Summer has come to a close and we have already had some autumnal weather – strong winds, rain and a drop in temperature. According to my reckoning, although the early part of the summer was very good, because August was colder, the sea temperature did not quite reach 19˚C. As far as the harbour was concerned, the high season visitor numbers were well down, so yet again August wiped out the promising gains of the earlier part of the year.
This month has also seen a BBC Countryfile programme on Salcombe and the crab festival, including footage of people eating crab at the Millbrook in South Pool. This was welcome publicity for local trade. It is so good to see initiatives which add as much local value as possible to locally-caught seafood.
One aspect of the programme did slightly trouble me, however. This was the feature on catching sand eels for human consumption. There is, of course, nothing wrong with eating sand eels, but sand eels are an important source of food for many sea-based creatures. When they started commercial sand eel fishing in the North Sea (for bait, pet food and fertiliser), the seabird population (particularly of birds like puffins) shrank alarmingly and so it was stopped. We don’t want to go down that route here.
Following my piece last month, a reader has kindly drawn my attention to an accident in the harbour during the regatta week’s strong winds. There was a collision between a sailing dinghy and a motor boat, and the dinghy ended up badly damaged. The dinghy skipper reported the collision to the yacht club and (as required by law) to the Harbour Office. But the motor boat skipper, who was less than gracious about his failure to keep clear of a sailing boat, made no such report. That leaves a sour taste, can complicate reasonable insurance claims and exposes the motor boat skipper to prosecution. It’s better for everyone if any collision which involves damage is properly and fairly recorded and reported.
August also saw the launch of the next stage of the phosphate-free campaign, which is being run by a small group of volunteers and the Harbour Office. Some of you might have seen the stall at the Kingsbridge Show. Whether you did or not, please keep a watchful eye to see if the cleaning products you are using are messing up the estuary. It’s very easy to change to something which doesn’t.
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