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This is a dedicated thread for discussing article: Canoe Navigation Rights Sunk
It always amazes me that an angler would prefer to have a stand up shouting match with a canoeist that may last several minutes rather than letting them quietly go by.
There is no fix, because paddler can't pay every land owner that they come across as every trip that they embarked on would be a logistical nightmare and very expensive.
As a fellow angler and a paddler i can tell you that there will never be a "voluntary access agreement" that works to an acceptable level for both parties. It may work on a few stretches and i'm sure some "know it all" will contradict this but it will never work on the vast majority of rivers.
I very rarely get into a boat these days and certainly spend more time on the river bank with a rod. I can honestly say that i do not appreciate canoeists paddling through my swim esp when they're noisy and/or unorganised. Providing they're well behaved and quietly pass by, i can tolerate it. So i know where everyone is coming from!
At the same time i have often come across very angry anglers when in a canoe. This has usually occurred when i've been leading a group of youngster on a navigable stretch although i have also had the same type of anger when paddling stretches without navigable rights. Obviously i accept that i shouldn't really be there but i'll explain why i was in a moment. It always amazes me that an angler would prefer to have a stand up shouting match with a canoeist that may last several minutes rather than letting them quietly go by.
Again, at the risk of some "know it all" contradicting me,there are very few miles of river that have open access for canoeists. A team of paddlers managed to organise voluntary access to the river Dee for several years but its now completely failed due to increasing demands from anglers. That section of river is now teaming with paddlers a certain times so were those demands beneficial? No! The main problem comes from money. We anglers pay to use relatively short stretches of water whilst canoeists pay nothing for potentially miles of river (they do pay the BCU but this is effectively an insurance policy) so why should paddlers have any rights. There is no fix, because paddler can't pay every land owner that they come across as every trip that they embarked on would be a logistical nightmare and very expensive. So, do they stick to those few short stretches? If they did, the impact on the environment on those stretches could be enormous.
To put everyone in the correct picture, if your stretch of river contains exciting rapids in the winter then thats when/where experienced paddlers want to be. If your stretch could be described as a lovely, slow, scenic river with reasonable depths in the summer then it could attract families and inexperienced group during the better weather. What i'm saying is that even if there was open access to all rivers all year round they wouldn't all get used and some would be winter only where as some would be summer only. A few may be all year round venues but i can't imagine many. A lot of anglers think that open access would instantly mean a flood of paddlers entering their stretch but if you use some common sense that simply isn't the case.
I'm not really sure what exactly occurred in this story as the information is limited but i suspect that there's more to it.
Anglers and Canoeist both need educating about each others needs and both parties need to understand the problem before a solution could ever be agree upon.
Before you slate me, please remember that i'm (at the moment) 80% angler, 20% paddler and i'm only being honest.
Now what did they say in the last endless thread put your money where you’re mouth is! We did, you don’t seem to have done! Why is that?
Bloody hell Peter I’m an atheist so it’s lost on me that one! And I have no wish or desire to go looking for a bible to find out what it says.
Daniel 5: 27 "you have been weighed in the ballances and found wanting"
(not you, them )
Please, don't bring bloody religion in to my one and only sport Guess what? I too am athiest.
Well then, I wonder if a quotation taken from the world of movies might assuage your religious frailty?
"You have been weighed, you have been measured, and you have been found wanting"
Taken from the movie "A Knight's Tale"
No posts from SOTP MEMBERS??? ( I don't mean you Benny)
Flippin eck Benny I asked about posts from SOTP I said not you because I didn't want you to think I meant you.
Would it be so unacceptable to be able to fish a river without having to pay (Jeeze...) £1400 to £2000 for a seasons fishing