The Angling Trust has responded to today’s government announcement on the easing of lockdown restrictions in England saying:
“Although it’s positive that the government have accepted the case that outdoor activities such as angling should be first to fully open up it looks like no real change for us until March 29th when restrictions are lifted and outdoor sports can resume.
“The Stay Home message and travel restrictions remain in place until then with the exception of a provision for outdoor recreation as well as exercise. Since angling has been deemed ‘permissible exercise’ throughout lockdown this is unlikely to affect us. We will know more when the regulations and DCMS guidance are published in the coming days and will update everybody if anything changes.
“Having a clear date at least means that anglers, clubs and fisheries can plan for the forthcoming season with more certainty and we can all look forward to once again being able to fish our favourite waters in a manner of our choosing,”
Currently anglers are restricted to fishing locally once a day, as a form of exercise, with one other person and no organised gatherings or competitions. Most other sports remain prohibited. The Angling Trust submitted a case to government for the early and full resumption of all forms of angling including night fishing and competitions. These will now be possible from March 29th.
The Angling Trust submission can be found HERE
Jamie Cook, Angling Trust CEO said:
“Whilst many anglers would have liked to have to seen angling fully opened up earlier we have to accept that the timing was always a matter for government acting on public health advice. Our job was to set out how our sport can be conducted safely and why we should be in the first tranche to resume without travel restrictions and with both competition and night fishing back in place. This all looks set to happen on March 29th and it’s good to see a widespread acceptance that healthy outdoor activities such as angling will be the first to return to some form of normality.”
