Longstanding RSPB member and wildlife film maker Hugh Miles, star of ‘Passion for Angling’, has hit back at an inflammatory article in a recent edition of the RSPB member’s magazine ‘Birds’ which accuses anglers of being motivated solely by hate in our attempts to control excessive cormorant predation. The author, Simon Barnes, says that anglers exaggerate the amount of fish that cormorants consume and the damage they do to fisheries and other wildlife.
In response, Hugh Miles who ran the RSPB’s film unit for over five years says: “I am an angler and proud of the contribution I make to the conservation of all British wildlife and that includes fish. So Mr.Barnes, please don’t think for a minute that you speak for all the RSPB membership, or say that anglers hate cormorants and by doing so, incite a hatred of anglers. We are all together in this battle to save our precious wetlands and it would pay us all to remember that and work together.”
Angling Trust National Campaigns Coordinator Martin Salter commented: “It’s always a shame to see groups with whom we share so much in common when it comes to standing up for the environment, applying double standards and using inflammatory language that only causes unnecessary divisions. Many anglers are bird lovers and a good proportion of RSPB members are, like Hugh Miles, passionate anglers who want to see our vulnerable fish stocks given the same protection from unsustainable predation as that which is afforded to birds and other wildlife.”
