Trustees’ Annual Report for the period
| Period start date | Period start date | Period start date | Period end date | Period end date | Period end date | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| From | To | ||||||||
| 1st | April | 2021 | 31st | March | 2022 |
SECTION A:
REFERENCE AND ADMINSTRATION DETAILS
| Charity name | Charity name | Charity name | The Mahseer Trust | The Mahseer Trust | The Mahseer Trust | The Mahseer Trust | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Other names charity is known by | N/A | ||||||
| Registered charity number (if any) | 1167056 | ||||||
| Charity’s principal address | Capel Saron | ||||||
| School Road | |||||||
| Fairbourne | |||||||
| Gwynedd | |||||||
| LL38 2RQ | |||||||
| Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity | |||||||
| Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted, if not for the whole year |
Mechanism of appointment | ||||
| Adrian Pinder | Chair | Whole year | Majority vote of trustees | ||||
| Ian Pett | Treasurer | Whole year | Majority vote of trustees | ||||
| Andrew Harrison | Secretary | Whole year | Majority vote of trustees | ||||
| Derek D’Souza | India Regional Lead | Whole year | Majority vote of trustees | ||||
| Names of the trustees for the charity, if any (For example, any custodian trustees) | |||||||
| Name | Dates acted, if not for the whole year | ||||||
| N/A | |||||||
| Names and addresses of advisors (Optional information) | |||||||
| Type of advisor | Name | Address | |||||
| Freshwater ecosystem services | Dr Mark Everard | Associate Professor of Ecosystem Services, Universityof the West of England(UWE Bristol) |
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| Name of Chief Executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information) |
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Steve Lockett (Chief Executive)
| SECTION B: | STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT | STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT |
|---|---|---|
| Description of the charity’s trusts | ||
| Type of governing document (e.g. Trust Deed, Constitution) |
Constitution, last amended 12/05/2016 | |
| How the charity is constituted (e.g. Trust, Association, Company) |
Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) | |
| Trustee selection methods (e.g. appointed by, elected by) |
Majority vote by existing trustees | |
| Additional governance issues (Optional information) | ||
| Youmay chooseto include additional information, where relevant, about: ● policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees; ● the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works; ● relationship with any related parties; ● trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them. |
The charity is run entirely on a voluntary basis, with no paid employees. The organisational structure comprises a number of positions: ● Trustees(‘Members’ of the CIO) Responsible for management of the charity and all decisions. Only trustees having voting rights at board level. ● Officers Support the charity’s objectives and closely involved with planning, but no voting rights at board level. ● Advisors Support the charity’s objectives and provide advice on planning and other matters, but no voting rights at board level. ● Patrons Support the charity’s objectives and assist with raising the profile of Mahseer Trust, but no voting rights at board level. ● Honorary Members Formally recognised by the trustees as contributing significantly to the charity’s objectives, but no voting rights at board level. ● Supporters Individuals who pay an annual or one-off (lifetime) subscription to the charity to support the charity’s objectives, but no voting rights at board level. Trustees receive a ‘Trustee Induction Pack’, including: ● MT Governing Document ● MT Data Protection Policy ● MT Policy on the Acceptance and Refusal of Gifts and Donations ● MT Trustee Code of Governance ● MT Conflict of Interest Policy |
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| ● MT Vulnerable People Policy ● Charity Commission ‘The Essential Trustee’ ● Charity Commission guidance on Public Benefit ● MT Trustee Declaration (Sign and return) ● MT Trustee Induction Table (Sign and return) |
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|---|---|---|
| SECTION C: | OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES | |
| Summary of the Objects of the charity set out in its Governing Document. |
The Objects of the CIO are, for the public benefit, to advance education, and environmental protection and improvement; (a) in countries where mahseer species are present by promoting, sustaining and increasing individual and collective knowledge and understanding of mahseer species, and skills and expertise in conservation and aquaculture; (b) in the wider world, to carry out and contribute to research to add to the collective knowledge and understanding of the mahseer species, their life cycle, habitat and their conservation; (c) to contribute to the education and development of young people by training them in conservation; (d) to contribute to the conservation of mahseer species in their natural environment and to encourage and assist international knowledge transfer. |
|
| Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these Objects. |
With reference to the key objectives defined above: Capacity building ● May / June 2021: Steve Lockett and Adrian Pinder had a series of meetings with Yashada Kulkarni, ecosystems communication specialist, to review how MT can improve messaging performance. ● Ongoing: Discussions with interested parties to reinvigorate Mahseer Trust India and establish Mahseer Trust Nepal. Research ● April 2021 (ongoing): Hump-backed mahseer field studies in Kerala, India. ● May - July 2021: Sushan Mani Shakya and Steve Lockett developed an integrated identification protocol and data collection spreadsheet for use in all future mahseer studies. Genetic profiling in collaboration with Centre for Molecular Dynamics, Nepal. ● October 2021: Adrian Pinder and Rajeev Raghavan hosted an online meeting with expert taxonomists Dr Ralf Britz and Rohan |
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Pethiyagoda. The aim of this meeting was to identify strategies to resolve mahseer species of taxonomic uncertainty and revise Red List assessments. ● March 2022: Following contact from Barry Hanningan, began collating photo records of mahseer from Nepali rivers for future study. Education and Outreach ● May - September 2021: Paromita Ray (Communications Officer) and Steve Lockett worked to create an online education forum called Mahseer Monday Q & A. Recording short videos where experts answered a single question posed by MT followers, which were subsequently shared on social media outlets. ● June 2021 onwards: Steve Lockett worked with Dencin Thampy to make hump-backed mahseer research findings available in local Malayalam language relevant to the study area in Kerala. ● July 2021: Final work to streamline a small fish, citizen science project (Koile Meen Project) in a critical mahseer habitat between Steve Lockett and Gopakumar Menon of Nityata River Otter Conservancy. ● March 2022: Steve Lockett began planning mahseer-themed articles for Learn With Comics, an Indian start-up education platform. ● Ongoing: contact with those working in other areas of freshwater taxa or ecosystems/habitats. In particular, those working on crocodiles, plankton and aquatic birds. ● Throughout the year, Steve Lockett continued to post updates and news on social media platforms, send newsletters to those with interest and worked with Wikipedia, India Biodiversity Portal and Fishbase to update listings on mahseer species’ identities, distributions and threats. ● With remote conferencing continuing due to ongoing pandemic travel restrictions, team members gave keynote, closing or commentary talks at the following webinars: o Impacts and Management of Invasive Alien Species in Freshwater by Biodiversity Collaborative, India o India’s National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-being workshop on Impacts and Management of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) in Freshwater Ecosystems o The Nature Conservancy - India: Freshwater Ecosystem Conservation workshop
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International knowledge transfer
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April 2021: Along with Nepal Lead Officer, Sushan Mani Shakya, Steve Lockett lead discussions between Unmesh Katwate, Indian fish researcher and various fish researchers in Nepal to develop shared capacity building.
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July 2021: First contacts with officials working on mahseer conservation breeding in Bangladesh. Steve Lockett discussing with Istiak Sobhan of World Bank, Dhaka.
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March 2022 (ongoing): Began discussion on a range-country-wide forum to counter destructive fishing methods. Steve Lockett had remote contact with those with experience of combating destructive fishing use in: India, Nepal and Indonesia.
We confirm the Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on Public Benefit
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Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information) You may choose to include further N/A statements, where relevant, about: ● policy on grant making;
-
policy programme related investment;
-
● contribution made by volunteers.
| SECTION D: | ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE | ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE | ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year |
Scientific papers Everard, M., Pinder, A. C., Claussen, J. E., & Orr, S. (2021). Assessing the societal benefits of mahseer (Tor spp.) fishes to strengthen the basis for their conservation.Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems,31(10), 2979-2986. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/aqc.3683 |
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| SECTION E: | FINANCIAL REVIEW | ||
| Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves. |
The Mahseer Trust maintains an operational reserve of £5,000 (five thousand pounds), which is deemed sufficient to meet any terminal liabilities that might arise on the closure of the Trust. |
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These funds are held in a bank account. Future levels of reserves will be determined in accordance with any changes in the Trust's liabilities arising from changes in its levels of activity and expenditure. Details of any funds materially in deficit N/A
Further financial review details (Optional information)
| Further financial review details (Optional information) | Further financial review details (Optional information) | Further financial review details (Optional information) | Further financial review details (Optional information) | Further financial review details (Optional information) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Youmay chooseto include additional information, where relevant about: ● the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising); ● how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity; ● investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted. |
Financial management was constrained by the closure of our account by our bankers in January 2022, due to an unnoticed administrative requirement from the bank. This has since been rectified and a new account is now operational. Income for the year totalled £1,916, with £325 coming from new Support Subscriptions, £1,590 from Donations, and £1 from bank interest. Donations totalling £660 were made as Gift Aid and £165 has been claimed in reimbursement from HMRC. Expenditure on activities in range countries continued to be limited 2021-22 by the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Expenditure totalled £925. £250 was spent on Outreach activities in India, £655 on promotional materials in the United Kingdom, and £20 was spent on Miscellaneous activities. An outstanding liability of £1,095 remains, being the final payment to the researcher on the Hump-backed Mahseer Research Project, which fell due in January 2021 but could not be completed due to the closure of our bank account. The Treasurer met this obligation from his personal funds and will be reimbursed in 2022-23. Funds held at the end of the reporting year totalled £25,017, well above our operational reserve. |
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| SECTION F: | OTHER OPTIONAL INFORMATION | |||
| N/A | ||||
| SECTION G: | DECLARATION | |||
| The trustees below declare that they have approved the trustees report above. Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees. |
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| Trustee 1 | Trustee 2 |
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| Signatures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full names | Dr Andrew Harrison | Dr Adrian Pinder |
| Position | Secretary | Chair |
| Date | 23/01/2023 | 23/01/2023 |
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Charity Name No (if any) The Mahseer Trust 1167056 Receipts and Payments Accounts CC16a Period start date Period end date For the period from To 01/04/2021 31/03/2022
Section A Receipts and Payments
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Unrestricted Endowment
Restricted funds Total funds Last year
funds funds
to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £ to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Donations 1,590 - - 1,590 -
Supporter subscriptions 325 - - 325 420
Reimbursement - - - - 322
Income 1 - - 1 -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total (Gross income for AR) 1,916 - - 1,916 742
A2 Asset and investment sales
- - - -
- - - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total receipts 1,916 - - 1,916 742
A3 Payments
Marketing 655 - - 655 -
Administration - - - - 270
Conservation - - - - 4,823
Outreach 250 - - 250 1,075
Miscellaneous 20 - - 20 38
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
- - - - -
Sub total 925 - - 925 6,206
A4 Asset and investment purchases
- - - -
- - - -
Sub total - - - - -
Total payments 925 - - 925 6,206
Net of receipts/(payments) 991 - - 991 - 5,464
A5 Transfers between funds - - - - -
A6 Cash funds last year end 24,037 - - 24,037 29,501
Cash funds this year end 25,017 - - 25,017 24,037
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
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Unrestricted Endowment
Categories Details Restricted funds
funds funds
to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B1 Cash funds Paypal Account 1,324 - -
Cheques to be deposited in new Lloyds Bank
account applied for 23,693 - -
- - -
Total cash funds 25,017 - -
(Agree balances with R&P account(s)) OK OK OK
Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment
funds funds
Details to nearest £ to nearest £ to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
- - -
Fund to which asset Current value
Details belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
B3 Investment assets - -
- -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which asset Current value
Details belongs Cost (optional) (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the - -
charity’s own use - -
- -
- -
- -
Fund to which Amount due When due (optional)
Details liability relates (optional)
B5 Liabilities Final Payment to Dencin Rons Thampy for the Conservation 1,095
Humpbacked Mahseer Project
-
-
-
-
Signature Print Name Date of approval
Ian Pett
28/12/2022
(Treasurer)
Signed by two trustees on behalf of all
the trustees
Adrian Pinder
29/12/2022
(Chair)
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