A case against the National Trust was resolved in favour of common law rights in Northern Ireland:
http://www.law-essays-uk.com/land-law-cases-52.php
This case relates to action taken by the Trust to attempt to stop an individual from gathering whelks, tidal fishing and intertidal littoral shellfish gathering.
In fact, Strangford Lough – the principal sea entry to Belfast – is in need of protection, and has been for decades. The danger is not that littoral harvesting or shallow water fishery could damage the environment – the real problem, already causing massive damage to the sea bed by the early 1990s, has been scallop dredging in the hunt for prized Irish Queen Scallops. This practice involves scraping the seabed (a fragile sediment) and removes all life – plants, other shellfish, everything. It leaves a complete desert. But, of course, the Trust doesn’t own the deep seabed.
The fight against dredging in Strangford Lough was aided by photography (Peter Vine and others) which showed, to the world, what a desert seabed looks like. How do I know about this? Because our company designed and edited the Marine Conservation Society’s books at that time, and other books on coastal waters and the environment created by Immel Ltd, Peter Vine’s (now gone) environmental publishing house. Those books were heavily illustrated and many were about the coastline and coastal waters, or sites of special interest. Shirley designed a particularly good photographic and educational coffee-table quality book on the flora of The Burren.
Though these were commercial projects, and people got paid (how else do people eat?) no separate value could ever be assigned to the photography. Imagine an author/photographer trying to produce a natural history book with many years searching out the shots, only to find that certain plants were on NT property or certain whole landscapes were NT, and therefore – it was all not allowed or we’ll have £200 a day thank you!
Photography of the countryside, architectural heritage, flora and fauna, topography, geology, man-made works, agriculture and landscaping is vital. It shapes public awareness of the value, shows changes, alerts us. Nothing should be done – especially by the Trust – which does anything except encourage photography.
- DK