A Message from ECHO

Dear Fishingmagic

I have been directed to this site by Mike Heylin FACT/SAA. It is one I have not visited before and I would like to congratulate you and your members for your continued interest in your sport beyond participation. It will become of extreme value in the changing fortunes of time.

I have personally volunteered a great deal of time, alongside many others, including the SAA and FACT, over the last 3 years, researching the threat of Koi Herpes Virus to UK carp stocks, on behalf of the English Carp Heritage Organisation (ECHO).

During this time, ECHO has built some very close relationships with UK based experts in their field. These associations will also become of extreme importance in the future.

Also during that time, ECHO’s PR was poor to say the least, but with little support the workload increased, and publicity was far from ECHO’s mind.

As the newly elected chairman of ECHO, my job is now two-fold for the coming year.

1. To continue the vital contribution ECHO has to make to the future; the organisation needs ground support. That is what makes the ECHO voice so unique, and without support the voice remains quiet.

I am entering into a PR minefield, but have chosen to start with the forums. I have been active in entering facts into passionate discussions on other smaller forums over the last few months, and would like to contribute to this forum as the next step to gaining caring angler opinion. ECHO is organic. It represents angling opinion without profit as an overriding bias. ECHO makes sense, not money.

2. To uphold Education not Condemnation.

To create awareness at all levels of angling.

ECHO views any potential and unnecessary risks to the health status of UK carp stocks as a concern. ECHO represents the informed choice: “Buyer Beware” is of little use unless “buyer” is aware.

ECHO above all represents your voice, and your choice.

With particular reference to F2 carp, I would like to add the following:

ECHO’s main concerns surround the claims of “totally immunity to KHV” attributed to the F2 strain. The first knowledge of this strain, and the claims as reported in the angling media, led ECHO to immediately seek advice from the EA, and assurances were given that the EA also had concerns, and movement restrictions were put in place. That was 10 months or so back. In that time ECHO has been lobbying Defra, who bizarrely don’t license the KHV vaccination techniques described in the coverage, but allow the import of carp exposed to the technique nevertheless! Through working closely with all involved, a better understanding has been achieved within ECHO, and it seems the restriction of valid trades, and the fact that KHV is not a notifiable disease, are what stand in the way. ECHO continues to work hard to understand where they can make a change, and is wise enough to know it’s strengths and capabilities at this point.

The network of support ECHO has achieved through responsible and informed questioning, is immense.

I believe the EA may well be in a rock and a hard place on F2’s. Things are always more complicated than they look to most. I do not wish to damage the very supportive relationship with the EA at this point, however would like to stress that ECHO still has not received any information pertaining to the source of the science that supported their decision to allow movement consents for F2’s. Who compiled this science? Has the science been endorsed by UK experts? What is the country of origin of the F2’s?

ECHO is working hard to achieve some answers, and will not be drawn to comment any further directly until they have.

KHV is a very serious disease. Luckily we do not have it much here, and there are procedures in place to guard that situation to an extent. The reality, importing carp from countries where KHV is endemic, for instance, may be too much to bear for those current safeguards to be of any significance.

The Facts:

• KHV 95-98% mortality
• KHV Potentially manageable in enclosed aquatic environments, but equally as devastating
• KHV Potentially unmanageable and widely fatal in the “reality” of our UK wild environments.
• KHV has only been reported on 4-6 occasions a year in UK, since first discovery in late nineties, and that was on fish farm sites.
• KHV could be lying dormant in the rivers and lakes of our country right now. Only water temperatures of 18-24 degrees will ever be a true indicator of the spread of KHV.
• Some countries are already KHV endemic, and have to make huge decisions to try to control, sometimes a massive vital source of protein for that country.
• This country is not one of them

The slightest risk posed to alter this already fragile situation appears nonsensical to ECHO, and I suspect you too!

Ruth Lockwood
ECHO/SAA
‘IN UNITY LIES STRENGTH’