A new wildfowling club has been formed to serve the east of Scotland. The East of Scotland Association for Wildfowling and Conservation is a completely new type of wildfowling club for Scotland and will mirror the best features of the most successful clubs in England and Wales.
Applications are now being invited for Founder Members and Eric Begbie, a member of BASC's Wildfowling Liaison Committee and a former member of the national Council and Scottish Committee said, "Traditionally in Scotland wildfowlers have felt secure that their "free shooting" in the foreshore was safe. Against that background, existing wildfowling clubs tend to be fairly small and often cover only a single estuary or, in some cases, just a small part of an estuary. With very few exceptions, those clubs have never sought to lease foreshore areas or purchase coastal marshes - quite simply because, under the old legal framework, there was little to be gained by doing so."
"However, once Scotland begins to meet its obligations under the EU Habitats Directive that could all change radically and, indeed, fundamental changes to the legal framework might be required to allow the Directive to be implemented in relation to SSSIs and Natura 2000 sites on the coast."
"We can readily see the dramatic effects of this EU Directive and its implementation by Natural England and the Countryside Commission for Wales. Clubs south of the border have had to meet those challenges, and the best of them have done so very successfully. When the challenges appear in Scotland, we will need wildfowling clubs of the size and with the resources of the best English and Welsh clubs."
Further information about the new club can be found at www.wildfowling.co.uk/eastscot/
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