MAFF have recently published the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review, which could become a keynote document for the future of angling in freshwaters, and contains much relevant material for sea anglers.
The government wishes to consult widely as possible on the report, and would welcome your views. The consultation period will run until July 31st 2000.
The Executive summary sets out 32 paragraphs on:
- the scope of the review
- fish and their environment
- social, recreational & economic importance
- fisheries regulations
- institutional and funding arrangements
It also contains 195 recommendations which affect all aspects of salmon and freshwater fisheries in England and Wales; some of these would require Acts of Parliament to proceed. For this reason it is important that anglers continue to give their input to the process or MPs may be swayed to drop it because of input from other interested parties (farming, agrochemical industry, housing, urbanization, well organised minority interest groups, local authorities etc).
So, if you like parts of the report, write to them and say so. Don’t just write to criticise those parts which you don’t favour. They have email addresses for comments from England and Wales.
The full text can be downloaded from the MAFF website
We welcome the publication of this forward looking document, and appreciate the efforts that MAFF put into its production. We look forward to the day when a similar process becomes available for us disenfranchised sea anglers.