Natural England ups the ante on Humber Estuary

The two clubs, Hull & East Riding Wildfowlers’ Association (HERWA) and the Holderness & Humber Wildfowlers’ Association (HHWA), contend that NE’s legal opinion is flawed and they have taken their case against arbitrary restrictions on shooting imposed by NE to the European level by engaging the Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation in the EU and the European Landowners Organisation.

The Humber clubs have also commissioned the British Trust for Ornithology to reassess the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) data for the Humber estuary in a bid to demonstrate that fowling does not have any detrimental affect on birdlife.

The two clubs also believe NE is seeking to sideline scientific evidence provided by the clubs and the CLA and will retrospectively justify their controversial 2006 decision to impose arbitrary shooting exclusion zones on the Humber using the support of the legal opinion of their solicitor Matthew Boyer.

According to HHWA secretary Dudley Hulme: “This has created a whole new tier to the dispute with NE. The goalposts have moved significantly.”

The rest of this article will appear in 1 November issue of Shooting Times.

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