A Pro-active Angling Trust....

[Steve Coppolo]

Hi Steve

 

With hindsight - 'Who are the members of this group?' would have been an ideal question to put to Mark Lloyd at the BASS AGM last Sunday.

 

As someone with the ability to inform significant numbers of RSA readers via your monthly piece in BFM, how about contacting Mark Lloyd or Stuart McPherson for an answer.

 

A quick phone call or email to either of the above gents should clarify things.

 

Cheers

Steve

 

The question was asked on Sunday, Steve.

 

I will be contacting Mark Lloyd again and will also try to contact Stuart McPherson. As soon as i find out, I'll post the info up.

[Bob Bradford]

Hi Steve, well I would suggest you are going about it the correct way mate, no good asking me or anyone else for secondhand info, on several occasions I have e-mailed Mark Lloyd directly and he has never failed to respond, it really is worth bearing in mind Angling Trust have only been in existence for a couple of months, they are still recruiting staff, once that is completed I am sure Mark will be delegating the workload, I read on another forum Angling Trust have already recruited over 11,000 members....quite remarkable, considering we are talking about anglers here ha ha.

 

Just spotted this on the AT site;

http://www.anglingtrust.net/news.asp?secti...s+Angling+Trust

Edited March 19, 2009 by Bob Bradford

[Steve Coppolo]

Hi Steve, well I would suggest you are going about it the correct way mate, no good asking me or anyone else for secondhand info, on several occasions I have e-mailed Mark Lloyd directly and he has never failed to respond, it really is worth bearing in mind Angling Trust have only been in existence for a couple of months, they are still recruiting staff, once that is completed I am sure Mark will be delegating the workload, I read on another forum Angling Trust have already recruited over 11,000 members....quite remarkable, considering we are talking about anglers here ha ha.

 

Just spotted this on the AT site;

http://www.anglingtrust.net/news.asp?secti...s+Angling+Trust

 

Hi Bob

I've just sent two emails asking the question. One to the AT's admin and the other direct to Mark Lloyd. I don't have an email address for Stuart McPherson. I'll let you know when and if I get anything back.

 

11,000 members is quite impressive in such a short time. Is that 11,000 individual members, or does that include affiliated members? Don't suppose you know how many of those are sea anglers?

Edited March 19, 2009 by Steve Coppolo

[Bob Bradford]

Steve, no idea and no idea, in answer to your two questions mate! I can wait until the end of their first year to find out though, then, all the facts and figures will be published for public consumption,

 

Bob.

[H.A.]

I'm not sure whether to -

 

pay up and join AT (I was a reluctant member of NFSA for reasons which I won't disclose); vote Steviecops in as MEP; go to the 'dark side' or just turn my back (I'll make sure Ron isn't behind me).

 

 

To be honest and knowing what the civil service and its European zealots get up to, I think I'll go with Mark and Stuart etc(?). Only because I know we'll be filling in more forms than policemen and NFFO members, if we don't.

 

The silly idea that we won't be regulated if we stick heads in sand is a risky business.

 

Steve makes me laugh though ... it was all Leon's fault!

 

Luckily NOTHING has happened yet ....

 

in fact nothing will happen with our approval unless we are involved in the decision making processes.

 

[Steve Coppolo]

Hi Bob

I've just sent two emails asking the question. One to the AT's admin and the other direct to Mark Lloyd. I don't have an email address for Stuart McPherson. I'll let you know when and if I get anything back.

 

I got an email from Mark Lloyd today. That's a very prompt response by anyone's standards; and more so, considering how busy he is at the moment, so a big thumbs up to Mark on that front.

 

As for sea angling representation from the AT, from what i could make out, it's all pretty much up in the air at the moment. They've obviously appointed Stuart McPherson who, Marks says, is looking at new ways to get the views of sea anglers brought forward. It will be good if he can manage to do that - and then act upon them. We'll have to see.

 

They have also appointed a campaigns manager, Tim MacPherson, who will be campaigning for sea anglers, along with coarse and game anglers. He is a sea angler, but I don't know how in depth his knowledge is regarding the issues currently surrounding sea angling. He will be part of the AT's marine conservation committee, but his real job is campaigns manager. It is obviously iimportant that he knows what he is campaigning for, and against. Let's hope he isn't just going to rely on what he is told by the same old, same old, who have lead us to where we are now. If that happens, nothing will change and the AT won't have anything to offer sea anglers.

 

At the moment, it seems it's very much a case of work in progress. I get the impression that Mark wants to change things with regard to sea angling representation, which is good - because it needs changing. I just don't know whether he'll be able to make the necessary breaks required to pull it off. With the threats facing us at the moment, I hope he manages to do something soon because we don't have the luxury of time on our hands.

 

I didn't actually find out who is on the AT's marine conservation committee, and therefore speaking on behalf of sea anglers at meetings with Defra, etc, at present.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Steve Coppolo

[Bob Bradford]

Thanks for that Steve, I try to keep out of the politics involving sea angling, I know nothing at all about them, from outside looking in though, to me it all looks so very ,very complicated, whilst I believe there is the opportunity to recruit a lot of (sea )anglers into the AT fold, my observation is sea anglers are not used/conditioned to paying for something on a yearly basis (like a freshwater rod licence for instance) so are reluctant to say the least, generation after generation have enjoyed fishing in the sea for free and taking home what they catch if they wish to, now they are being asked to voluntarily pay into Angling Trust, there is deep mistrust and suspicion, it looks like a Herculean task for Mr Tim McPherson and I do not envy him one little bit, as for Mark Lloyd, he continues to impress, what more can be said?

 

Regards Bob

[Steve Coppolo]

Thanks for that Steve, I try to keep out of the politics involving sea angling, I know nothing at all about them, from outside looking in though, to me it all looks so very ,very complicated, whilst I believe there is the opportunity to recruit a lot of (sea )anglers into the AT fold, my observation is sea anglers are not used/conditioned to paying for something on a yearly basis (like a freshwater rod licence for instance) so are reluctant to say the least, generation after generation have enjoyed fishing in the sea for free and taking home what they catch if they wish to, now they are being asked to voluntarily pay into Angling Trust, there is deep mistrust and suspicion, it looks like a Herculean task for Mr Tim McPherson and I do not envy him one little bit, as for Mark Lloyd, he continues to impress, what more can be said?

 

Regards Bob

 

I can assure you, Bob, that any reluctance to join the angling trust, (or any other organisation), from sea anglers, has nothing to do with the money. Some of it is about the distrust that you mention it, but most of it is that belonging to an organisation has always been unnecessary.

 

Maybe things are different now and we need to get organised, but the only reason for that would be to have somone fight off the threats to our sport - not for going on pointless and counter productive crusades. And we certainly don't need anyone representing us to be working against us alongside our enemies.

 

As far as my own support for the Angling Trust goes, it very much depends on who they appoint to represent sea angling under the AT banner. Get the right people with the right attitude in place and I'll be right behind them every step of the way. Leave us in the hands of misguided eccentrics who do damage to my sport and I'll be fighting them every step of the way. I hope they get it right.

Edited March 20, 2009 by Steve Coppolo

[barry luxton]

I can assure you, Bob, that any reluctance to join the angling trust, (or any other organisation), from sea anglers, has nothing to do with the money. Some of it is about the distrust that you mention it, but most of it is that belonging to an organisation has always been unnecessary.

 

Maybe things are different now and we need to get organised, but the only reason for that would be to have somone fight off the threats to our sport - not for going on pointless and counter productive crusades. And we certainly don't need anyone representing us to be working against us alongside our enemies.

 

As far as my own support for the Angling Trust goes, it very much depends on who they appoint to represent sea angling under the AT banner. I hope they get it right.

 

Totally agree with that. Definatly not free fishing as the monetory part of it is now high. The largest expence to the sea angling experiance is what the burocrats (ex men in suits) are going to do. We need something or someone to counter it, it's upto the trust, can they do it. As Steve has said, there is little time left.