dispersion over an extended period. At times atmospheric conditions, problems with the land station etc. can disrupt the differential signals and the set will revert to standard GPS. Switching to another land station will sometimes overcome this. In some cases something on the boat can be interfering with the reception of the differential signal, even a propshaft can generate interference especially if you are a long way from the nearest station.
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• GPS sets vary in the number of satellites they can track and use for obtaining a fix. Generally speaking the more satellites being tracked the better although this is less important if you have differential.
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• There is not just one latitude and longitude for a particular point on the earth! It depends on which geodetic datum you are working on. See GPS systems and mapping in 21st Century for details. The default for most GPS sets is WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) however the Admiralty charts are based on OSGB36 (Ordinance Survey of Great Britain 1936). As an example, in the Falmouth area WGS84 will put you about 100m NW of the same position under OSGB36! Personally I always work in WGS84 and apply the necessary correction when using charts (The correction to apply is shown on all modern charts). Try to find out which system was used to provide any positions you are given. If you don't know then search on WGS84 first and if you don't find it either switch to OSGB36 or apply the correction manually. There are other geodetic systems but you are unlikly to come across them except possibly WGS72 which is very close to WGS84.
  N.B. New Admiralty charts will use a new Euopean geodetic system which is, as far as normal users are concerned, identical to WGS84.
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• You may have some positions given to you in the now extinct Decca LOP. These provide a rather more difficult problem. First you need to try and determine if they are uncorrected numbers ('up and downs' i.e. the numbers shown on the set when at the location.) or corrected numbers (The Decca signals were subject to 'distortions' when they crossed over land resulting in a position fix which may not correspond exactly with the Decca lanes drawn on Decca charts. Every area had a known correction which could be applied to the numbers shown on the Decca set to remove this error.) Most fishermen tend to use uncorrected positions. If you are converting between Decca and Lat and Lon you should work on corrected numbers. Some GPS sets such as the French Valsat professional sets have the option of a Decca read out. I think these must also apply the correction automatically because mine always compared very well with the Decca figures, not exact but much closer than the known Decca error. As you can see it all gets a bit involved. If you have a number of positions from the same source, then once you find one note how far out it is and then apply your own correction to the others. Watch this space, I am working on ways to help you sort this problem of old Decca numbers.

Future access to wrecks by divers.

There are proposals by UNESCO to ban the diving on wrecks by amateur divers in international waters (outside the 12 mile limit), other than for archeological purposes, on wrecks over 100 years old. More details can be seen in the core articles of the Draft Convention.

Tidal Prediction Software.

Several different programs are available for tide prediction. An excellent one, called 'Wxtide32,' is totally free and can be downloaded from sandybay and a number of other sites. Data is available for most British ports and as well as graphical representation of the tide for a day it can produce a calender for dates up to 2035. The dates are in American format i.e. month/day/year and the calender printout for each month is a little confusing, however a little tweaking in a DTP program soon sorts that. I have checked it against this years tables for Falmouth and against predictions by the Hydrographic Departments program (old dos version) and it seems to correspond very well.

Strandings of marine animals in Cornwall (2000).

This article was published in the spring 2001 issue of the Seaquest South-West Newsletter. Seaquest S.W. is jointly run by the Devon and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Sadly, the strandings database continues to grow, with a very large number of cetaceans, seals and birds reported, dead, in the year 2000. Indeed the total of whale, dolphin and porpoise casualties on Cornish beaches reached 73, the largest number since the huge death toll of 1992193 when there were about 130. Then, as in all years since, they have been mostly common dolphins, the majority of which come to grief in the great nets used by midwater trawlers - even more effective in catching huge draughts of fishes when they work in pairs. Evolution selects all life-forms for efficiency, and humans are no exception. The trouble is that our use of technology makes us deadly efficient, putting in jeopardy fish stocks as well as the long-term interests of the fishermen and their communities - and adding to the serious problem of by-catch. Humans are intelligent enough to know that restraint is essential, but it goes against all natural tendencies to put this into practice.

As well as common dolphins, there have been porpoises; pilot whales; Risso's dolphins and striped dolphins on the strandlines of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Seals have also been numerous; and there were also two Kemp's ridley turtles Few people report dead birds, but there have been many different species this past year, most of them guillemots, but also gannets, fulmars, herring gulls and razorbills; many of them oiled. There were fewer Portuguese men o'war than in 1999, but numbers of by-the-wind-sailors velella velella, buoy barnacles Lepas fascicularis and even that rare mollusc Spirula spirula. In November, Matt Stribley found the bones of all three species of cuttlefish on Perranporth Beach.

Many reports reach Seaquest as casual observations as people are walking the coastline, but there is a very valuable contribution to be made by those who record everything on a beach or beaches on a regular basis. This was first envisaged by Stephen Westcott who put his idea into practice by recording in this way; comparing St Ives Bay beaches with those of Mount's Bay: Nick and Jayne Darke regularly explore a series of north Cornish coast beaches, so even dead bird, Portuguese man o'war or cuttlefish wreck, goosebarnacle cluster, transatlantic seed etc. is noted and entered on the database. The importance of this grows with the years.

Nearly all reports can be found on the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's website, run by webweaver Jayne Herbert www. wildlifetrusts. org.uklcornwall

Stella Turk

So far this winter, 2000/2001, over 60 strandings of Common Dolphin have occured !!

How can you contribute to conservation of Marine Life ?

Your County Wildlife Trust will welcome any reports of sightings of large marine creatures (whales/dolphins, basking sharks, seals! and turtles). Any unusual sightings such as fin whales, leather back turtles, large concentrations of basking sharks etc. warrant informing the Trust immediately. For the more regular sightings keep a log and send it to the trust at the end of the year. Time, date, location and accuracy of identification should be recorded. A photo identification scheam for basking sharks, to which you can contribute can be found at www.basking-shark.co.uk.

Are viruses involved in coral bleaching?

The following information appeared in the Marine Biological Association News. March 2001:

Coral bleaching is an important environmental problem resulting in the destruction of coral reefs. It is known to result from a range of environmental stresses, the most significant of which is elevated temperature. The mechanism of coral bleaching, which manifests itself as a loss of zooxanthellae and /or chlorophyll from coral hosts, is poorly understood. Willie Wilson's group have isolated a transferable infectious agent believed to be a virus, from symbiotic zooxanthellae of the temperate sea anemone Anemonia viridis. The infectious agent is induced by elevated temperature. Once induced, the filtered agent can be further propagated without heat induction. The zooxanthellae therefore appear to harbour a latent viral infection that is induced by exposure to elevated temperatures. Environmentally-regulated viral induction mechanisms may contribute to bleaching events in coral reef environments.
Willie Wilson.

British Diving Safety Group

The following are the contents of a letter sent to the MCA regarding Crew requirements for Charter Boats

Mr John Astbury

Acting Chief Executive

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

Bay 3/29

Spring Place

105 Commercial Road

Southampton

SO15 1EG

Dear Mr Astbury,

I am writing to you, in my capacity as chairman of the British Diving Safety Group, regarding the MAIB preliminary examination of the accident involving Sovereign II on 13^th August 2005.

As recommended by the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents, this matter was raised at our recent meeting on the 2^nd of February, and we have reached the following conclusions.

It is the view of the British Diving Safety Group that all vessels engaged in recreational scuba diving should have at least one person, other than the skipper, on board during diving operations.

In the case of vessels operating commercially, we believe that the requirement, within annex 3 section 7.1.5 of the Harmonised Code, which states that no overside working should take place while the vessel is being operated single-handed, should apply to vessels engaged in recreational diving.

It is currently unclear whether this requirement is to be applied to coded vessels engaged in recreational diving and we would ask the MCA, as a matter of urgency, to clarify the situation and if necessary, amend the Code.

I would ask you, on behalf of the BDSG, to give this matter urgent consideration and we look forward to receiving your response due course.

Yours sincerely,

Rick Raeburn,

Chairman, British Diving Safety Group

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