Open letter to Haith's Bird Food - please spare a thought for the world's fish-eating birds!

 

Dear Haith's Bird Food

I am writing this open letter in the hope that it might encourage you to extend your product range.

While at Cleethorpes Boating Lake earlier this week, I saw a sign saying Bird Feeding Station on the central island and decided to investigate.

I waited three hours to be fed, but in vain. Food was there none.

Disappointed, I flew off to seek sustenance elsewhere.

I know you are very supportive of smaller birds such as robins and finches, but what about us fish-eating species? Not just cormorants like me, but grebes, puffins, terns, gannets and many more? Do we not count? 

I do hope you will consider my request as a matter of urgency. Fish-containing products need to be incorporated into your range of products if you are deemed to be an all-inclusive bird-loving company with diversity at the heart of its strategy.

Yours in hope 

Cormack the Cormorant

Cleethorpes

North East Lincolnshire

  

Money that will never be recovered - council set to write off debts totalling more than £260,000

                                                    

How the mighty are fallen! Arcadia was the parent company of  British Home Stores, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.

IT looks like North East Lincolnshire Council will have to write off debts amounting to £262,221.03.

The monies are owed in unpaid business rates by just four companies that have gone belly-up.

According to a report, the four are:

* GB Trading Worldwide Ltd  

* KWG Leisure Ltd, trading as Karting World

* K/S Scandinavian Property Investments (a Danish company)

* Arcadia Group Ltd

The write-off are expected to be rubber-stamped, with reluctance, at next Wednesday's meeting of NELC's cabinet.

Did they not think it was cruel? Night 11 polar bears 'performed' before Grimsby big top crowd of 4,500

A reader has submitted this cutting from the Juy 17, 1962 edition of the Grimsby Telegraph.

Were they so disrespectful of such magnificent creatures 60 years ago?

The previous evening had seen the second performance of Billy Smart's Circus, with a crowd of 4,500, under the big top in Grimsby.

The newspaper's reporter writes: "An entirely new and unique act was given by 11 polar bears presented by Alphonse Arndt of Germany."

Another feature of the show consisted of elephants 'dancing' to the music of a hit record of the day, The Twist, by Chubby Checker.

Guests at the performance included the Mayor and Mayoress of Grimsby, Ald and Mrs E. Marshall, and the Mayor and Mayoress of Cleethorpes, Cllr and Mrs H. Loftis.

Gavan's eyes went cold - then, bang, it beats the 'keeper and is in the back of the Southampton net

A huge moment for Gavan Holohan as he prepares to take the first penalty

Please, please - let Gavan score!

The 'keeper dives the wrong way - it's 1-0 to Grimsby

Joy for the Mariners fans

Jubilation at the final whistle: Saints 1, Town 2

Mariners miracle! Front page of today's local paper

It shouldn't happen to a Prime Minister! Joy for MPs Nici and Vickers but despair for Saints fan Sunak

 

All smiles before the match but last laugh to Grimsby MP Lia Nici and her Cleethorpes counterpart, Martin Vickers, following Grimsby Town's sensational victory against Southampton in the FA Cup Fifth Round. For Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Saints fan since his schooldays at Winchester, it was a case of:"Oh, well, there's always another season."

FA Cup giant-killers: Southampton 1, Grimsby Town 2

It was all just a blur! Town fans go crazy at the final whistle as an heroic (and historic)  performance sees them clinch the scalp of Premier League side Southampton and march on to the 6th Round of the FA Cup for the first time since 1939. Just three more wins in the competition and they will be 2023 FA Cup winners!

 

Site off Lincolnshire Coast misses out on protection following objections from Grimsby fishing community

                                                                      

A PROPOSAL to designate an area of the southern North Sea as a Highly Protected Marine Area has been dropped.

The Inner Silver Pit South, off the coast of  Lincolnshire, is recognised as a biodiversity hotspot for marine wildlife including fish, shellfish, whales, dolphins and seabirds.

However, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey decided not to grant HPMA status following objections from fishermen in Grimsby and elsewhere - even while acknowledging that protection would have a "positive impact on nursery and spawning areas for commercially or recreationally important fish".

The area is said to be particularly productive for lobsters and crabs, though scallop numbers are declining to the dismay of French vessels that occasionally come calling (and trawling).

A statement published today by the minister's  department reads: "After reviewing the evidence the Secretary of State has decided not to designate Inner Silver Pit South as an HPMA. 

"This is because of the relatively high costs to fishermen likely to be incurred by such a designation. 

"The commercial fishing in this site is comparatively productive compared to the surrounding areas. As well as incurring high costs from designation, the benefits would be comparatively low. 

"As a result, the analysis shows the net social value (comparing benefits to costs) was the lowest across all sites. 

"Therefore, we consider the benefits of designation would not sufficiently outweigh the impacts on fishers."

The decision will cause disappointment in wildlife-supporting circles - not least to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, one of the consultees.

A pre-decision survey revealed that 59 per cent of respondents supported - many of them "strongly" - the designation proposal.

Objections from fishermen also caused the minister to reject another  proposal - this one for Lindisfarne.

On the plus side, she has approved designations for Allonby Bay (located in the Irish Sea), North East of Farnes Deep (in the Northern North Sea) and Dolphin Head (located in the Eastern Channel).

Consultees across the five designation sites were the following: 

Allerdale Borough Council

Alnwick Area Friends of the Earth

Angling Trust

Anglo Scottish Fishermen’s Association

Applied Genomics Ltd.

Barnsley BSAC Divers

Belford Parish Council

Billy Shiels Boat Trips (Individual with 25 in employment)

Blue Marine Foundation

Brighton and Hove’s Wildlife Forum

British Association for Shooting and Conservation

British Marine Aggregate Producers Association

British Sub Aqua Club

BSAC Harrogate Dive Club

Carbon Capture and Storage Association

Chamber of Shipping

Cumbria Wildlife Trust

Dahogg and Sons

Danish Fishermen PO

Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for the Flemish Gov Belgium

Dutch Fisheries Organisation

EDF

EnerGeo

Environment Agency

European Subsea Cables Association (ESCA)

Farne Islands Advisory Committee to the National Trust

Fastline Shellfish

Fellow (retired) Institute of Fisheries Management and Life Member of Freshwater Biological Association

Flannigan Seafoods

Forth Shore Enterprises

French Authorities

French fishing sector - Comite National des peches

French National Association of Fish Producers Organisations

Friends of the Lake District

Galwad Y Mor Shellfish (Bridlington) Limited

Government of the Netherlands, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

Greenpeace

Historic England

Holderness Fishing Industry Group

Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development Trust

Holy Island Parish Council

Horncliffe Parish Council

Ifield Divers

J N A Shellfish Limited

Leach Fishing

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust

Lindisfarne National Nature Reserve Advisory Committee for Natural England

Local people and businesses

Lynda Sale Consulting LLP

Marine Biological Association

Marine Conservation Society

Marine Research

Maritime Coastguard Agency

Maryport Harbour and Marina Ltd

Maryport Solway Sea Cadet Unit

National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations

National Grid Group

National Trust

Natural History Society of Northumbria

Netherlands’ Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality

Newcastle University

North Atlantic Shipping

North East Ambulance Service

North Sea Fishermen’s Organisation Ltd

North Sunderland Harbour Commissioner

North West Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority

Northern Ireland Fishermen’s Federation

Northumberland Coast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty Partnership

Northumberland County Council

Northumberland Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority

Northumberland Retreats.com

Oceana

Office for Environmental Protection

Offshore Energies UK (OEUK)

Orsted Wind Power (UK)

Pecheurs Normands

Port of Silloth

Promised Land KCKC (fishing vessel to North Shields)

Rederscentrale (Belgian fisheries)

RenewableUK/RenewableUK’s Offshore Consents & Licencing (OCLG) Working Group

Residents of Allonby

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Royal Yachting Association

Scottish Creel Fisherman’s Federation

Scottish Fishermen’s Federation

Seabed User & Development Group

Seahouses Fishermens Association

Seal Research Trust

Shellfish Association of Great Britain

Solway Firth Partnership

South Devon and Channel Shellfishermen Ltd

South East Fisherman’s Protection Association

South of Scotland Seafish Training Association

South West Fish Producers Organisation

St Albans

St Mary’s Church, Holy Island

Sussex Dolphin Project/World Cetacean Alliance

Sussex Wildlife Trust

Swedish Pelagic Federation PO

The Danish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries

The Fifth Point Diving Centre

The Holy Island Fisherman’s Society

The Wildlife Trusts

Tillside Parish Council

Transition Edinburgh

Trinity House (General Lighthouse Authority)

UK Association of Fish Producer Organisations

UK Major Ports Group

UK Oil & Gas Exploration Task Force

VisNed Dutch Fishermen’s Organisation

Wildlife and Countryside Link