KEEP THE TRADITION OF SALMON NETTING ON THE TAMAR TAVY

I think that the Gunnislake counter figures from 1994-2004 are fairly irrelevant to No 52's argument. We must remember that the 25 netsmen in 2004 all voluntarily accepted large sums of money not to fish for 10 years. This was spurred on by their declining catches and the un-viaability of the commercial net fishery. Much of this money was raised by the Riparian owners in an attempt to help stop the decline Salmon numbers. At the same time Riparian owners imposed strict catch and release to help conserve Salmon. The Riparian owners did not have to fund the net buyout, but chose to, to help stop the decline of Salmon in the river and avoid unnecessary hardship on the Netsmen whose livelihood could have questionably depended on netting .
I agree with the points raised by the "undercover economist". And again re-iterate the point made by Netsman Bill, that the proposed NLO does not stop netsmen fishing or do away with any of their rights. It does however defy all logic and sound conservation to have a commercial fishery operating which is unviable and has the potential to threaten fragile Salmon Stocks.