BASC National Wildfowling Conference 2013

On our behalf, Alan Jarrett and John Nottage attended the BASC National Wildfowling Conference at the Ramada Hotel and Resort Birmingham, on Saturday 16 March.
A number of presentations are of particular interest to the Kent Wildfowlers including: Third party liability, rMCZs and bag returns.

Below is a summary of the presentions (for full details go to the BASC website)

The Good Club Guide. Updates to the BASC Wildfowling manual and how this can help you to run your club. Mark Greenhough, BASC Wildfowling Officer

The BASC wildfowling manual is the indispensable nuts and bolts guide of running a successful wildfowling club-a ‘how to’ guide on best practice in club governance. It was first launched in the early 2000’s. Since then there have been changes in certain aspects of law that affect wildfowling clubs....read more

Key liability issues facing clubs – third party liability and Directors and Officers liability
Carole Martin and Janet Phair, Marsh Limited

The recent rise in interest in establishing Clubs as limited companies. This may bring some benefit to members but it also brings another set of liabilities and responsibilities. It is important therefore that any Club or syndicate considering this seeks legal advice.........read more

Marine Conservation Zones
Nigel Gooding, Defra

The presentation will focus on the recent consultation on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) launched on 13 December and closing on 31 March 2013......read more

EU Overview – Why are bag returns inevitable?
Cy Griffin, Biological Data Manager, FACE

Bag returns are collected in almost every EU Member State in some form, varying from schemes which demand compulsory bag returns from all hunters to voluntary schemes involving a small proportion of hunters......read more

EU Overview 2013 Why are bag returns inevitable?

“Adaptive Harvest Management of Geese in Scotland and Bag Returns”
Colin Shedden, BASC Scotland

This presentation looks at the current and proposed implementation of adaptive harvest management of geese in Scotland. In autumn 2012 the first formal attempt at AHM of resident greylag geese.....read more

Introducing the BASC Gamebook
Kate Ives, Research Officer (Surveys), BASC

Keeping a gamebook is one of the oldest sporting traditions. But in addition to being a useful personal record of days spent shooting, the information contained within them can be used to help protect our sport.....read more

25 years of BASC wildfowling conferences – so what are the challenges ahead?
John Swift, Chief Executive, BASC

The Good Club Guide.
Updates to the BASC Wildfowling manual and how this can help you to run your club.
Mark Greenhough, BASC Wildfowling Officer

The BASC wildfowling manual is the indispensable nuts and bolts guide of running a successful wildfowling club-a ‘how to’ guide on best practice in club governance. It was first launched in the early 2000’s. Since then there have been changes in certain aspects of law that affect wildfowling clubs, such as changes to corporation tax, changes in the standard BASC club rules, changes in health & safety legislation and crucially, new people serving on wildfowling club committees. Using extracts from the manual, and drawing on 6 years’ experience of working with wildfowling clubs and committees, Mark Greenhough BASC wildfowling officer will explain in detail how clubs can get the best out of this publication to improve the running of their club. Information is contained in 3 main sections, 1-considering membership assets, 2-considering financial assets, 3-health & safety.

Section 1 deals with club rules, the basic foundation of club/members interaction and then goes on to provide advice on having club objectives, policies as well as advice on committee procedures, trustees new member procedures and many other relevant matters. Section 2 outlines advice on effective financial planning, dealing with accounts and balance sheets as well as fundraising considerations, advice on fundraising events, conservation grants, the Wildlife Habitat Trust and land purchase. Section 3 provides current BASC advice on health and safety legislation.

The key messages are: the manual is NOT an cover to cover read, but more an information reference for members to access the guidance that they need. Crucially, where further assistance is needed, it can be accessed by the relevant BASC department. Back to top

Key liability issues facing clubs
– third party liability and Directors and Officers liability
Carole Martin and Janet Phair, Marsh Limited

The recent rise in interest in establishing Clubs as limited companies. This may bring some benefit to members but it also brings another set of liabilities and responsibilities. It is important therefore that any Club or syndicate considering this seeks legal advice before going ahead and considers the implications and what it means for a Director or Officer.

The formation of a limited company creates a new legal entity, capable of being sued. Any person wishing to pursue a claim for damages against a club could involve both the limited company and the Directors & Officer in the action.

A Directorship of a limited company attracts additional personal liabilities for the individual, which are set out in the Companies Act 1985 and various other legislation. An individual may be in breach of their fiduciary duty as a Director, or may have signed guarantees for which they may be personally liable.

The limited company has responsibilities under myriad of legislation and can be subject of an investigation or fined by the regulator if not compliant. The individual may be sued as well as the company in which case he may be liable for defence costs, personal fines and/or imprisonment

The BASC cover, provided with the membership package, does not provide cover in the above circumstances. It is for legal liability to third parties arising out of negligence whilst pursuing a recognised BASC activity for recreational purposes e.g. damage to third party property or injury to third parties.

Separate cover may need to be arranged if the club, as a limited company, wishes to expand e.g. arranging commercial shoot and ensuring the right cover is in place to protect the Directors & Officers is imperative. Back to top

Marine Conservation: Marine Conservation Zones
Nigel Gooding, Defra
E: nigel.a.gooding@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Marine Conservation Zones

The presentation will focus on the recent consultation on Marine Conservation Zones (MCZs) launched on 13 December and closing on 31 March 2013.

The Consultation explains that, following recommendations from four Regional MCZ Projects, and advice from the Government’s Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies, Natural England and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Defra proposes to desigate a first tranche of 31 sites in 2013. It describes the approach that has been taken in selecting the proposed sites for designation in the first tranche and how it is proposed to treat other MCZ recommendations from the Regional Projects.

The MCZ consultation is a key step to meeting the Government’s commitment under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 to create a network of marine protected areas in the UK. These MCZs will complement the 8.4% of UK waters and 24% of English inshore waters already within protected areas.

The presentation will explain the reasons why the Government is progressing MCZs for English waters, how this fits in with our wider international obligations and approaches being taken elsewhere in the UK. A key issue of interest will the potential management measures that will apply to MCZs following designation and the process and approach for establishing these will be touched on in the presentation.

See consultation document:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/consult/2012/12/13/marine-conservation-zones-1212/ Back to top

EU Overview – Why are bag returns inevitable?
Cy Griffin, Biological Data Manager, FACE

Bag returns are collected in almost every EU Member State in some form, varying from schemes which demand compulsory bag returns from all hunters to voluntary schemes involving a small proportion of hunters. The availability of this data is however insufficient for assessing the effects and impacts (or lack of) of hunting practices on quarry species at a European level. For sedentary species managed at local or national scale this is of less importance, but for the management and sustainable use of migratory waterfowl, international cooperation is essential.

This is not to say that there are no mechanisms and practices to ensure that waterfowl are not over exploited. The EU Birds Directive 2009/147 EC provides a common framework for the conservation of naturally occurring wild birds, and provides a set of principles and requirements for the governance of hunting. Equally at local level wildfowlers take precautions to ensure the wise use of waterfowl resources and contribute to the conservation and maintenance of wetlands habitats – an often overlooked positive aspect of wildfowling.

While waterfowl populations are increasing it can be assumed that hunting is at least not unsustainable, but in the phase of decline more information is required to make an assessment. To make such an assessment the two main elements required are recruitment and mortality rates (hunting & other causes). Unfortunately, when decisions about the management of hunting are made, data on one or both of these elements is lacking or insufficient to make scientifically sound calculations. A more simplified indicator of sustainability is to compare trend in hunting bag with trend in population and this is used to some extent.

In addition we need to know more about the drivers of populations change which can’t be answered by the monitoring of population size alone, and nor by total hunting bag. Options need to be sought on how to establish cost-effective sampling to provide indicators of age structure, sex ratio and general condition of waterfowl populations, and there is a potential role for wildfowlers to contribute to these efforts.

Fortunately, there are some examples of these concerns being answered, with the development of projects and management plans for waterfowl which recognise the benefit of a more collaborative effort in the conservation of waterfowl. Examples of such projects will be discussed in the presentation. Back to top

“Adaptive Harvest Management of Geese in Scotland and Bag Returns”
Colin Shedden, BASC Scotland

This presentation looks at the current and proposed implementation of adaptive harvest management of geese in Scotland. In autumn 2012 the first formal attempt at AHM of resident greylag geese was made on Orkney under a pilot project being overseen by the Adaptive Management Group on behalf of the National Goose Management Review Group.

Consideration is given to the monitoring, data analyses and rule making involved in AHM. Monitoring in Orkney has shown not only a significant increase in breeding greylag geese over the past 25 years but also a large increase in over-wintering geese as well. (The population at the end of August 2012 was 25,000, rising to 80,000 in recent winters. Most of the agricultural damage occurs in the late summer, attributed to the resident geese.) 2,532 resident greylag geese were shot (against a target of 6,200) before the arrival of migratory greylag geese from Iceland. Consideration is being given to allowing the sale of geese carcases under such schemes to avoid possible waste of a natural resource.

Consideration is also given to a parallel process in Scotland that has been looking at a Voluntary Bag Reporting System for wild birds. This is likely to conclude that a voluntary approach will be able to provide information on harvesting trends that can then be compared to population trend data. Absolute numbers of geese harvested in particular areas will be a requirement of the proposed AHM pilots in Scotland, but not for other wild birds that are shot in Scotland
Finally, consideration is given to the possible expansion of AHM to other species of geese in Scotland, such as the Greenland barnacle goose. The overall conclusion should be that the Scottish Government realises that shooting is part of “the solution” rather than part of “the problem”. Back to top

Introducing the BASC Gamebook
Kate Ives, Research Officer (Surveys), BASC

Keeping a gamebook is one of the oldest sporting traditions. But in addition to being a useful personal record of days spent shooting, the information contained within them can be used to help protect our sport. Bag records provide invaluable data that can help to show shooting in the UK is both responsible and sustainable.

Two voluntary programmes for the gathering of shooting bag data in Britain have been run for many years by BASC (The Waterfowl Shooting Survey) and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (The National Gamebag Census). BASC began its annual bag survey in 1979 (suspended in 2003) and the National Gamebag Census began in 1961.

The NGC is particularly well placed to gather information on game bags, because it collects information from estates and shoots. In contrast, BASC surveys focus on individual shooters, so are particularly useful for collecting information on migratory waterfowl bags. Thus, the two methods are complementary.

A government-funded joint study has shown that combining these two surveys could enable the UK to demonstrate that shooting in this country is sustainable. Furthermore, the collection of such information puts BASC in a powerful position to engage with any future discussions about the effects of shooting on waterfowl populations.

So we have re-launched our annual bag survey in the form of the BASC Gamebook. It is the first electronic gamebook of its kind to be launched in the UK. Every year we plan to provide a sample of members with the opportunity to use it to keep their personal records. Then, we encourage them to contribute their data by sending back their completed BASC Gamebook.

In this presentation, background to the creation of the BASC Gamebook is briefly outlined before moving on to explore the key features of the survey. Considerations relating to the use and interpretation of bag data are briefly discussed. Finally, aspects of the survey that we hope to develop over time are highlighted. Back to top

25 years of BASC wildfowling conferences – so what are the challenges ahead?
John Swift, Chief Executive, BASC

25 years of BASC wildfowling conferences