Angling Groups

[Guest spasor]

Rob?

It would be very nice, and useful if all organisations got together. However, I fear that too many people have their slippers under the table? I wonder how many people at the top of the NFSA are under 50? And how many days per week they fish? Or do they still talk of the 1,000lb of cod taken from a single boat by 6 rods?

I can only talk of the past 10 yrs. I`ve never seen those days. But I have seen a slow and steady decline in our fishing.

We`re not pit-men fighting colliery owners any more, being represented by cigar smoking union officials !! This is OUR SPORT!! If we all took a year off? The government would be crippled ! We Sea Anglers spent in excess of £5,000,000,000 last year! Yes! That`s 5 billion pound !! That`s 10 times the catch and support of our complete fishing fleet !! I think it`s time we got some people to talk direct to MAFF instead of having a representative?

[Guest oliver g]

angling needs one voice but that voice needs funding,perhaps we could look in the direction of the tackle industry,they are set to lose most if angling goes down the tubes

 

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oli

[Guest Graham E]

Reading through the comments previously and the obvious concerns of those anglers to ensure that our voice is heard out aloud, it should not be a difficult task to kick start a serious movement to bring about change.

Whatis needed is

1/ Funding and a commercial approach

2/ Spare time and political nouce

3/ A directive to those in the spotlight, be it entertainment ( lots of fishermen there)

politics / industry / media including press to highlight the situation

4/ A Plan (1year/2year etc)......( a plan!!)

5/ A Spin doctor

 

6/ A room with no beds/beer/fags/double locked/without a loo to put all the self serving angling bodies in without a key until they merge. Simple init!

[Guest waterman1013]

Graham

 

You talk a lot of sense. There is a plan kicking about and a lot of work has been done. We are getting there and there seems to be a lot of commitment among the GBs to achieve unity. FUNDING will be the big problem.

 

The tackle trade is in no position to support angling at the level required. Business is bad at the moment and funding would always be dependent on the state of trade, you can't plan on this basis. The Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries review panel should address the question, it could so easily be linked into the licence fee along with the introduction od sea angling licences. At least we have a Sports Minister who is pro angling and sees the need.

 

The problem has always been that anglers spend too long talking to each other and not to those outside. There is a piece in the DT today on hunting that drags angling and shooting into the frame, un-necessarily, and we need a body to answer these problems.

 

Keep living in hope!!

 

Mike

[Guest Roger.Baker]

Whether the majority of anglers recognise it or not, the bulk of conservation work, to which anglers are the main beneficiaries, is being carried out by people who also hunt and shoot or support hunting and shooting.

 

Angling's greatest opportunity, in the last 25 years, was when the NFA almost joined the Countryside Alliance. If other organisations, representing game and sea fishing had followed suit, I am sure we would be in a healthier position today.

 

On the question of funding, why do some anglers believe that the tackle trade should 'cough up'? They do not have the most to lose at all - it is anglers! Do you not believe that companies like Penn, will diversify into snooker cues, golf clubs or surfboards, if angling dies out, which it eventually will, if it follows the current trend.

 

Many of the sea anglers I know, like myself, are now doing the bulk of our fishing abroad; paying taxes on tackle and buying fishing licenses to benefit, maintain and improve the sport.

 

How about a UK tax on fishing tackle to fund administration? How about a sea fishing license for anglers? These are both working to good effect in the U.S