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Marine and Coastal Access Bill [HL]

As this is a standalone amendment, I would like to speak very briefly to it. The noble Lord, Lord Dear, has made most of the points that need to be made about the conservation needs of salmon, trout, sea trout, eels, lamprey, smelt and shad. This is extremely important and our Amendment A244, to which I shall speak later in Committee, addresses an identical situation in Wales. Obviously, in supporting Amendment A233, I strongly support the conservation needs of the species named in the amendment, which to a greater or lesser extent are under threat and in a great deal of decline. I, too, am a keen rod and line fisherman. I return most species, catch very few salmon, but go sea trout fishing quite a lot, which is very exciting sport, and return quite a lot of them as well. But I was dismayed to be fishing in the west of Ireland and see a big notice which said "SOS". I wondered what that meant. It was "save our sea trout".