Understanding The Politics

Many anglers have been left to ponder the future of their sport.

Whether you appreciate it or not, the forthcoming Marine Bill began (as all acts do) with 'good intentions' - but considering the impact it may end up having on Sea Angling, - thats about as far as it goes. The bill is concerned with protecting fish stocks, tougher regulation on currently unlicensed inshore commercial fishermen, etc etc. As anglers, this is something we've been demanding for years, however, we are also set to be caught up in the detail.

The outline of the bill was put into place several years ago by European 'bigwigs', however, as with most European directives, individual countries have been slow to implement the changes and those that have, have found themselves saddled with a situation that suits few. The problem for anglers is that at the bill's development stage, it was made quite clear by the licensed commercial fishermen that there was a need to regulate the unlicensed inshore fishermen as it was unfair for them to have to adhere to strict quotas whereas the unlicenced fishermen did not. From here on, things got complicated and quite frankly, pretty messy.

As politicians like to deal with matters that are neatly stacked in labelled boxes, so the race was on to define an 'unlicensed fisherman' on the bill. It soon became apparent that as some used longlines, some netted and some were 'rod and line' fishermen, it was decided to label the whole matter as 'unlicensed Angling Activities' to save on complicating the issue with further definitions, which of course draws the recreational sea anglers (RSA's) into the mix.

RSA's are not the main target of the bill, however, once they become sucked in, the 'powers that be' will be compelled to formulate some form of control over the sport of sea angling as they have in France. This could include the introduction of a Sea Angling License with RSA's also being restricted to the same fish quota's as the once unlicenced inshore fishermen.

Part of the bill also includes the assessment of (and possible control over) the environmental impact caused by bait collection from the foreshore and inter-tidal zones in estuaries. This is a bit of a 'grey area' at the moment as this will ultimately be down to consultation between local authorities including the various wildlife trusts, however it will probably end in a total ban on bait collection in some areas and an agreed 'code of conduct' in others.

Whether you think the bill is a good idea or not, the fact is our sport maybe set to change forever, - with extra costs and restrictions imposed on what was once seen to be a 'public right'.

At the time of this publication, further research is still being carried out on assessing the impact that RSA's actually have on fish stocks around the British Isles - although some of the Brussels bunch have already stated that it is probably unmeasureable. Consultation at local level between representatives of area fisheries and appointed sea angling committees are also taking place to try and reach a workable compromise that could lessen the affect it would have on the RSA's. However all this hard work that is being carried out may ultimately come to nothing - as compromise would require further definition of a 'RSA' and further definition may be seen to be too complicated a task in trying to split RSA's away from the 'unlicensed (commercial) angling activities' that are the real target for control.

If you want to see a video that epitomises all that is wrong with the current policies and quota systems then follow this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2008/aug/12/fish.trawler.prolific (it starts with a short advert)