January 2020 - NOTICE OF: Inaugural Annual General Meeting & 2nd Public Meeting April 02 2020
Fal Fishery Cooperative CIC (Community Interest Company)
Est. Saturday 30th March 2019
Inaugural Annual General Meeting to be held 1600-1900 Thursday 30th January 2020 at Mylor Yacht Club (the organisers & hosts reserve the right to remove individuals causing a public nuisance or disturbance and to close the meeting at any time)
1600-1800 Public Meeting – including short films, CIC presentations & CIFCA survey 2020
1800-1900 Public Meeting – open floor discussions with questions and answers
The purpose of the CIC is to help protect the Fal Fishery by way of a collaboration between licenced oyster gatherers (past, present & future), approved merchants & processors (old & new), families stakeholders & the community (that have relied on this precious resource for millennia), academics willing to commit time on projects (that can help quantify the maximum sustainable yield of the many species that are gathered harvested & fished within the estuary, to protect them for generations to come), university senior lecturers & professors (that can help guide scientific research into the Fal Fishery’s environmental social & economic services), policy makers and regulatory authorities (that ultimately have control over the future sustainability of the fishery).
The CIC has secured the Lower King Harry Aquaculture Site on the Fal and has attained all the necessary licences and permissions, the site has been leased to provide an important ‘nursery’ area for all licenced oyster gatherers and approved merchants to store the unsold native oysters and queen scallops. Storage of catch is a fundamental part of benchmark legislation that goes back to the 1901/02 legal challenge between Truro Corporation v Rowe on November 5th. With a limited 16 lays on the fishery and very few available the rights and benefits do not extend to all. Funding for infrastructure will be applied for, however interested parties will be expected to pay a proportion of the £10k annual rent, administration, staffing costs, maintenance and purchase or renewal of infrastructure.
While juveniles are stored in a reproductive biomass greater than the 1 per 20 metre (CIFCA Survey 2019) and less than the 30 per 1 sq metre (CEFAS bonamia risk) and not being sold to other fisheries, they will undoubtedly reproduce creating a new generation of larvae and spat that will improve the public fishery in the long term. They will also grow to a more desirable and marketable size, resulting in a greater reputation and hopefully a higher value under the very unique Protected Designation of Origin status that will be adopted by the UK after leaving the EU.
Another project the CIC has been seeking funding is for a native oyster hatchery, while 7 projects around the UK (UK & Ireland Native Oyster Network - NON) are seeking seed from the only UK hatchery, it is obvious that while the Fal Fishery has its own stock we need to protect it. The translocation of seed or juveniles from wild populations is highly discouraged (Berlin Native Oyster Recommendations - B Pagoda et al & Native Oyster Restoration Alliance - NORA) as it poses a great risk of spreading disease and parasites to other areas. Besides importing oysters from other areas on to the Fal Fishery is restricted by bylaws and regulations to protect the genetic wild stocks. We simply cannot expect to get funding to buy seed and watch it grow, only to land it in a year or two and sell it for a quick income, then expect to get more funding. Larvae/spat/juveniles distributed on a public fishery is open for all to gather, when they reach the minimum landing size.
NOTICE OF FILMING
This area is being used to photograph and record video and film footage in connection with the promotional and publicity campaign on behalf of the Fal Fishery Cooperative CIC. By your presence in this area, you acknowledge that you have been informed that you may be photographed and recorded as part of the release in home video and/or any media now known or hereafter devised, in perpetuity throughout the universe and the advertising and publicity thereof. Further, by your presence here, you grant your permission for your likeness and voice to be included therein without compensation, credit or other consideration. If you do not wish to be photographed, recorded, or appear under these conditions, you should leave this area immediately. Thank you for your cooperation.