What is the future of your fishing worth to you?
On Wednesday last week I attended the public launch of the Angling Trust, a new angling body which will speak for all UK anglers with one voice.
If you never read anything else on the web then read this.
I believe this new organisation will give us anglers a unified voice that will ring through the corridors of power and give us the political pull that two million anglers deserve. No more squabbling amongst ourselves, we will have the same voice as the RSPB and the boaters and the chance to secure the future of our sport as future governments will have to take our wishes into account when making policies.
How many bird watchers or boat owners do you know? Not as many as there are anglers but why are their interests considered by government both local and national before ours? They have organised better than us and they have one spokesman for all their members, until now there has been too many angling organisations all fighting amongst themselves and too busy protecting their own empires to look after the interests of the sport. As you will see from their website, six of the major angling groups have amalgamated to form this new body.
If you are really enthusiastic about our sport then put your hand in your pocket and join the Angling Trust or stop moaning about the state of our rivers, the cormorants and eastern europeans eating our fish, fish thefts, over-fishing at sea by foreign commercial fleets or the lack of research into fish diseases.
Pictures courtesy the Daily Mail and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
It’s your chance to do something about it, but it will not be like club working parties that require your time and effort. All you have to do is join - your membership is a weapon that can be used in the interests of angling, but do it now!
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“until now there has been too many angling organisations all fighting amongst themselves and too busy protecting their own empires to look after the interests of the sport.”
Martin, I think that comment is a little unfair. It may have been true in the past but for the last five years all the key organisations have been working ever more closely with each other and Angling Trust is the culmination of that work. I am sure there are still some differences to be ironed out but with the goodwill between bodies shown to date I do not expect there to be any problems which cannot be resolved.
Comment by Michael Heylin — February 2, 2009 @ 10:13 am
I do hope so, I think this will be our last chance. If we fail this time all our credibility will be gone.
Comment by Martin — February 2, 2009 @ 11:51 am