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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Campaign to protect Skomer coast | Campaign to protect Skomer coast |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| It may be one of the best-known parts of the Welsh coastline but conservationists and ecologists say waters around Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire are urgently in need of even greater protection. | |
| Those campaigners, who include the ecologist Blaise Bullimore, say that whereas the birds, animals and plants on the island itself are well looked after it is a different tale beneath the waves. | Those campaigners, who include the ecologist Blaise Bullimore, say that whereas the birds, animals and plants on the island itself are well looked after it is a different tale beneath the waves. |
| The seas around this island have been designated as a marine reserve - one of only three in the UK - for more than a decade, yet commercial fishing still goes on all around Skomer. | The seas around this island have been designated as a marine reserve - one of only three in the UK - for more than a decade, yet commercial fishing still goes on all around Skomer. |
| Endangered species | Endangered species |
| Mr Bullimore admits the most invasive and aggressive methods of fishing are not allowed. | Mr Bullimore admits the most invasive and aggressive methods of fishing are not allowed. |
| But he says hundreds of lobster pots are dropped off in the seas around Skomer and are damaging the marine environment. | |
| As we tour the south side of Skomer in a small research boat, bobbing around on the choppy seas, Phil Newman from the Countryside Council for Wales dons his dry-suit, jumps off the boat and disappears into the murky depths. | As we tour the south side of Skomer in a small research boat, bobbing around on the choppy seas, Phil Newman from the Countryside Council for Wales dons his dry-suit, jumps off the boat and disappears into the murky depths. |
| Mr Newman has been researching and cataloguing these waters for years. | Mr Newman has been researching and cataloguing these waters for years. |
| What we want is a nature reserve where nothing alive is taken out of the reserve and where we can closely monitor the progress of that policy Phil Newman, Countryside Council for Wales | What we want is a nature reserve where nothing alive is taken out of the reserve and where we can closely monitor the progress of that policy Phil Newman, Countryside Council for Wales |
| He supports the campaign to give the species in the waters around Skomer as much protection as those who live and breed on the island itself. | He supports the campaign to give the species in the waters around Skomer as much protection as those who live and breed on the island itself. |
| He said: "What we want is a nature reserve where nothing alive is taken out of the reserve and where we can closely monitor the progress of that policy." | He said: "What we want is a nature reserve where nothing alive is taken out of the reserve and where we can closely monitor the progress of that policy." |
| Later, back on dry land amidst the small lobster boats that make up the remnants of the fishing fleet, I put those arguments to fisherman, Jerry Percy. | Later, back on dry land amidst the small lobster boats that make up the remnants of the fishing fleet, I put those arguments to fisherman, Jerry Percy. |
| He dismisses the notion that Skomer's waters, however small, should be a complete fishing-free zone. | He dismisses the notion that Skomer's waters, however small, should be a complete fishing-free zone. |
| "There's absolutely no need. It would simply force my members to move on elsewhere," he said. | "There's absolutely no need. It would simply force my members to move on elsewhere," he said. |
| "We've already stopped the most destructive methods and, anyway, fishermen these days also have a vested interest in looking after the environment in which we work." | "We've already stopped the most destructive methods and, anyway, fishermen these days also have a vested interest in looking after the environment in which we work." |
| Unless the fishermen and the conservationists can agree on a compromise the possibility that Skomer and the waters around it can become an area genuinely free of all human activity is still some way off. | Unless the fishermen and the conservationists can agree on a compromise the possibility that Skomer and the waters around it can become an area genuinely free of all human activity is still some way off. |