photo credit: Chris Morriss
The Angling Trust and the Pike Angling Trust of Great Britain have joined forces to fight the ongoing restriction of fishing by the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts in their nature reserves. The new action follows on from the Wildlife Trust decision to ban fishing at 65 of it’s nature reserves and increasing restrictions at the Attenborough Nature Reserve where over 40% of it’s area is now out of bounds to anglers. Many popular fishing sites are now no longer available and has caused anger among many local anglers. A major concern of the anglers was the lack of consultation over the plans. There are also fears that the same policy will be taken up by the other 46 Wildlife Trusts across the country which will take out many popular fishing sites.
The Angling Trust and PATGB represents a large number of people and a well orchestrated campaign may not directly change the policy of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust but it could influence they way they operate and get funding. Angling is considered to be the most popular participation sport in the UK with up to 4 million people regularly going fishing. Economically, freshwater fishing is worth up to £6 billion each year to the rural economy. The Wildlife Trust receive substantial sums of money from the public purse and also manage nature reserves on behalf of local authorities. Private companies such as Tarmac and other building and mining companies often hand over land to the wildlife Trust or fund nature reserve development. It is unlikely that any of these organisations would want to alienate 4 million members of the public. If fishing bans become the norm in Wildlife Trust reserves then the need will be there for either angling organisations moving into the nature conservation field and competing with the Wildlife Trusts to operate and manage new nature reserve or when new reserves are developed the fishing rights will have to be handed over to a separate organisation to protect fishing access.
Raising awareness of the Wildlife Trust stance of banning fishing on their nature reserves will be one of the first things that the new partnership will have to do. It’s unlikely that many members of the public are aware of this policy. If you search the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust or the main Wildlife Trust websites you will find no mention of their anti-fishing stance. Local fishing organisations are also going to have to become effective lobbyists of their local authorities to ensure that any future publicly funded nature reserves continue to offer fishing opportunities to the local communities.
For many children fishing is their first real introduction to the natural world and local wildlife, we really do need to make sure that the chance to fish is not taken away from them. We also need to realise that for many, fishing is one of the more affordable days out that they can go on. When compared to the cost of going to a football match or a theme park, fishing is something that is within the budgets of most families. As we enter a time when family budgets are going to be put under increasing pressure it’s important that affordable recreational opportunities remain open for all.
Of course anglers have a responsibility to act responsibly regarding their fishing tackle to minimise the risk to wildlife. Using non-toxic weights and biodegradable fishing line can all help minimise damage to wildlife from broken tackle. New developments on the way include biodegradable sinkers and weights which will further reduce the impact of discarded tackle.
Angling makes an important contribution to the leisure industry and properly managed it is a sustainable contribution. Working on finding new management methods to reduce the impacts of fishing on wildlife will be much more beneficial than putting in place a blanket ban at nature reserves.
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