The Environment Agency
in the South West is doing its bit to support
car free fortnight.
British motorists are
being urged to walk, cycle or take the bus
whether they are going to work, school or
the shops on World Car Free Day, on Tuesday
22 September.
It is an opportunity
to find another way for just one day to
get around town, leave the car at home and
walk, take a bus, train or cycle. It is
an annual celebration of cities and public
life, free from the noise, stress and pollution
of cars.
People in the Environment
Agency are dumping their cars and using
different forms of transport to get to work
for a whole fortnight, beginning on Monday
21 September.
Staff in the offices
across the region at Exminster, Exeter,
Bridgwater, Bodmin and Blandford will be
using public transport, walk or any other
green form of transport they can devise.
Pandora Rene, a technical adviser, will
hitch up her pony Rowena to a trap and guide
her from the village of Hutcherleigh in
South Devon to the Agency’s office at Exminster.
It’s a round trip of approximately 80 miles
which will take the intrepid duo two days
to traverse in each direction.
‘The journey would normally
take me 50 minutes in the car. A pony and
trap might not be practical for every day
commuting, but there’s a serious point in
that we all need to make an extra effort
to choose a green form of transport, rather
than relying on our car,’ said Pandora
Pandora is also hoping
to raise money from her journey through
sponsorship for three charities – WaterAid,
the Devon Air Ambulance, and the Caspian
Horse Society. If you would like to sponsor
Pandora, or make a donation to any of these
good causes, you can phone her on: 07879
430366.
Four other Environment
Agency staff, including Rob Harwood, Dave
Brogden and Richard Tugwell, intend to carry
another member of staff on a handmade sedan
chair the two mile journey from Kennford
to the office at Exminister.
The sedan chair has
been constructed from a chair thrown away
following a car boot sale and wooden poles
retrieved from a tip and due for disposal.
All this is to help
highlight the pollution caused by cars,
not just the fumes but the whole cycle of
waste and disruption, the noise, delayed
journeys, the whole human misery caused
by traffic congestion and car pollution.
“It is hoped that as
many people as possible will find an alternative
means of getting to work. If you can avoid
using your car on the 22nd September even
for one journey you will be helping reduce
pollution in your area and show the world
you care! Who knows you might even save
a little money and enjoy the change of pace,’
said Regional Director Richard Cresswell.
‘In the Environment
Agency, we'd like our car parks to be almost
empty on Car Free Day itself, but we are
also taking the idea a step further by asking
everyone to be car free for both commuting
and business journeys as much as possible
for the whole fortnight. The more we can
reduce our own mileage, the more we can
reduce our carbon emissions,’ he added.
As well as helping to
combat climate change, reducing our mileage
also has health and safety benefits – rail
travel is nine times safer than travel by
car.
Almost 40% of the transport
sector's CO2 emissions are produced by the
use of private cars in cities.
More information on Car Free Day:
http://www.worldcarfree.net/wcfd/
+ More
Environment Agency turns
detective to solve fish tag mystery
Some strange objects
are washed up along the Cornish coastline.
Latest surprises include a series of plastic
fish tags discovered on beaches around Newquay
and Falmouth
Two tags were found
at Watergate Beach and another at Porth
Beach. A fourth was washed ashore near Falmouth.
Each tag was individually numbered and had
the name of the Environment Agency on it.
They were handed in to the Agency by members
of the public.
The tags are important
because they help ensure fish merchants,
hotels and restaurants only purchase wild
caught salmon and sea trout from legitimate
sources. It is illegal for a fishmonger
or catering establishment to be in possession
of a fish without a tag.
After some painstaking
detective work Agency officers have solved
this ‘fishy tale’. Initial inquiries revealed
the tags came from fish caught off the Yorkshire
and Northumberland coast. ‘Some of the largest
licensed net fisheries are based in these
areas,’ said Simon Toms for the Environment
Agency.
Further checks confirmed
the tags came from sea trout caught by netsmen
operating off the North East coast including
Filey in Yorkshire and Craster. Two of the
fish were caught by netsmen on the Duke
of Northumberland’s fishery.
The tagged fish were
then sold to various seafood wholesalers
at Berwick, Craster and Scarborough, two
of which supply a Cornwall-based company
which, in turn supplies salmon and sea trout
carcasses to commercial fishermen at Newquay
for use as crab and lobster bait.
The final breakthrough
came when the Agency discovered there had
been problems with commercial fishermen
dumping unwanted waste, including tagged
fish, into Newquay harbour in breach of
local fishery licensing regulations. The
harbourmaster has been alerted.
The compulsory marking
of legally net-caught salmon and sea trout
using a system known as ‘carcass tagging’
became law earlier this year. The measure
was brought in to help safeguard salmon
stocks that have undergone a serious decline
in recent years as a result of climate change,
loss of spawning grounds, diffuse pollution
and illegal fishing. The sale of all rod
caught salmon and sea trout became illegal
under the same regulations.
‘This mystery has enabled
us to prove the traceability of tagged fish
and helps ensure only legally caught fish
end up in our hotels, guest houses, fish
markets and restaurants. Hopefully, it will
also help prevent future marine littering
and inappropriate disposal of trade waste,’
said Simon Toms.
A photo of tagged fish
is available from the Environment Agency’s
regional press office. For further details
call 01392 442008.
