Now let's ban fishing

[Davey B]

spasor:

This is just another popular fad?

I quite often enjoy fishing in a red Boa made from live Ostrich feathers....

[PH]

When I first heard about this a couple of weeks ago on this board I thought that this is a joke. I still do. Someone tell me that this is a wind-up, that there are people out there that want angling banned!? I can't believe we're even listening to them, never mind talking about them.

[Jim Roper]

PH:

Someone tell me that this is a wind-up, that there are people out there that want angling banned!?

Have look here: http://www.anti-angling.com

 

There is a markedly different reaction to this thread on this Sea-fishing furum compared to that on the Coarse-fishing forum.

 

Jim Roper

 

http://www.saddletude.com

 

http://www.march-info.org

[waterman1013]

Regardless of what organisation she may or may not represent it is important that anglers respond to such letters and I have sent the response below to the Oxford Mail. Feel free to use it as you need.

 

Dear Sir

 

You recently published a letter from Theresa Thom who gives an address in Central London. This letter is part of an orchestrated campaign against angling and has been published in Cambridge, Oxford, Peterborough, Shropshire and . A pastime which many of your readers locally will participate in and from which many local businesses will benefit because of angling tourism.

 

The use of emotional language like “evil” “grotesquely cruel” and “evil practice” show her to be much more than an uninterested observer but a member of the animal rights movement parading herself as a concerned individual.

 

She is certainly well briefed and appears to be part of the animal rights movement. Those “nice people” who send bombs to scientists, bully and cajole employees of legitimate businesses and cause environmental havoc by releasing non-native species, e.g. mink, into the wild, where they do untold damage to our native species and their habitat.

 

Her “facts” are wrong, fish are cold blooded and there is no scientific evidence to show they feel pain, even though the animal rights movement claim that there is - the now discredited Medway Report. If they felt pain, in the way that you and I understand it, they would not be able to eat fresh water crustaceans, molluscs and other hard shelled food items. Indeed recent work on pain receptors and cold blooded creatures indicates that they have no sense of “pain”.

 

Fish do not suffer in properly used keepnets, there is ample scientific evidence to show this. Fish do not suffer when hooked, repeat catches of the same fish in a short space of time show this. Fish when handled properly do not suffer in the hands of anglers.

 

More than five million anglers in the UK enjoy the sport, enjoy our countryside and enjoy the environment, travel to localities such as yours and spend more than five billion pounds a year on their sport, much of that locally. It is anglers who have protected our rivers from pollution and worked with Governments of all persuasions to improve the lot of our aquatic wildlife. It is anglers who continue to monitor the state of our nations rivers. It is anglers who first report problems to the Environment Agency. It is anglers who raise millions of pounds each year to help pay for that same Agency and its vital work.

 

Do not let yourself be mislead by these “animal activists”, who know nothing of the realities of life for most of us in the country and care even less.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Michael Heylin

Secretary

Specialist Anglers Alliance

 

Specialist Anglers Alliance represents some ten thousand big fish anglers and is a member of the National Angling Alliance which represents more than one million anglers in Britain.

[PH]

quote:

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Have look here: http://www.anti-angling.com

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Wow?! I still don't believe it! Are these people for real? And why are they picking on anglers?

 

Have a read of the following page MYTH 5. Angling is cruel. from Tony's Fishing Hole (a great web site despite its name).

And here is what Tony says if you encounter anti-angling demostrators while you are fishing...

quote:

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If Confronted by anti-angling demonstrations during fishing it is advised that you

 

Continue fishing if safe to do so. You are doing nothing illegal.

Telephone the police. Anti-anglers can be violent and many are wanted for terrorist activities including attacks on laboratories, bomb making and criminal damage. The demonstration itself may be illegal. Public disorder is illegal in most countries.

Resist the temptation to throw anyone in the water as this may scare the fish away. Use of anti-anglers as chummy is illegal in most countries.

Although you have the right to defend yourself and property this is a grey area so don't respond with force unless in danger, The amount you are allowed to use varies according to each country. Americans coming to fish in the UK are politely reminded we are not allowed to carry automatic machine guns for self-defence in the UK.

Children should be closely watch as these are seen as easy targets. It is not unheard of for campaigners to push small children into the water so it may be prudent to swallow your pride and move elsewhere if fishing with children.

Sea-anglers are rarely targeted as we tend to be more spread out, often in difficult to reach places. However your car may be targeted.

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