The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
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Falmouth Scallop Dredgers
To dredge or not to dredge? Scallop dredgers in Falmouth
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Overview
The Marine Conservation Society encourages the use of hand diving for fresh scallops and shellfish whereas fishermen fear less commercial methods would impact on jobs in the sector. The dredging itself is non-selective and consists of a heavy metal frame with spring-loaded teeth attached to a metal mesh net being pulled along the sea bed. Bottom-dwelling species such as scallops, oysters, clams and crabs are collected but the sea bed is damaged and takes years to recover.
The practice is regulated as a local coastal fishery by the Salmon & Freshwater Fisheries Act of 1975 and the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee operates up to 6 nautical miles offshore from Falmouth and beyond the 6-mile coastal fishery the MFA operate. The Cornwall River Board & Sea Fisheries Byelaws of 1896, the Sea Fisheries Regulation Act of 1966 and SAFFA all apply to the Falmouth coastal fishery. The laws include no fixed nets, no trawling, no scallop dredging and a minimum length 37.5cm for sea bass. The Common Fisheries’ Policy or CFP regulates fishing in the EU and has done much to make fishing sustainable following the collapse of certain fisheries.
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