couple of questions

[Miggy]

I am not too sure on what the biggest threat to fishing is, but i would just like to say that the lake that i usually fish on is becoming more and more dirty, and more and more littered. This could be a reason why people dont seem to be catching as much as they used to.

[Brian Carragher]

The biggest danger to angling is from angling and anglers

 

Our biggest problem is the internal strife and division within our ranks and the apparant ease which other anglers appear to have when dismissing angling practices that they either don't like or don't approve of

 

Those that are against angling will use any internal discord to further their own disreputable campaigns and anglers either unwittingly or uncaringly supply the ammunition needed

[Newt]

The biggest danger to angling is from angling and anglers

 

I think Brian may have nailed it. The "Ban Everything (every bait, bit, tactic, practice) I Don't Approve Of" brigade is probably a more significant threat than any non-angling group or issue.

[Steve Walker]

Biggest long term threat? Irrelevance; death by playstation. The perception of angling as a low status, low brow pursuit for Sun readers. Have a look at this obnoxious chunk of stereotyping.

 

The tabloid press is favoured reading and other interests include camping, angling,

bingo and horseracing, as well as watching cable TV and going to the pub.

 

The image of angling is not aspirational, it isn't young. I think that's rather sad.

[Dunk Fairley]

1. Apathy

2. Low morals in general.

 

Yes, I do consider that angling is well represented.

 

One problem is, there are a hell of a lot of anglers who, because of their apathy, leave others to do the work for them, without even showing support.

 

Another problem, that due to the lowering of morals in society, there are a hell of a lot of anglers who don't care if anyone works for them and are perfectly willing to disrupt, decry, undervalue and even counteract the work done by others.

 

Here's a good question:

Who would you rather have in your club?

 

1. An angler who leaves no rubbish, old line, beer cans and who even picks up rubbish by the bank. He's in an angling preservation society, which was set up to protect angling. Oh, but he takes fish for the table.

 

2 An angler who takes no fish, but leaves behind all his beer cans, smashes down bushes, leaves line in the bushes, swears at passers by etc. Then has the audacity to claim that because he's an angler, he's a conservationist.

 

There are only those two options in this short questionaire. I'm in personal contact with some anglers in Eastern Europe, who fall into the first category. I also know and have confronted anglers in this country, in the second.

[Waveney One]

Option 1 Dunk, no question.

 

I for one am totally fed up with being regarded as the fool at one end of the line with the worm at the other. Or the Famous cartoon with the lunatic in the asylum telling the angler outside that the latter should be in there with him.

 

It really is time that we got our house in order and made a stand for our rights as the largest particpant sport in the country. That means having representative slots on sports programmes and a fair share of Sport Englands' grant monies to sport!

Edited September 25, 2006 by Waveney One

[Dick Dastardly]

I would whole heartedly agree with Duncs post but just cant be bothered.............................see it affects us all!

[Kappa]

I would whole heartedly agree with Duncs post but just cant be bothered.............................see it affects us all!

 

Me too on both counts.

[Anderoo]

Grossly overstocked commercial fisheries could become an anti-cruelty target, which could easily spread to the whole of angling.

 

Main threat is probably 'carp style' fishing, and by that I mean obnoxious 'anglers' with no sense of watercraft or love of nature, obsessed with weights, the latest wonder rig, the next wonder bait, and out to enjoy socials (i.e. boozing) with mates. As with everything, the loud minority is the one that's noticed by everyone else. And these seem to be the only people taking up fishing at the moment, and then giving up a few years later.

 

Foxhunting was banned because of the people who participated - angling (albeit in the other direction, class-wise) could fall into the same middle-England trap.

[Sportsman]

One of the biggest problems that game shooting has had to face in the last few years has been gross overstocking of gamebirds on commercial shoots, to pander to the requirements of wealthy customers who have no desire to learn anything about the sport, just want to turn up and get instant results.

I feel that angling is in danger of falling into the same trap.

This I am afraid make us very vulnerable to outsider criticism.

Add to this water abstraction, pollution cormorants and the general apathy of 90% of anglers and you have your problems.

Compared to this a few fish taken for the pot amount to next to nothing