Strikes me like they have stole a march on us again ,now I am in support of it but I would have liked to have thought us anglers had something to do with it did we or not .Can anyone give a reason why there was no mention of anglers involved in getting this thing going?

mainly because anglers are apathetic and dont get involved with politics, the SAA struggle finding anglers who want to get involved with these types of projects, we are totally disorganised and easy to walk over. It would probably be quite easy to ban angling and people would only moan after the event.

It hurts to say it Monk but you are right, when I first heard about it this morning I could not believe that there was not even a mention of anglers being involved. We will be sorry if we let the RSPB call the tune, they are not to be trusted,(remember the Cororants)Fish conservation must be dealt with by the fishing industry AND anglers not the birdwatchers. If it is left to them, then angling will be banned and we will have no one to blame but ourselves.

I really do despair like you Monk and Mick ,we are the guardians of fish yet we have nowt to say on the destruction of fisheries .I have had this feeling for a while since I found out about SAA ,ACA NFA and others that they are not really getting us represented in the press ,I don't want to grind with any members but they should be bleeding shouting from the rooftop if they want to get people like me to shell out for membership.Pull your fingers out chaps quick.
One more point on such organizations people like me would rather have some straight talking no nonsense fellas running them rather than all pen pushers who haven't got the finger on the pulse,just an observation put me right if I have got it all wrong.

the problem with SAA and there lack of marketing is that they don`t have the memebership to do all this, they are short staffs and poorly funded, they need bodies and they need money, they are also anglers themselves and do like to get out once in a while, although many of therm spend hours penpushing fighting in anglers corners while the rest of us go fishing of course, and many whom go fishing can`t even be bothered joining bodies like the SAA. Amazingly, and some of you guys might find this hard to believe, but angling has no cavalry who comes charging over the hill, bugle blowing, whenever angling has a problem,

What it does have though is us (thats you and me), so maybe we should make an effort once in a while, if only to let the non-angling world know we are still alive and kicking?

Fair points Monk ,I know it sounds like I was slagging the pen pushers but thats not what I really meant .I will take my mates for example they wouldn't even consider joining any such organizations because they feel they are run by pen pushers and there opinion wouldn't even be listened to unless you are part of the inner sanctum ,is this much true?.

no not at all mate, SAA is open to and welcomes everyone who wants to get their sleeves rolled up and support angling, of course politics is not everyones cup of tea, which is fine, but people can still support these organisations by simply sending off a membership fee. The most common and democratic way of changing things is by penpushing, the RSPB are very goosd at this and they are also very good at talking to others, they also have a number of professional people who work for the oprganisation.

How many professionals do we have in angling fighting our corner, and I dont mean those who make a living out of it.

The other way to get things done is by direct action, but whos going to organise that then?

Coarse fishing is traditionally a working class sport, people of this social structure were not renowned for organising themselves or others. Thankfully the social stratification in this country has largely moved up, with many blue collar workers educating themselves to the heigth of white collar professionals and thus in some denizens, we now have a little organisation, maybe too little too late, I dont know, but groups like the RSPB and by far better organised than us.

So which of the angling organisations are going to ask the RSPB what thier motives are ?.

Trisantona, all of our organisations should ask them, what the hell are they playing at? They could give us their answer when we are at Slimbridge protecting all the birds there from all of them and their cameras, we could all set up camp there to get our point across. (well it was just a thought)

So which of the angling organisations are going to ask the RSPB what thier motives are ?.

I dont think we can actually ask these people as such, anyway its a bit like closing the door after the horse has bolted, what you have to remember though is that many RSPB members are also anglers, many of whom will not realise how they are being motivated,

If the RSPB is a charity we should be able to ask any questions we like,more so if you are a member,i can only assume things (all bad)about thier motives,but my very basic understanding of the situation is the British trust for ornitholigy is the main organisation for birds and the RSPB are interfering idiots who have loads of money and ............no i'm too pissed,been to darts match lol.

yes I totally agree Trish, and I am now a BTO memeber and no longer a RSPB member, I no longer trust the organisation and believe they have an unwritten agenda which is anti angling orientated

these are the guys who should be dealing with this sort of thing, they represent 30,000 sea anglers

http://www.nfsa.org.uk/

what is this marine bill?

forget the nfsa, the SACN get more done then they do.

its here mate

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/marinebill-whitepaper07/index.htm

ah, that one.

the one where they want to license sea anglers but are not prepared to listen to our views or do anything of benefit to us.

the Sea Anglers Conservation Network have been doing a hell of a lot of work on this for the government to throw it in our faces.

sounds about right Alan

the views express on here are all well and good but I am most surprised that there are not a lot more responding, I would have thought that the anglers of the british Isles would have been up in arms over the way that the RSPB have acted afterall it is their sport that is being threatened, make no mistake about it, they will do their damndest to get angling banned. Maybe a lot of people are on holiday at the moment, and I've got it wrong anywayThe RSPB are just trying to help. If you can believe that you can believe anything.

Oh yes, make no mistake these people will ban angling if they get chance and chances are we will let it happen, they certainly have a secret agenda, the antis are very good at hiding inside these organisations and many hold influencial positions. If they can ban fox hunting they can certainly ban angling and fox hunters were a lot more pro active than we are

Taking away thier charity status should slow em down.