Fish, Respect And Protect

The Pilot Project: Sport Fishing Workshops at the Marina Barrage

2009-12-08T06:16:00.000-08:00

Dear Readers,

Thank you for your support for these months. As you have read and, some of you have been part of, GARS had a difficult birth right from the very start , and still continues to face obstacles (we rather call them goals) of a daunting scale. Nevertheless, thanks to not only the readers but the people we met along the way , I have a belief that the members of GARS will pull through.

All said and done, we finally made a milestone. PUB and GARS have been collaborating for some time to bring a series of sport fishing workshops to the Marina Barrage, where participants get to fish the barrage itself from the jetty. We just had a soft launch which proved to be a good success. It's a small step by us in tribute to the indomitable spirit of the Singaporean sport anglers, but it is more telling on how far we have gone since our inception in August.

Therefore, we would like to invite readers to participate in this pilot project, either by emailing us at GARS.SocietyInfo@gmail.com or contacting me at +6581862618

Tien Yun, Tan
President,
Executive Committee 2009,
Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society (GARS)

The Boys In Khaki

2009-11-02T21:24:00.000-08:00

There were alot of curious stares on the Friday morning. Men coming in khaki casting shirts , bermudas and boots. Carrying a paraphernalia of items ranging from fishing rods, books, videos to a fish tank. Tying mono lines, opening boxes displaying thin barbless hooks covered in colourful feathers and fur.

This was the morning of our soft launch. We were nervous, we didn't quite know what to expect, but sooner or later we have to meet the masses to spread our message. NEA was gracious enough to give us that chance during the Clean Green Singapore 2010.

How did it go?

The crowd gathers, even as we are busy setting up.
The president here is caught by surprise..

And the crowd never ends..

The response was overwhelming. For a while , the manning staff of GARS got overwhelmed, but thanks to the Fly fishing club Singapore, more khaki shirts join the fray to explain our cause, share our lifestyle and our art in the world of fly/lure fishing and habitat conservation.

Chee yung explaining about environmentally responsible fishing.

melvin explaining the purpose of a fly to anybody with a willing ear.

Yandi describing the various flies and equipment to a family

However, it is not enough to just verbally spread the message, so together with NUS, we have managed to deploy a living ecosystem fish tank with a full complement of dragon fly nymphs, fish, tadpoles and other aquatic fauna . It was a delight to see the family of both the young and old marvel at something that is sadly rarely seen in our waters. As a comparison, we have a tank full of trash to show them what will happen if the waters are taken for granted below.

What we strive for: Kids look in amazement at the assortment of life in the tank

A dragon fly nymph stalks...

And it is these aquatic fauna that we replicate using lures and flies. To the public amazement, GARS and FFC members open up a fly tying table, complete with feathers, fur and little tools to tie flies on the spot as giveaway gifts.

The fly tying table proves to be an immediate draw..

Huns showing off his skills, in minature.

The result of 5 minutes of quick work..

Some of our display flies . It was to our surprise that some members of the public were asking whether the lot of them are for sale! As a joke, some of the boys decided to give the president home address as a location for the shop. Needless to say, TY was abit worried over the next few days..

Saltwater bonefish flies for the mangroves, tied on biodegradable carbon steel hooks.

The display of flies on the table.

Overall, the our launch was a huge success to the point that all the booth staff were engaged throughout the day. One member could be speaking to up to 7 interested members of the public at one time, so it was with great gratitude that we would like to thank Billy, the VP of FFC for taking time to do photography for us.

And of course the interprid Karen Ng from Vibrant Moments Photography, who was there at the ready when we recieved a very surprising representative from climate project singapore :

Ladies and gentlemen, Denise Keller.

A firm handshake and a smile, as TY looks in shock.

With a smile, she came over much to the shock of both GARS and FFC members. She quickly made her way and spread her charm like a little spell, to the point that we almost had trouble trying to articulate what our society is all about. Nevertheless, she proved more than game to find out what is it we do, and how we are helping the environment as a whole. Thank you denise for being understanding when we boys are caught in our weakest moment!

Chee Yung sharing with denise a video of his son catching his first fish.

TY demonstrating to denise about fly tying

Unfortunately, TY isn't too good so denise generously lent a hand..

Last but not least, we would like to thank the unsung heroes in the form of the CGS officials who helped us during the 3 days, as well as our booth neighbours who made sure their visitors heard about us. With that, I'll like to give a photograph that sums it all:

The smile from melvin says it all in our mood.

False affiliation with a business interest

2009-11-01T18:38:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

According to our attention, Bob at hampala creek fishing pond up in malaysia had been trying to affiliate himself with us and our work with FFC by calling himself the Home of The Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society (GARS)

link

We would like to reiterate that Bob is not a registered member of our society or in any way having communicated to be affiliated with us.

Thank you!

By Order Of
Executive Committee 2009
Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society

JP Ross Fly Rods Came To Town.

2009-11-01T15:58:00.000-08:00

It was a typical day at springleaf, with lines floating like spiderwebs in the thick morning air, laying gently out as a small row of fly fishermen prospect the waters below.

Well, not quite. There's a slight clack of the taxi, with 3 blury americans lumbering out of the vehicle across the bridge, as a row of fly fishermen made their way across.

"Good morning to you gentlemen, how are you?" asked melvin, with a hand out.

One of the new arrivals returned with a firm handshake and a quick greeting in a tilting american accent:

"Hello, my name's Jordan's , owner of JP Ross Fly Rods. It's a great pleasure finally meeting you guys. How's the morning fishing goin'?"

Jordan P Ross, owner of JP Ross Flyrods

Our inteprid new anglers, John Fullem and David Recht

Billy, VP of Fly Fishing Club Singapore, checking out Jordan's business card.

JP Ross Fly Rods is a small fly rod company based in New York since 1994. A small fly rod company doesn't mean however a non descript company. Their specialty are quality built custom fly rods , and they have made 5000 of those in the hands from political figures to the hands of a nervous novice in the Orvis Fly Fishing School. Just to give a clue what their product looks like

Beaver meadow, for the Eagle Creek Brook Trout (Not found in Singapore)

Jordan and his 2 colleagues , John and David(both newly initiated into fly fishing) came down to Singapore on business, with a keen eye for the peacock bass and hopefully a tug on their line by one of these aquatic denizens. After a briefing by Melvin, Jordan and his friends got to work.

Where to fish, how to fish, and if there is fish.

A good luck photograph

A cast out.

Right into the holes. Accuracy is paramount in fly fishing.

Jordan got a hit right next to the bridge pylon as he drifted a hopper into the middle of those rises , however the fish just didn't want to commit today. David was in a more fustrating situations as he tried to tease a pair of chromides to take his nymph, but it seems as David say, "It's all love and no hunger down that hole ..."

Suddenly, there is a yell and a little grin by one of our new guys trying a fly on spin gear. Well, it isn't very big, but at least the americans got to see our very own local peacock bass, alien or not.

A baby peacock bass with its photograph taken before release.

As the sun rises and the temperature climbs to the high 30's (not farenheit but celsius), we threw ourselves into an entourage of cars and Billy's bus and went scooting off for a drink before heading to another area . As Jordan and his colleagues made the comment about the incredulous nature of our fishing..

"These guys are nuts..."

In the bus, out of the sun and hunting for food.

Squeezing in, with prata, bandung and a whole lot of fisherman talk.

While it doesn't seem important, the interim meal before and after a fish is the most important time in the fly/lure fishing lifestyle. It is the time where friends, father and sons get together and share the experiences of the day, and their observations of the future. In the case, our guests got to see with their own eyes the challenges of survival our aquatic wildlife have to face everyday, and how much of the battle our fauna is losing. They have however saw the potential of our waters as a sport fishery, as as Jordan put it:

"Heck, I'll pay for good quality fishing here. Its not everyday where you can get good fish in the morning and have a nice cool beer in the city by evening."

With that in mind, we went off to the next spot, but only to be greeted with grim reminders of why GARS was formed int the first place:

Algae bloom due to excess nutrients from run offs.

Illegal baiting using high nutrient baits such as chicken liver and set lines.

Nevertheless, our guests decided to give it one last shot. While we did see rises of fish, we didn't manage to hit any. However, David has got a nice surprise:

Set up on the car park.

First few casts.

And....a branch.

As it was too hot, we decided to call fishing off for a day, but we had plenty to talk. Jordan graciously offered his hand and expertise to be affiliated with us to help us save our waters, and hopefully raise some funds, so do expect to see JP ROSS on our blog as a big supporter in the near future.

Meanwhile till then, as our guests flies off to their next destination, the members of GARS and FFC dig down to carry on the dirty and ugly in order to save fishing in our little island.

Soft Launch, Clean and Green Singapore

2009-10-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

Good Day all!

I know we have been pretty quiet recently, but we had a ton of things to do. Right now we had been busy trying to prepare for our Clean and Green Singapore ( and still trying, wondering if somehow by the grace of God we could make in time..), and would like to invite you comers to our little warm corner booth.

Pretty cool isn't it? Hopefully it doesn't collapse. We will be at booth 30 at the horticultural park at Alexandra Road. See you there!

We'll be back!

2009-09-28T08:26:00.001-07:00

Firstly, we have some good news.

The good news is, we just finished with a set of meetings where we agreed to work with NParks, PUB and NUS to come out with a viable and sustainable sport fishery , the first in Singapore.

The bad news is that as a result of the new initiative, all GARS members including ex co have to concentrate on the immediate task at hand. Therefore, it is to our reluctance that we have to put this blog on hold for a while.

But let it be known, in a week or 2 or what Arnold always says:

We will be back.

Mud Skipping Escapades.

2009-09-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Ecology Asia

It was hot. It was drowsy. Wafts of Hydrogen sulphide play havoc on my sinuses as my booties squelched and blubbered in the glutinous mud. As rivulets of stinging, salty sweat seeped into the corner of my mouth, a thought without form begins to suddenly crystalise :

This is madness.

Let's take stock on how I got into this situation as so aptly described by the image down below:

TY Tan Mucked out.
Courtesy Of Habitat News.

The International Coastal Clean up is an annual event coordinated by volunteers of the Raffles Museum Of Biodiversity Research (RMBR), xxx National University of Singapore (NUS) to remove, categorise and dispose of man made refuse from sensitive habitats, which in turn are home and nurseries to our local species of gamefish like the tarpon and the barramundi.

Having established a working relationship with RMBR, we at GARS have decided to take it upon ourselves to take the plunge and bring ourselves to the forefront of the green movement.

However, as our registration is late, we couldn't register as a group as most places had already been taken up. However , the ICCS 2009 coordinators have taken it upon themselves to invite me and Yandi to the event, and even open a dialogue on the possibility of GARS as one of the groups adopting Pandan Mangroves.

Pandan Mangroves.

Courtesy Of Habitat News.

So it was this defining moment, with the Singapore Police Force, staff and docents of Wildlife Reserves Singapore, NUS and the Independent sign-ups that Yandi and myself find gently waddling among the mangrove roots like colourful macaques daintily picking degraded plastics and bottles to toss into oversized plastic bags tastefully decorated with a blue fish.

The Blue Fish. Courtesy of Habitat News

One plastic wrap into the plastic. Courtesy of Habitat News.

Sad to say, I was living to our society namesake. I was like a fish (or a gar) out of water. It was low tide, the mud is soft and the mudskippers like the one above were beginning to wonder whether I was one of them thanks to my seemingly intimate cuddling with mother earth (read behind the lines: fine silty, salty and extremely clingy glutinous mud with the tenacity of a woman scorned.).

Welcome fellow mudskipper: Rescue in progress.

Courtesy of Habitat News.

Yandi on the other hand is a pro. Skipping among the mangrove roots like a ballerina despite weighing 80kg, he deftly picks up plastic wrapping, bottles and rice sacks and deftly packing the seemingly unending streams of white plastic trash bags. Nylon ropes, torn gill nets, plates found their way into Yandi's paws while I struggled to even navigate past the branches.

Yandi in action. Courtesy of Habitat News

As Siva, the national organiser said : 'It is back breaking work, it is not easy, but somebody has got to do it.'

Siva in his element when he made the defining statement above.

Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Thanks to Alison (on the left in the tub) for doing the brainy work of recording our data. There is nothing more attractive than an already pretty woman getting dirty. Unfortunately, we didn't manage to catch her muddy so we have to make do with her washing up our gloves.

Bathing beauties after the mud.

Courtesy Of Habitat News.

Of course, there are other mangrove sirens doing the catwalk that threatened to distract us into stop moving and sink slowly but surely into the clinging mud.

Trina on the go. Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Could anybody remember this girl's name?

She galvanised the entire SPF trainees with her smile .
Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Suddenly something white caught my eye, and a quick glance, it turned out to be a computer monitor impaled by mangrove roots and gently giving way to the mosses. Yandi had gave it a go to dislodge it when he found out it threatened to dislodge him
.

Monitor becoming one with nature.

Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Recap from the briefing: ' Be safe.'

Meanwhile, shouts echoed back and forth the mangrove as the volunteers shout out the rubbish types to the data collectors scribbling frantically on the clipboards. There is a reason behind this event, which is to gather data on marine debris for policy, awareness and education measures can be introduced at the international and national level. It the case of Pandan mangroves, this improves the health of the system too.

Volunteers at work at high noon.
Courtesy of the Habitat News.

The time passed, and the refuse picking soon became second nature, but once in a while there is a stint of fun and sport for us .

Yandi and Joelle mud wrestling a gunny sack.
Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Mangrove cleanup, F1 style.
Courtesy of the Habitat News.

As the noon sun makes it prescence felt, a congregation of chocolate figurines sauntered out of the thicket of bushes and mangroves to take stock of their insect bites and a welcome wash in water. Rubbish were weighed, contractors were called and everybody congratulated themselves on the good work.

Singapore Police Force Trainee and their efforts.
Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Weighing of Rubbish. Courtesy of the Habitat News.

Yandi and I took a look at each other and approached the coordinators: "Yes on the behalf of GARS we will like to adopt Pandan mangroves. Let's talk."

So from next year on out, keep tuned as we flesh it out in due time.

We would like to offer our sincere thanks to the coordinators for being such gracious, enthuasic and funny hosts. It is people like you that give us strength and the humour to carry on:

Joelle Lai
Kelly Ong
Alison Wee
N.Sivasothi
Trina Chua
Anne Devan
Airani.S

If we have missed anybody out, please let us know and we will give a special spot on this post.

Tan Tien Yun
President
Executive Commitee'2009
Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society

Yusfiandi Yatiman
Vice President
Executive Committee'2009
Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society

The Meaning Of Outreach.

2009-08-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

According to general management rules in business, it always boils down to one point:

How much would I benefit versus the resource expenditure and time spent?

On immediate hindsight, if we were to follow this point (and it is a very valid point), then outreach in itself is a very meaningless and pointless approach.

So why do we do it?

There is nothing whimsical or idealistic on why we at GARS bank on outreach as one of our cornerstones. And certainly the most difficult. It would be very much easier to go accost the anglers, lecture them and probably report and impose authority. Or if times were much earlier and rule of law is unheard of, some would think we should just throw them all in the river and add in a bunch of saltwater crocodiles to join in the festivities.

There will be immediate benefit, but however, they will be back. So will their children. And they will be learning all the same practices from their fore fathers. Let's take a look back on the first point. Versus the cost needed to keep anglers at bay over a period of time (e.g. 10 years), outreach though difficult is actually the most effective method over time because we are tackling the problem at its source.

The german and american cockroach is a prime example of an invasive alien species that have gone out of control and affected our daily lives at the end of the food chain.

A rough analogy is killing a cockroach in the kitchen one at a time versus taking the time to find out where they come from and tackling the source. Immediate relief versus long term benefit?

members of GARS and FFC beginning their rounds to solicitate converts.
Non religious of course.

One thing to bear in mind that anglers on the whole are not vindictive, greedy or evil people. Even those laying nets. We have been brought up on the whole that fish is a non exhaustive resource in the sea. And this line of thought still persist to this day, and even if the truth is laid out before them verbally, stubborness and resistance is often the response to a concerned environmentalist.

Yandi gathering feedback from a local angler

How do we at FFC and GARS handle the anglers and the public? Talk to them, and find out their rationale behind their practise. Is it to feed their family or earn extra income? Or their only way to remember a cherished childhood? What do they think of the time back and now? We have to identify their 'source' or 'pain' to what they do on the water.

Now relate it back to what is happening to the water to their 'pain'. Is there less fish compared now compared to the past? And why? By relating facts to what they have observed and saw, and giving alternate acceptable methods such as managed fishing (Taking home only what you need). We have to relate that not all anglers are willing to take up fly or lure fishing on the first go, but if we can get them to see to manage their catch and make them see the relation of taking care of a river versus their catch, it is a very good first step.

Collecting micro fauna for macro photography.

Baby Bumblebee gobies (Brachygobius.sp) from the fine seine net.

Of course there would be some who are interested in more, and may not be fly or lure fishing. The key to generating staying power is to key in on their interest. For example, let them see sights that they rarely see or relate something unique that they didn't know.

The Fly Tying Station

This is however easier said than done, and is best done by show and tell. For FFC and GARS, we often rely on fly tying to emulating the often microscopic aquatic insects to attract the passerbys before we even start talking about water quality and fish life.

As could be seen, this is not an easy task especially for GARS, a new society with limited man power. And in order to mantain that level of interest, there must be a consistency in prescence. FFC and GARS personnel have to turn up at the same spot, week after week , to become a familiar sight to the residents and anglers and get their curiosity and attention to our work.

However, all in all, we have the passion and belief this would work. And we hope this post could help all who read it a helpful one, especially when engaging the angler community. In the end, the picture below sums up what we hope to achieve, if not for a minor issue.

A happy young angler with a hefty trophy peacock bass. This would have been the excellent picture for fisheries management, except the peacock bass is an alien species that would have to be managed.

The River In Between

2009-08-17T15:10:00.000-07:00

The mist rolls, a delicate cobweb of moisture that clings like a heavy down across the still waters . The river sleeps, like an unmoved being that long ago merged with the earth, ephemeral and waiting.

This was once a river that was pristine, surrounded by secondary forest and vegetation. A haven for fishes, with hatches of mayfly, dragonflies and damsels as much as a regular occurrence as rising fish. However, in recent times, a portion of the banks had been concretised, vegetation cleared. The river had been heavily fished day and night not by fishermen looking for sport, but by locals casting long nets across the river.

Fly Fishing Club (FFC) and GARS made an arrangement to hold small weekend campaigns to raise the awareness on the plight of this river. And it was on this day, that a sleepy crew came rolling out of a van at 8am , setting up table and chairs, much to the curiosity of the residents taking a morning walk.

A picnic? Not quite. Melvin soon set up shop. Wooly buggers, pheasant tail nymphs, all imitation of the local damselfly and dragon fly nymphs to the chromonids appear from the fly box, as well as a cabinet full of debarbed copper hooks designed to be biodegradable in fresh water. With deft hands on his fly tying vice, melvin started his own little road show, explaining to interested passerbys on the art of fly tying and the biology and entomology of this particular river, and how each particular fly tries to emulate a particular species of insect buzzing around in the open.

Here in this case, Melvin is explaining to one of our new members Peter about a particular fly he's tying. By introducing anglers to alternative methods such as lures and flies, we could cut down the amount of chicken liver and worms polluting our water ways.

But it is not only here that the team works. Elsewhere, Uncle Wong , Terry and Chee Yung started setting up rods and approaching passerbys (and fishermen) to give it a go.

Soon enough, they accosted their first 'victim'. His name is Arthur , and seeing a fly line zip gracefully across the air, he came to Chee Yung full of curiosity. Curiosity does kill cats, but it snared us an angler and a new convert.

Uncle Wong is no slouch either, and soon took Peter up to show him the tricks and means of doing fly fishing safely (Without hooking yourself or other passerbys).

Meanwhile, Terry was having a fun time explaining about his time in Canada and how anglers and scientists were working to preserve the waterways when Billy suddenly says 'Halt!'. The line zips through the air and lands lightly on the water as a female in jogger in blue paces past. Billy shouts an exubarant 'Good morning!' as she went by, with a smile as an acknowledgement . He turns around and said 'If the residents could see what we are doing is good for the river, we at least have a place to stay and be welcomed..'

And in those words, he captured the gist of our mission. For too long on this stretch of river, residents have seen anglers throw bits of litter, their hooks and lines (even fishing rods) on the grass and paths, swung their rods dangerously in the face of joggers and took home every fish they caught, disrupting the river ecosystem.

The campaign here is not only to educate the anglers and passerbys on how to take care of the waters by teaching them forms of fishing that teaches them about the biology, but to show the residents of the river what responsible and environmentally friendly fishing and rehab could do to improve and resolve the situation. This is the very first step towards saving this stretch of river.

To illustrate the case of how litter is a problem, before we finished we went to do an all round bank clean up. What we found is unbelievable to some extent in just 10 minutes:

While this may not seem much, this is not the very first clinic we conducted and we cleaned up the week before. It even comes with a hook and line.

This type of hook is probably made of stainless steel, which doesn't corrode very well even in saltwater. If left in the grass or hooked by a fish in freshwater, it could have pretty undesirable results. The hooks used in lure and flies are either steel with high carbon content or copper that quickly degrade in the water, causing minimal impact on the environment.

While we are cleaning up, we encountered a weed gatherer:

From talks with the weed gatherer, Billy is able to ascertain he earns around $40 per day from gathering hydrilla weeds from the banks. 100 stalks earns him about $2, so doing basic maths:

$40 a day / $2 per 100 plants * 100plants = 2000 stalks gathered.

It means that every week the plants gets reduced by 2000 specimens. While hydrilla does grow fast, the plants would not be able to sustain this rate of harvest. Fish and insects rely on these plants for shelter and food, and these plants prevent erosion by anchoring the fine silt to the banks. Without them, not only would the fish and insects disappear, but the banks would slowly erode, leaving an ugly scar.

With this sombre thought in mind and seeing the scores of anglers with pieces of chicken liver, plastic bags and meshed nylon wrapped around their arms, we are quickly reminded on how dire the situation is and what more needs to be done. Soon we hope the authorities will allow us to do alot more for the river, but right now we only could do the best with our resources. With this note, FFC and GARS are very appreciative of readers in this post, and we sincerely hope the readers will lend us the support we need to allow us to fulfill our mission.

As this is a weekly affair, in order to find out more about the clinics and location, please pop down to Coho Fishing Tackle at 14 Bali Lane, Singapore 189850 and register. We will call participants one day before to reconfirm the attendance.

River Fly

2009-08-16T19:14:00.000-07:00

The GARS executive committee is pleased to extend the invite from the NUS Dept Of Biological Sciences (DBS) on the talk about voluntary monitoring, research and upkeep on waterways by Bridget Peacock, the Director of Riverfly Partnership, UK. The talk is held at the DBS Conference Room, Dept of Biological Sciences, NUS from 12pm to 2:30pm.

GARS mission mirrors Riverfly, and we believe Bridget expertise and experiences in building up River fly may not only help us build up our operations, but allow the public to experience first hand what it means to have such an organisation play a role in our local waters.

A short write up :

How good is your river?
Non specialists play a critical role in ensuring the good ecological status of rivers

Bridget Peacock
Director, Riverfly Partnership, London

Trained non-specialists are playing a critical role in helping to ensure the good ecological status of UK rivers. The Riverfly Partnership Anglers’ Monitoring Initiative enables trained non-specialist groups to have an informed dialogue on river water quality with the statutory bodies.

The initiative has caught the imagination of anglers and others across the UK who care about the health of their rivers and an expanding army of volunteer groups are now regularly monitoring their rivers. The trained groups monitor their rivers on a monthly basis using a simple protocol, based on that used by the statutory bodies, and record 8 easy to identify pollution sensitive invertebrate taxa. The partnership of non specialists and statutory bodies is proving to be extremely effective – ensuring that rivers are checked more frequently and at additional sites to those routinely monitored, acting as a deterrent to potential polluters, leading to successful court prosecutions of polluters responsible for falls in water quality and leading to a new resolution of data that will be used to monitor change.

Matt Crocker, Head of Fisheries at the UK Environment Agency notes that ‘this angler-driven monitoring scheme provides a really valuable increase in focus to our rivers, with more frequent sampling and additional sites to complement the routine monitoring by the statutory bodies. It ensures a spotlight on water quality, with action, if needed, taken at the earliest opportunity – a potent deterrent to potential polluters’.

The initiative, which is now recognised in the Water Framework Directive river basin management plans in England and Wales, is likely to be applied in other EU states.

The Riverfly Partnership, which operates through the Salmon and Trout Association, is a wide collaboration of organisations in the UK working to : protect the water quality of rivers; further the understanding of riverfly populations and conserve their habitats. Partners include : The Natural History Museum London, Environment Agency, Natural England, Association of Rivers Trusts and more than forty other angling, conservation and academic organisations plus relevant statutory bodies.

Many Drops Make An Ocean

2009-08-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

We've all been there before.

"God, this is way bigger than I thought".
"I don't care whatever it is, I just want to fish!"
"Why should I contribute my time and effort for this and get nothing out of it"
"Nah, nobody will ever support this."
"Are you really..really..REALLY sure you want to do this?"

Yes, I am sure.

These statements, as informal and simplistic as it sounds, highlighted our attitude over the past decade, and probably beyond that. What did we get by adopting this wait and see attitude?

We've seen our once pristine rivers dammed. Concretized. Polluted and reclaimed. Our fish had been netted to almost oblivion. Places where you could once see baitfish schools getting chased by apex predators reduced to quiet serene pools, save an odd shellfish and snails. Even those are getting wiped out, thanks to ever increasing number of people collecting them by the bucket load for dinner.

We , from watching , have blamed the people with money. The 'ignorant' migrants from overseas who came to our shores for a better life. We have blamed everything and everyone for the destruction of our home waters which we once held so dear. We blamed them for not listening to us and our complaints, while we ourselves kept insular, and not reaching out. Or giving up early the moment we tried and hit a setback.

Is it really their fault? Or ours? I cannot speak for the rest, but I will say, it is my fault that I didn't see this coming. Or did anything about it.

However, it is not too late. We still have our reservoirs to protect and nurture. The islands to get recognized and protect. And people to educate on our sport and the environment. Yes, we will face obstacles in the face of people too fearful for our revolutionary new ideas, and yes we will face the negativity by people jaded from their past experiences. But this shouldn't stop us. There is too much at stake.

We must try. And we must succeed.

It is this urgency that a group of anglers/naturalists, from all walks of life came together, sat down and form this society. Like a new born, the society faces huge challenges from day one, from gaining acceptance from the government agencies to the local populance, to finding finances to fund the missions we set out to carry. There will be differences, and there will be a time when we need straighten each other ( and our partners) out, but we have to keep focus and the belief we will get there.

GARS purpose is to establish a sport fishery not only as to establish homewaters for our anglers, but to provide financial meaning and support to protect and rehab our aquatic habitats for the benefit for all god's creation threatened by the ongoing pace of development. We aim to show that fishes and their habitats are a resource that could be managed and developed to create a new financially sustainable recreational sport/industry while not endangering the environment. The ideas are decades old, and we are not the first ones to think of it, but we will be the first ones to actively pursue this ideal till the very end.

Others have gone before us. The nature volunteer groups have worked on through the 90's to finally get the green movement gain momentum. However, they still need help and we have to be their ally. The government have initiated their Active, Beautiful And Clean master plans (ABC) and have requested help in constructing a fledgling fishery. We have to be there to carry this forward. What we want could not be accomplished by one single person, or one single group, but if only all comes together.

However, all this starts from one individual to make up his mind that he wants to make a difference, no matter what. Not to stick with the status quo and continue to watch.

And it is with this petition, that I appeal to the readers if they decide to make a difference, please contact our group at GARS.SocietyInfo@gmail.com. We are looking for that many drops to make up an ocean.

Regards
Tien Yun Tan
President
Executive Committee 2009
Gamefish & Aquatic Rehabilitation Society.