Having emailed our regional councillors and harbours authority about some action on the swans safety, I got a few replies back. The head of harbours, Tony Usher thinks he has no powers to impose a no fishing ban in the harbour, but will ask our local harbourmaster to be vigilant regarding fishing tackle laying around.
Sandy Park would find it difficult and thinks a ban could not be enforced.
Laurie Fraser thinks the matter could be looked at and discussed at the next meeting.
Graham Marsden did not reply to my email.
Liz MacDonald was positive about signage being installed at the harbour, and agrees with me that education about the wildlife is a good thing. I believe there will be sufficient support for at least a sign down by the smoke shed pier on wildlife safety. Liz thinks the Scottish country access code might provide the right form of wording for such a sign. Personally I think a 2 foot wide by 18 inch high sign, attached to the floodlight pole beside the cast iron bench on the pier would be the right location. Many children use the bench for their fishing gear and would see the sign for sure. Suitable wording might be something like this:
WILDLIFE SAFETY!
PLEASE REMOVE FISHING LINES FROM
WATER WHEN SWANS ARE NEARBY.
DO NOT DISCARD FISHING TACKLE!
3 comments:
What about the poor ducks as well?
Well It goes without saying that the ducks are also at risk. The Swans however are much larger and have huge feet and a 6 foot wingspan, therefore more likely to get caught on any fishing line. They also keep close together as a family which increases the risk of several of them getting tangled together.
I wish people would DO things rather than talking about doing things. Keep pushing Joe and hopefully these people will see sense :)
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