Conservation Chichester Harbour

[Chrissie]

I mentioned in a thread a few weeks ago about a family who had been forced to remove a small pontoon which they built at the bottom of their garden which reaches the Chichester harbour from their Hayling Island home, to help them get in and out of their dinghy.
The conservancy trust had applied to the council for them to enforce planning restrictions on the basis that the tiny pontoon rested on the mud flat at low water, and they are trying to prevent any damage to mud flats from any means.
What are the implications to boat owners? They are not able to do much about moorings already in place, but if there has been no boat on a mooring for a while, can they stop it being used?
I understand that new moorings are already banned, what are the plans for this area, and after that, Portsmouth harbour?

 

[Seajet]

Chrissie,

things like this are going to get a lot worse, Balanced Seas are already surveying the area Solent, Langstone & Chichester harbours...

As things stand, existing moorings may be resurrected as long as they show on a harbour plan.

This is why I have been urging anyone with a mooring site to mark it with a float, ( if not ready to use as a mooring, clearly marked to that effect to avoid accidents ) with the mooring identity clearly marked.

Moorings are going to be at a premium, as people are forced out of marinas; and if individuals, yards and clubs etc do not mark ALL pre-existing moorings NOW, they will be lost forever.

I fully expect argument from the conservationists even to the use of existing moorings; this will be seen as an 'increase in the footprint' of boat use, and is every bit as part of our cause as Studland Bay.

PLEASE get out and locate your old moorings from harbour plans and mark them before it's too late. Moorings indicated by an unlabelled float are not good enough, the I.D. must be clear; and beware harbour plans are notoriously inaccurate, allow time for finding old sinkers.

 

[Chrissie]

I saw your thread on that a few weeks ago, trying to keep it in the public eye. I wonder if emails to all the mooring associations etc. would be of any use, but how to word it?
I dont think people realise how far reaching the measures are going to be, or even that its already taking place.

 

[Seajet]

Chrissie,

too true...I can word it alright, but tracking down all the individuals, yards, clubs etc is a fairly mammoth task.

I've just left a reminder on the East Coast thread, we have a few BORG members there but I'm afraid a lot of people are in for a nasty shock; and if people don't go to the trouble of marking moorings now ( and I know what trouble it is, I help on my club moorings ) then these will be lost forever.

I have a mental picture of future sailors cursing our generation for not doing everything possible, I'm sure in the not too distant future moorings will be very valuable; a bit like the way I cringe when I hear stories of Spitfires going for £5.00 !

Perhaps in your profession you could drop the word to people you think might listen ?

I'm thinking of a harbour by harbour campaign of mails, no doubt a fair proportion by snail-mail.

 

[oldharry]

Chichester harbour is an SSSI and an AONB already, and in any such an area planning controls are very strictly enforced. A local church put up a new sign, with planning permission from the council, but was overruled by the CHC as it was within the AONB area, and were forced to take it down again. It was only the CHC who objected, none of the local residents minded.

There have been strict rules in place for many years in the Harbour about any such construction, because of the SSSI/AONB status, and it is many years since any new moorings sites were licensed as far as I know.

As a private mooring licence holder, I believe that, as long as the annual fee for the licence is paid, and any mooring tackle is clearly marked with the licence number the harbour board can not remove it. However, if the gear is not marked, the harbour board can (and will!) remove it, and likewise if the annual site license fee is not paid, the site reverts to the Harbour Board automatically. Dont know what happens next if someone else wants to take on the mooring, presumably they have to rent it from the Harbour Board at the going rate.

If they are trying to 'preserve' the mudflats, they need to do something about the bait diggers up the Fishbourne end of the Harbour, where professional bait diggers have made the mudflats look like the back end of the moon, and are lifting mud worms by the kilo every day. Makes nonsense of objecting to a small private pontoon 'damaging' the mud life.

 

[Sans Bateau]

In one of the, extensive, reports that I read by Balanced Seas, they indicate that because of the measures already in place, areas like Chichester Harbour will not be considered for any more management such as MCZ's. However they did say that current regulations will need to managed more vigorously, hence maybe the little pontoon issue. That said, are the bait diggers legal or licenced, if not, that needs to be stopped.

 

[oldharry]

Re bait diggers, i think it is 'default' situation. There is no legislation to stop them with. I know the HM is aware, because people have complained about the mess. AFAIK the only regulation that applies is that they must not dig within 50 feet of any mooring or dock installation - not that that stops them either! They are well up round the Dell Quay moorings, and no one seems able to stop them. Both DQSC and the two mooring contractors have complained.

 

[Chris_Robb]

Re bait diggers, i think it is 'default' situation. There is no legislation to stop them with. I know the HM is aware, because people have complained about the mess. AFAIK the only regulation that applies is that they must not dig within 50 feet of any mooring or dock installation - not that that stops them either! They are well up round the Dell Quay moorings, and no one seems able to stop them. Both DQSC and the two mooring contractors have complained.

In respect of the bait diggers, one thing that I have brought up several times on this forum is the issue of BOTTOM DREDGING fishing, but it has never attracted any comment.

I think this is probably the most destructive of all mans interference in the sea. There was an article in the Times about a year ago that said before the introduction of steam, and therefore the power to drag trawls along the bottom causing carnage, the water visibility along the Channel and East coast was as clear as the Scilly Isles (from naval records). Surely this ranks as one of the easiest things to blanket ban with one of the biggest returns for the conservation efforts?

Oh I forgot - Fishermen will loose their jobs.... And we will have to forgo eating the catch - a small sacrifice.

 

[Twister_Ken]

If bait digers continue to dig up kilos of worms, presumably they are not irrevocably damaging worm life? Thus, a 'sustainable' activity.

Actually, anyone who chooses to make a living digging bait deserves pity, not enmity.

(now someone will explain how they are all benefit claimants, tax dodgers, illegal immigrants, lepers, etc)

 

[Sans Bateau]

TK,I think you will find that they are all benefit claimants, tax dodgers, illegal immigrants and lepers.

 

[Seajet]

AND bait digging is certainly not sustainable; not when the morons dig a prehistoric wade-way near my mooring.

This has lasted 4,000 years; but since I started sailing there in 1972 it has gone very markedly downhill.

Whenever I am on my mooring at low water, I can usually see 2 or 3 of them at it.

It's typical that a local family is denied access to the harbour, but this is allowed to continue; maybe the MMO can do something, even if MCZ's per se are thought unlikely, or some archaeological branch - I'll pursue that.

 

[DAKA]

Not sure how useful this post is but it may help anyone who is fighting for a mooring ? ..........

Some semi tide floating mooring pontoons have recently been given planning permission in Langston Harbour (joins Chichester) on the condition that no one walks on the pontoon when dry during the worm breeding season (? Dec-feb ?).

The pontoons can be used year round, you can stay on your boat year round but during the worm breeding season at low tide you can not walk on/off your boat .

If anyone wants the full details feel free to pm me.

 

[Fantasie 19]

TK,I think you will find that they are all benefit claimants, tax dodgers, illegal immigrants and lepers.

...and almost universally Polish gyspies.....

 

[Twister_Ken]

AND bait digging is certainly not sustainable; not when the morons dig a prehistoric wade-way near my mooring.

This has lasted 4,000 years; but since I started sailing there in 1972 it has gone very markedly downhill.

Whenever I am on my mooring at low water, I can usually see 2 or 3 of them at it.

It's typical that a local family is denied access to the harbour, but this is allowed to continue; maybe the MMO can do something, even if MCZ's per se are thought unlikely, or some archaeological branch - I'll pursue that.

Errr - if the worms continue to breed in harvestable quantities, then it is sustainable, at least as far as the worms and the diggers are concerned. I suspect the birds don't object either, with nice humans doing most of the digging for them.

 

[Seajet]

So how sustainable is a 4,000 year old piece of history then ?This is a structure - it's often mistakenly called 'The Roman Road' and shows on O.S. maps ( which don't show the bit dredged in the 1800's, as the 'All Wheel Drive Club' found out the hard way ! ).

 

[Twister_Ken]

Sustainable refers to economic activity, not archaeological remains.

 

[Seajet]

Unlawful

I have just had a chat with Richard Craven, the acting Harbour Master.

He says that ordinary bait digging is allowed as a common-law right, counting the same as fishing.

Digging on hards let alone monuments is most definitely illegal, he has asked me to call next time I see it happening.

2 things strike me about this;

A pity it's not policed as thoroughly as people trying to access their dinghy with a pontoon doing nobody harm,

Also if I call I'd better make damn sure my boat doesn't get identified...

 

[Chrissie]

Seajet, I think I will try and get forum members to send in the name and email address of any mooring providers that they know of, then we could collate them and send them all emails,
So anyone reading this, send us any details you have, throughout the country.

 

[Seajet]

It strikes me there's a simple answer to the scallop dredgers scouring parts of Chichester, Portsmouth and no doubt other harbours in the area; take a leaf out of Falmouth's book.

Oyster dredging is perfectly legal, as long as one has a licence, anddoes it under sail power.

That way the magnificent Falmouth Working Boats lasted to the highly desirable state they are today, and so did a vast amount of knowledge and seamanship.

I for one wouldn't mind seeing working sail craft in the harbour, I wonder if diesels were banned how many fishermen would learn the proper, fuel saving way ?!