I am writing to express my views regarding the recent actions and potential of Natural Resources Wales.

This does seem a little odd to be responding to a consultation in this way when its just this type of consultation that leaves the tax paying public and anglers breathless with the sheer audacity and pomposity displayed by NRW staff regarding just such consultations.

I refer specifically to the recent consultation on salmon and sea trout hatchery closures in Wales. There was little regard paid to the stakeholders in this decision, a decision that I must admit appeared to have been taken in advance of the consultation and based on financial issues and opinions rather than scientific fact.

The hatcheries have now been closed and remain so despite much ongoing conversation between anglers and NRW staff. There remains a new methodology, its called 'Alternative Mitigation' and apparently the cash available is what was spent on the hatcheries. This mitigation idea is a joke, there has been no public consultation, no one has much idea what is going on and the information that has trickled down on internet forums and by word of mouth suggests that these so called 'alternative mitigations' are in fact merely NRW 'day jobs', so to speak, simply re-packaged.

NRW claim to favor the 'ecosystem approach', this is all well and good if you can control all aspects of that eco system but that is impossible so we are left with more river gardening and fiddling with this and that, spending tax payers money without actually achieving much at all except unbalancing the ecosystem in a new and different way.

The NRW staffing levels are so low that its rare to see a bailiff on the river and people have stopped reporting incidents as the response historically has been either poor or nonexistent . Anglers who could be the NRW's eyes and ears on the river are ignored, I refer specifically to an 800+ name petition presented to NRW regarding the hatchery closure. Alienation seems to be the name of the game.

It seems that the plan (if there actually is one) is to aspire to make the wonderful game angling rivers of Wales into rivers with Salmon and Sea Trout in them rather than Salmon and Sea Trout fisheries that can have a positive impact on the economy of these rural areas and make Wales a top destination for Game anglers worldwide.

peter chilton