Sussex SFDC | The Committee appoint a new Chairman

The Committee appoint a new Chairman

12th August 2005: Press Release
The new chairman of the regulatory body which oversees fishing in 1,000 square miles of inshore waters off the Sussex coast believes that improving and sustaining the habitats where fish breed and grow will "increasingly become a major part of the Sea Fisheries Committees work." David Harvey, a marine biologist and an active recreational diver, was elected as Chairman to the Committee's at its recent annual meeting. The Committee's twenty members who have recently been appointed to serve a 4 year term include new appointments made by the Fisheries Minister, Ben Bradshaw MP. Those selected have a broad understanding of inshore fisheries and are supported by local authority councillors who make up 50% of the Committee's membership.

As retired Team Leader for Sussex & Surrey David Harvey spent 36 years with the Governments Conservation body English Nature; "Well managed fisheries are vital to sustain the marine environment and everything which lives in it, nationally there are increasing concerns over the impact of some fishing gears, the extraction of mineral resources and pollution in many inshore regions" he stated. Mr. Harvey lives in Lewes and succeeds Peter Reece of Hastings, a well known angler and Vice President to the National Federation of Sea Anglers, Mr Reece served on the Committee for 12 years and chairman for the last eight.

During 2000 Peter acted as head of the authority in the absence of a Chief Officer. "Peter Reece helped set today's policy to maintain the ecological balance of the sea and protect the Sussex fish stocks and the habitats where they live and breed," Mr. Harvey said. Mr. Reece who retired from Sussex Police as a superintendent in 1983 after 34 years, was the first sea angler to catch a fish over 1,000 lbs on a rod and line in Europe. He is also a successful fly fisherman and for a while held the UK record for the heaviest rainbow trout which was caught in East Sussex.

East and West Sussex and Kent County Councils and the City of Brighton and Hove fund the Committee's work and support the role the Statutory Authority plays protecting their coastal waters. Commercial fishing, sea angling and environmental needs are all represented in the Committee's diverse membership and the Committee itself employees a team of professional fishery officers to implement current management regulations up to 6 miles from the coast.

Tim Dapling Chief Fishery Officer said "I am delighted to welcome David Harvey in his new role as Chairman and will fully support implementation of the Committee agreed guiding aim:

Committee's Aim:
"To regulate, protect and where appropriate develop sea fisheries within the Sussex District in order to ensure their sustainability both now and into the future and to balance the needs of the fisheries in the context of a sustainable marine environment".

He added "Protection of sea fisheries and the marine environment are important issues for everyone; we can all play a part in their long term sustainability from simple actions such as eating locally caught seasonal fish such as mackerel and scallops, and deposing of rubbish carefully when we visit the coast. We have some remarkable species that inhabit our coastal waters from important commercial fin and shellfish including Dover sole and edible crab to spectacular cuttlefish and lobsters. The eastern Channel is a particularly interesting sea area as a boundary area between deeper warmer waters to the west and the North Sea to the east. We are only too aware of the shear diversity of marine animal and plant species, this currently includes a resident Bottlenose Dolphin pod south of Selsey Bill who obviously consider our inshore waters a rich food source".

During the past few weeks inshore fishery officers at sea have witnessed some of the largest shoals of mackerel for many years, The concentrations of these well known shoal fish currently appear relatively common along the coast and can often be associated with flocks of seabirds feeding at the surface on small fish that the mackerel are also attracted to".