A scheduled meeting of the BRFC was held this week in London, chaired by Mr Ken Ball. In attendance were Ian Epps; National Federation of Anglers; Mike Heylin and Andy Nellist; Specialist Anglers’ Alliance; Chris Clark, National Federation of Sea Anglers, Nigel Hewlett, Environment Agency and Oliver Crimmen of the Natural History Museum; Scientific Advisors to the BRFC, Mr Len Le Page, Guernsey Record Fish Committee and the Secretary David Rowe,.
The following claims were considered and the committee having satisfied itself that all the procedures had been met in respect to identification, witnesses to capture, weighing and the accuracy of scales used to weigh the fish, the following records were ratified and decisions made.
Grass Carp, 44lbs 8ozs, Mr Phillip Kingsbury, 2 July 2006, Horton Church Lake, (previous record 39lbs 8ozs 15drms)
Barbel, 21lbs 1ozs, Mr Grahame King, November 2006, Adam’s Mill Fishery, Great Ouse, (previous best 21 lb)
Notes from the meeting:-
The chairman welcomed Mr Mike Heylin and Andy Nellist who were attending the first time as representatives of the Specialist Angers’ Alliance. The meeting was constructive and bridges were built to ensure the smooth running of the committee following recent misunderstandings.
Photographs: As a point of clarification, the committee reaffirms that where photographs are submitted for identification of a fish, they would be used for that purpose, and only as an aid to establishing measurements which should be taken carefully and entered accurately on the claim form.
DNA Testing:- The members considered the latest available information in respect of DNA testing for some species of fish and agreed that their investigations would continue. The committee wish to make it clear that the best advice of the scientists will be taken into account, in respect of reliability, the method of the sampling and for establishing the best procedure for collecting the DNA which would not be contaminated by other fish.
The Committee is scheduled to meet again in October 2007.
