Is Sea Angling A Dying Sport?

[Brian Carragher]

Whitby would probably be better off financially if it had a marina full of charter boats, not to mention hotels full of anglers on the guzzle twelve months of the year.

 

That might be your opinion but not one shared by everyone, especially Whitby folk.

Most of the marina is made up of owners from outside the Whitby catchment area and any increase in size for a marina would only attract more incomers at the cost of the locals

[Ryford]

Brian,

 

Not really my opinion but your response does show where coastal councils and the RDAs see as sustainable investment areas.

 

Commercial fishing and sea angling to some extent, has been talking itself into an early grave for so long without any clear idea of where both industries are heading that its hardly surprising.

 

The real sad part of it for me as not only an angler, put also a rate payer, is how the councils contribute to inshore fishery management via the SFCs on the one hand, yet fail to make the link between a healthy marine environment and stocks as a basis for sustainable development on the other.

 

I suppose that getting a grant to build a new or convert under utilised harbour area into a leisure marina is simply the easy option. Whitby is not unique in this respect and you only have to look at any coastal community with a port of any description to see where its all heading.

 

andyR