Let’s pull together to reverse the decline in angling numbers The latest rod licence figures now published by the Environment Agency, showing a 14.7% drop in rod licence sales, continue an ongoing downward trend. This should serve as a rallying cry to everyone in angling, a call to arms that it will take everyone to…
Sometimes you read a statistic and have to read it again to ensure you read it right the first time. Half of our freshwater wildlife species are in decline. That’s right: half of our freshwater wildlife species are in decline. Furthermore, 13% are at risk of extinction. Our rivers and lakes are in real trouble…
The short answer to the question posed in this title is that no-one yet knows. All we know is that by a fairly small margin the majority of people who voted in the referendum opted to leave the EU, and that we will have a new prime minister (and probably a new leader of the…
The Angling Trust, Fish Legal and WWF-UK are in the high court today fighting a judicial review of the government’s failure to stop agricultural pollution degrading 44 rivers, lakes and estuaries which are specially protected areas in England. We believe that the government was required by the EU’s Water Framework Directive to stop this ongoing…
In my last blog, I wrote about the new contract for rod licence revenues to fund the work of the Angling Trust. Because this comes from the Environment Agency, some of our members have been concerned that this might mean that the independence of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal to challenge the Environment Agency, the…
Sign up for the FREE fortnightly e-newsletter from the Angling Trust and Fish Legal to get news from the world of fishing, top tips and special offers at http://www.anglingtrust.net/subscribe The Environment Agency recently gave the Angling Trust a huge vote of confidence by appointing us, through a formal competitive tendering process, to be the delivery…
I’ve handed over my blog this month to Rod Sturdy, who has very kindly written this article below about our Tidal Lagoon campaign. The views expressed are his own, but clearly in support of the work that the Angling Trust and Fish Legal do. Rod began fishing in his local park lake at the age…
Our fish face many threats, with which we are all too familiar. Sewage and agricultural pollution, low flows in rivers, commercial overfishing at sea, and unsustainable predation are the rule rather than the exception. This month I want to highlight the potential impact of a changing climate on fish stocks, and hence on the availability…
One of the main aims of the recent WWF chalk-streams conference (my presentation is published in a previous blog entry) was to encourage people to comment on the Environment Agency’s latest River Basin Management Plans. If you love rivers, this is important (if dry) stuff. These plans will define what the government will do over the next…
My blog on 4 December celebrated the fact that the tide might have turned in favour of recreational sea angling, following an inspiring debate in Westminster Hall about the need for urgent protection for European and UK bass fisheries, which are in danger of collapsing. Some in the angling press rightly pointed out that this…
In the autumn, I wrote an editorial in our members’ magazine The Angler entitled “Let’s agree to disagree”. I had got frustrated with online angling forums which seemed to me to be damaging the reputation of angling in the public eye and stifling real debate because of the behaviour of a small, dominant minority who…
This week I’m going to write about the Angling Trust Qualifications and Licensing system. The Angler’s Mail recently published an article by Thomas Petch entitled “Paedophile WAS qualified coach”. It was referring to Paul Stead, an angling coach who was recently convicted of abusing children. He was indeed a qualified coach, but he was not…
