Recommended
Displaying items by tag: government
The Angling Trust has presented a Manifesto for Angling to the three main political parties on behalf of the nation’s 3 million plus anglers.
The document was presented to Fisheries Minister Huw Irranca-Davies and Shadow Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon in the House of Commons, and a copy was also sent to Andrew George of the Liberal Democrats. Also present at the hand over were the Chair and Vice Chair of the All Party Angling Group, Martin Salter (Labour, Reading West) and Charles Walker (Conservative, Broxbourne).
The manifesto calls for the next Parliament to promote the benefits of angling to society, to recognise the rights of anglers and to create healthy freshwater and marine environments.
Angling contributes at least £3.5 billion to the economy each year. Tens of thousands of people are employed in angling and its related industries. Game and sea angling represent significant opportunities for anglers to catch their own dinner in a sustainable manner. Angling provides huge benefits for health, education and well being to people of all ages, and it is often the only outdoor activity easily available to urban communities suffering deprivation. Anglers invest millions of hours of volunteer time into the maintenance and improvement of water environments by clearing litter, restoring habitats and monitoring pollution.
Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd said: “For angling to continue to grow and prosper, Government and its agencies must commit to protecting the rights of anglers, improving the health of our fisheries and supporting programmes to increase participation in the sport.
“We hope that all the parties will offer their support to this document which sets out a summary of the concerns of the nation’s 3 million plus anglers, based on the Angling Trust’s campaign strategy ‘Fighting for the Future of Fishing’ which was published earlier this year.”
Mike Heylin, Chairman of the Angling Trust added: “Angling has come a long way in recent years; no longer do we simply plead with politicians to leave us alone. We are actively engaged in developing policies for angling and fisheries and now since the formation of the Angling Trust, we are strong enough to demand of the three main political parties a cast iron commitment not just to allow us to continue to go fishing, but actively to promote angling and improve the condition of our fisheries.”
For more information, please contact Mark Lloyd, 07973 468198 and mark.lloyd@anglingtrust.net
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our news articles. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a news article of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
The Angling Trust today launched a campaign strategy to highlight the concerns of Britain’s 3 million anglers in the run-up to the General Election.
The comprehensive strategy includes calls for the government and its agencies to:
• Protect fish stocks from commercial overfishing by reforming the Common Fisheries Policy and enforcing existing legislation;
• Implement the Water Framework Directive to address diffuse pollution, low river flows and habitat damage;
• Allow greater controls of cormorants by anglers suffering excessive fish predation on their waters;
• Provide more accountability about how anglers’ £26million from freshwater rod licences is actually spent;
• Stop the march of non-native invasive species such as signal crayfish, giant hogweed and floating pennywort;
• Ensure that none of the thousands of new hydropower installations planned on our rivers damages fisheries;
• Protect the rights of anglers to go fishing and to access piers, ponds and to park near beaches;
• Support efforts to encourage more people to get into fishing;
• Protect fish from diseases imported from abroad.
Angling is more popular than ever, with freshwater rod licence sales soaring last year to 1.5 million from 1.3 million in the previous year. The Trust is aiming to sustain and continue this growth and ensure that there are plenty of fish to catch and safe and clean places for people of all ages to catch them.
Six Members of Parliament recently signed up as Parliamentary Supporters of the Angling Trust, the organisation which represents anglers in England, at a meeting of the All Party Angling Group at the House of Commons. The Group is chaired by Martin Salter MP (Reading West), a long-standing supporter of the Trust and the Labour party spokesman for angling and shooting and includes Richard Benyon (Newbury), the Conservatives' fisheries spokesman.
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said
“We are very grateful to these busy Members of Parliament for agreeing to support the Angling Trust. Millions of anglers in England need a listening ear in Parliament to hear their concerns about pollution, over-abstraction, commercial over-fishing at sea, access restrictions and a host of other issues which affect the quality of our sport.”
Mike Heylin, Chairman of the Angling Trust said:
“We look forward to working closely with these parliamentarians to ensure that the anglers’ voice is heard. In the run-up to the General Election, the Angling Trust will be working hard to ensure that issues affecting the nation’s anglers are taken on board by candidates of all political parties.”
UK Fisherman would be delighted to hear from you if you would like to comment on any of our news articles. To do so, use the comment box below.Alternatively if you would like to submit a news article of your own, please visit the CONTACT page.
