Are anglers the "guardians of the waterways"
- Thread starter Lord Paul of Sheffield
- Start date
richiekelly
Well-known member
Please don't shout.
sumtime
Well-known member
I'd love to see that, Tinker 
..."The dog walkers that do not take their dog waste home with them should have it put in their pockets minus the bag"
A lot of dog walkers have got to be the worst culprits for leaving waste, I'll always clean the area I fish of rubbish including other brain dead angler's **** but the dog stuff...no way.
My local canal towpath is full of sh**..... a bit like me sometimes.
..."The dog walkers that do not take their dog waste home with them should have it put in their pockets minus the bag"A lot of dog walkers have got to be the worst culprits for leaving waste, I'll always clean the area I fish of rubbish including other brain dead angler's **** but the dog stuff...no way.
My local canal towpath is full of sh**
..... a bit like me sometimes. cg74
Well-known member
I agree in part with what you're saying but not with your figures, to expand:
10% (maybe even less) of all anglers actually bother to be proactive in their actions. I would've put myself in this bracket a couple of years but no longer because I won't clear up others litter (except if I think it presents a real danger to wildlife etc, like line).
10% (including myself) will do the minimum but none the less crucial acts to minimise any negative impact resulting from angling: Clear others hooks and line etc, will report anything/everything that looks suspicious; smell of sewage, chemicals etc, which many others don't bother to do.
In fact I'd reckon it's as likely to be a dog walker report the smell of raw sewage as an angler. I think the only thing that'd spur most anglers to react is seeing fish dead/gasping and floating belly up.
70% will just keep themselves to themselves, not do anything to maintain the environment but equally will not do anything that'll do any harm; apathetic and ambivalent.
The 10% are the real problem and no matter what other anglers think or say, they're anglers and as long as they are, we will all be tarnished by association. The example of these destructive verminous **** is when they go to the trouble of bagging up their rubbish, yet find it impossible to take it away with them.
Then there's the issue of introducing alien species to our waterways, this practice is IMO a wholly selfish act; changing an ecosystem to suit their own wants.
So IMO anglers as a collective group are guardians of our waterways but we are also a greedy self interested bunch.