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Demo in Bewdley


Leon Roskilly

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Guest tigger
When did you last see illegal lead for sale in a tackle shop?

 

 

 

Well Steve dogstick saw some earlier this month. As I said I don't think it's illegal in Ireland.

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If lead is being widely used, maybe the mad swan lady has a point and a ban is reasonable. But I really don't think it is.

 

No neither do I Steve. My point was more that we have to be carefull about what we say and claim to maintain our credibility.I should imagine that the majority of todays anglers have only ever known substitute shot anyway.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Apart from the early days of Non Lead shot (so long ago now, can hardly remember) Non Toxic shot is easy enough to get on with, as you say the majority of Anglers would never know what fishing with lead is like, you just except whats there.

 

I remember having my first Non Lead weights, I think they were Anchor, they had like a little copper hinge to close them, I could never keep them on the line, I thought, I'm never going to get used to these, but time goes on others came on the scene, and they all started to improve.

 

My wife was pleased when I went Non Toxic, she didn't like me messing about with lead, I've still got my moulds, I used to make all my own ledger weights, Sea weights, and various sizes of drilled balls for Sea and freshwater ledgering.

 

I had a good start working with Lead, when I first left school at 14, I worked for a Newspaper, in the mornings every other week I had the job of melting down the Lead type in a huge cauldron, cleaning the muck off that floated to the surface and recasting it back into blocks to take out to the Linotype machines, we had an allowance of 1 pint of milk a day whist we were working with Lead, we were only allowed to do it week in week about.

 

How we can get it over to people that we don't use Lead now I don't know, the Anti-Angling brigade won't listen, they just want us stopped no matter what, I do think we ought to take more care of discarded line etc, I have frequently got other peoples line, float and hook down out of trees, why can't the person that loses it get it down, there are a lot of Anglers that just don't care.....but how do we get through to them... how do we get them to change...Whilst animals are still getting injured from it we are giving fuel to the Anti-Angling people

Alan

 

I must be doing something right, I'm still alive

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How we can get it over to people that we don't use Lead now I don't know, the Anti-Angling brigade won't listen, they just want us stopped no matter what, I do think we ought to take more care of discarded line etc, I have frequently got other peoples line, float and hook down out of trees, why can't the person that loses it get it down, there are a lot of Anglers that just don't care.....but how do we get through to them... how do we get them to change...Whilst animals are still getting injured from it we are giving fuel to the Anti-Angling people

 

Spot on mate. The whole issue is how we convince these people! difficult when they can easily see lead still being traded on the likes of Ebay and even links to it on respected angling sites.

 

Just as it will always be difficult to avoid all the grief for birds/animals damaged by discarded/lost tackle,as it will be to persuade people that all the rubbish left at the waterside isnt ours!

 

No matter how many anglers dont use lead,discard tackle/ recover lost tackle,pick up their (and others rubbish)etc etc all it takes is one piece of split shot found in a swan,one bird found hanging from a tree tangled in line.one empty bait bag etc etc

 

Dont think we will ever win to be honest.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Spot on mate. The whole issue is how we convince these people! difficult when they can easily see lead still being traded on the likes of Ebay and even links to it on respected angling sites.

 

Just as it will always be difficult to avoid all the grief for birds/animals damaged by discarded/lost tackle,as it will be to persuade people that all the rubbish left at the waterside isn't ours!

 

No matter how many anglers don't use lead,discard tackle/ recover lost tackle,pick up their (and others rubbish)etc etc all it takes is one piece of split shot found in a swan,one bird found hanging from a tree tangled in line.one empty bait bag etc etc

 

Don't think we will ever win to be honest.

 

You're right the Anti's have tunnel vision, everything that is wrong at the waterside is the fault of the Angler in their eyes.

 

It does make me upset to see whats going on, I have loved fishing since about 1937, barring a spell when I came back from my National Service to find all my tackle gone, it took quite a number of years before I started again.

 

I'm sure we are going to have a hell of a fight on our hands with various factions of the Anti's before very long. lets hope the EA realise how much they stand to loose in lost license fee's if Angling goes under, they should stand up for us if they want that license fee.

 

With regards to the Lead weights on Ebay if we can't stop them perhaps we could stop the links to Angling sites.

Edited by Team Man

Alan

 

I must be doing something right, I'm still alive

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With regard to the anti's. I was always told that they had the right to DEMONSTRATE, yet how often have they broken fishing tackle, thrown equipment in the water etc.

If this happens the angler MUST report this to the police, demanding action. If this is not forthcoming, then a letter to the press showing that these anti's are breaking the law with impunity!!

If that doesn't happen, a letter to Martin Salter is in order.

If we keep the anti's illegal actions in the public's eye, then maybe we stand a chance!!

All this talk of Swans dying of lead poisoning - how much lead would it take to kill an adult Swan?

The next time that this is published, the anglers MUST be in agreement that this statement must be challenged and a FRONT PAGE apology demanded by the perpetrators of this myth!!! Failure to get the apology must be followed with court action.

These people see anglers as a soft target - we MUST show them we aren't!

5460c629-1c4a-480e-b4a4-8faa59fff7d.jpg

 

fishing is nature's medical prescription

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A couple of interesting points from a survey on the "swan problem" carried out by Professor Chris Perrins, Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology, Oxford University. Dr Bruno Broughton, Fisheries Consultant.

 

 

 

"the mute swan population nationally has increased significantly since 1987"

 

"at 29.7% of all reported incidents, fishing tackle related injuries are the biggest single cause of swan rescues"

 

"the biggest proportion of angling related rescues occur between July and September, coincident with the school holidays and a surge in swan numbers due to the appearance of young, inexperienced cygnets"

 

"it is estimated that there are about 3,000 tackle related swan rescues per year, including those carried out by the RSPCA. The annual cost to the voluntary swan rescue groups (an estimated 1148 of the rescues), excluding labour is estimated to be £94,940. This figure rises to an estimated £202,863 excluding labour if data for RSPCA rescues is taken into account."

 

"experimental voluntary segregation of anglers and swan-feeding areas at problem sites has been shown to be effective in reducing tackle related injuries."

 

"analysis of tackle removed from swans suggests that the majority of the problems occur with tackle used by anglers of average or low expertise"

 

" Lead poisoning accounted for 3.6% of swan rescues over the period 1996-1999. In the national context lead poisoning in mute swans has declined since the restriction on lead weights was introduced in 1987. However, the data provide evidence of continued lead poisoning in some localised areas and further investigations to establish the source of the lead are needed."

 

"Analysis of fishing tackle retrieved from 847 rescued birds revealed 34 sets (4%) of tackle that included a total of 97 illegal lead weights. This represents 13.7% of the fishing weights retrieved. (This should not be interpreted as being representative of all fishing tackle in use, since the sample is heavily biased towards inexperienced anglers and problem sites)."

Edited by BUDGIE

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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And (allthough not this country) a snippet from another report looking into lead poisoning among swans-

 

Lead poisoning of waterfowl, particularly tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus), has been documented in the Coeur d'Alene River Basin in northern Idaho for nearly a century. Over 90% of the lead-poisoned tundra swans in this area that were necropsied have no ingested lead shot. Spent lead shot from hunting activities over the years is therefore a minor source of lead in these swans. The migrating swans accumulated lethal burdens of lead from ingestion of sediments and aquatic vegetation during a short stopover in the spring. The lead originated from mining and smelting activities. Lead concentrations and physiological characteristics of blood were compared in swans captured in swim-in traps, with moribund swans caught by hand in the lead-contaminated area in 1987 and 1994–1995 and with birds captured by night-lighting in reference areas in 1994–1995. Blood lead concentrations in swans were highest in moribund birds (3.3 g g^−1 in 1987 and 1995), intermediate in those trapped in the contaminated area (0.82 g g^−1 in 1987 and 1.8 g g^−1 in 1995), and lowest (0.11 g g^−1) in those trapped in the reference areas. -aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) was significantly inhibited in swans from the contaminated area. Hematocrit and hemoglobin were significantly depressed only in moribund swans. Of the 19 swans found moribund and euthanized, 18 were classified as having lead toxicosis on the basis of lead levels in blood (1.3 to 9.6 g g^−1) and livers (6 to 40 g g^−1) and necropsy findings. The 19th swan had aspergillosis. There was no evidence that effects of lead on tundra swans had diminished from 1987 to 1995.

 

Ah but whats the relevance of lead mining and smelting operations to an English river? Well just think how many thousands of tons of lead has been absorbed into our waterways over the many years that cars used leaded fuel? I will try to find them among all my old crap but somewhere Ive got another paper reporting on the amount of lead in silt deposits from several well known waterways.....and none of this was in the form of shot either anglers or even shooters! just as a result of lead contaminated rain water run off.

And thats my "non indicative opinion"!

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Guest tigger

At the end of the day lead isn't that bad lets face it millions of people are still receiving their water through lead pipes. The reason it's so hazardous for birds like swans is that they retain it in their gizzerds to help digestion of their food and as it is ground around they absorb it otherwise it would just pass through them causing little harm. I reckon disgarded line, hooks etc are far worse hazards for waterfoul/birds.

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