I hope you have all enjoyed, or at least achieved, a good Summer and have a safe Autumn to follow.

Thank you for the responses for material for this communication.

The first one is from our Marine Policing Team Co-ordinators, Roan Doyle and Dave Brown: –

I’m sure that COVID-19 has dominated the lives of most of us over the last few months. It still serves a challenge for policing and other statutory agencies, and we’ve had to balance usual demand with the added pressures of Coronavirus. That said, Dave and I have been here throughout, continuing to patrol and develop operations targeting those criminals who are suspected to be causing harm to our marine communities. In addition to a number of operations across Dorset to tackle serious crime in support of other agencies, we have been working non-stop on operations to target both acquisitive marine crime, and maritime safety, in company with our partners. The big change for us has been that until recently, our partnership work has had to be remote for safety reasons. Now, we’re able to work on operations with partners provided we can assure safety protocols and appropriate standards are in place. That’s perhaps why you may have seen less of us visiting clubs.

A lot of work we’re doing isn’t ‘visible’ because if you can see us, so can the criminals, and sometimes standing in the shadows in the right place at the right time, led by intelligence we gather, is the best way to tackle the threat. We have to work smart to combat marine crime, as it’s much harder to police through presence alone, so if you don’t see us often – know that we are still here, working in the background. You’ll have also seen a few high profile joint-agency operations in the Harbour and coastal waters around Poole. Our main aim has been to engage with water users, and seek to challenge and educate both on water and on land. During our 1st August operation we and our partners engaged with hundreds of people, and were able to address a small amount of problem behaviour through words of advice alone. The big problem we face is in education, specifically the lack of any legal requirement for training to operate vessels. That’s why, across Dorset, work is afoot with partners to review byelaws, strengthen requirements where possible and scope the possibility of future ‘driver awareness course’ options where offending is a result of a lack of understanding or marine knowledge.

You’ll have also seen that the force has a fantastic new boat which builds upon the capability and resilience of Alarm to provide more versatility and greater deployment times. The Force Support Group are the team charged with crewing Buccaneer amongst a number of other duties on land, and we work closely with them to develop operations and build intelligence around marine offending. Sadly, we had to delay the welcome day for our Marine specialists in Neighbourhood Teams across Dorset due to Coronavirus. We’re hoping to implement another joint-agency training day using technology in the near future so we can build up levels of marine knowledge across the county, to ultimately increase our intelligence-gathering and engagement footprint.

All in all, it’s been a busy summer for us. Rest assured we have lots in the pipeline to reduce crime, target offenders and continue to drive those safety messages on the water. Please keep reporting acquisitive crime and suspicious incidents to the Dorset Police control room online, or if a crime is in progress always call 999. We look forward to joining you once again for PHW, once it’s safe again to do so, so that we can keep working together to make ‘business’ difficult for the criminals.

Baron Levine at RMYC has been running patrols and has had the good fortune to have some direct help from The (Police) Force Support Group’s Bruce Murdoch who will give us the low down on “Buccaneer” later in this missive. Baron tells me that an audacious criminal towed a trailered craft from the forecourt of Sandbanks Yacht Company just along the road from The RMYC.

Whilst on audacity; A Black Mercedes parked at Parkstone YC, occupants walked down to the marina, boarded an open motor boat with outboard locked to it, went for a spin(probably to remove the lock), returned to the berth and then walked off to their car with the engine and fuel tank!! There is good CCTV coverage so hopefully our Police duo will make something of it.

Also at Parkstone a friend of mine’s very nice Parker lifting keel cruiser on a swinging mooring in Parkstone Bay was boarded in the late evening, removed from her mooring and ended up on the beach at Baiter only 200 metres away in a freshening SSW’ly. She was discovered in the morning by the owner who with Herculean efforts by the Club staff and Coastguard towed her off the beach and into the safety of Parkstone YC marina. There was some damage to the hull and some navigational items taken from the cabin. One view is that the culprits intended taking her elsewhere in the Harbour to ransack her but that with both rudder and keel right up she had no directional stability for towing and so ended up on the beach! Police are still investigating.

As we speak Paul Cutts is involved with the Parkstone Committee to establish ways of mitigating such activity.

Bruce Murdoch of Dorset Police Marine Section – Force Support Group. Has sent me the following: –

A new Cabin RIB “Buccaneer” was requested four years ago so that we had a 365 day a year 24/7 all-weather capability and protection for the crew from the elements. This is not to replace the existing open RIB but to work along with it. The new RIB was manufactured and built by Ribcraft in Yeovil. The RIB was designed and specified to multitask along the Dorset coast and beyond. The RIB has a 200 nautical mile capability and weighs 5.5 tonnes. The RIB is 11 metres in length with two 325hp Suzuki lean burn outboard engines and is capable of 50 knots. The RIB has the latest Raymarine Marine Electronics including AIS, Radar and FLIR Night Vision capability. The RIB will be used for many tasks including, missing person searches, medical evacuations, missing diver searches, firearms support, dog section support, protester removal, immigration issues, police dive support, body recovery, command/control centre, coastal patrols, multi-agency taskings/support, community events  and many more! Andrew Symington tells me he has seen the very impressive Buccaneer out on trials and patrols along with the open Police RIB which I believe will remain available for Patrolling our Harbours.

Poole YC has continued with shore based patrols and starts the evening patrols next week. There have been no reported thefts or incidents this Summer. North Haven YC is open again with members running their launch service and security patrols. Unfortunately a Shetland motor boat was stolen from the NHYC moorings, beached nearby and the 80HP Yamaha removed. Our Treasurer, Bernadette Cherowbrier reported patrols and supporting whatsapp at Lilliput SC where an outboard motor was stolen.

Thank you David Mayne for the following: Southern IFCA Report 25/08/2020 Southern IFCA officers have been active in Poole Harbour throughout the Covid-19 crisis. Patrols have continued both by land and sea. Commercial fishing markets suffered as a result of the global pandemic but thankfully the situation is much improved at the time of writing and some new opportunities have opened up to local fishers.

The Southern IFCA Poole Harbour Dredge Permit Fishery opened at the end of May and remains open until Christmas 2020. Fishers with permits, issued by the Southern IFCA, principally target clams and cockles within the confines of the harbour. Much of this fishing occurs in the Wareham Channel and in the areas to the south. Whilst markets were slow to pick up, the shellfish harvesting in the harbour has been excellent this year, with good stock levels reported by all fishers. Generally, compliance with the numerous permit conditions has been good. Verbal warnings have been issued to a few for minor breaches of the regulations and two court cases are pending for incidents of a more serious nature that occurred over the winter period.

With government restrictions in place, recreational fishing was slow off the mark this year, but when measures were eased there was a noticeable increase in the numbers of people travelling to the shore to fish with rod and line. In response we have been proactively engaging with the recreational sector via social media and in person, distributing minimum fish size information and this year’s recreational bass regulations (From 1st March to 30th November 2020 inclusive, no more than two bass can be retained per fisher, per day). The tired and broken fixed information notices at Bournemouth and Boscombe Piers have also been replaced. Arguably the charter angling fleet has been the fishing sector hardest hit by the Coronavirus. Restrictions for charter boat operators were not eased until well into June and social distancing measures must still be adhered to. For some, depending on vessel type, this means a reduction in carrying capacity, with a consequent reduction in revenue.

The easing of lockdown had the effect of increasing the numbers of people visiting our shores during the summer months. Many people were unable to work and children were not at school. In Poole Harbour the Southern IFCA received numerous reports of large groups of people hand gathering shellfish, particularly in the Whitley Lake and Evening Hill areas. We have worked closely with our partners Dorset Police, the Gangmasters & Labour Abuse Authority, BCP Council and PHC on this issue, conducting multi-agency and single-agency patrols of the area. This work remains ongoing. Additionally, the Southern IFCA have worked jointly with Dorset Police afloat to target illegal fishing, antisocial behaviour and to promote the protection of our marine wildlife.At the Southern IFCA we welcome Ian Jones as our new Chief Officer, and we thank Rob Clark for all of his hard work over the last 7 years. Both take up their new positions at the start of September, when Rob becomes the Chief Officer of the Association of Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authorities.

David Mayne, Senior Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Officer

Thanks again to everyone for helping me compile the newsletter.

A particularly big thanks to David Rickard for constructing our new website and to Sue Sieger for supplying the graphics and photographs. There is a good weather forecast for the next week, lets hope there is good news for all of us in the coming months.

Jim Macgregor, Chairman Poole Harbour Watch, 07805 927288