I attended the last meeting of the NW Regional Forum in Lancaster
Why shouldnt specialist anglers attend? Surely the clubs with a game fishing emphasis who attend are in essence specialist angling groups - with their own agendas?
Surely specialist angling groups such as PAC northwest etc should have their feet under the same table as the rest of us?
In fact, there is nothing to preventing them from attending on a club level, or as individual members of the AT.
I for one would welcome their presence at what i consider to be a bit of a Wheel Tappers And Shunters Club.
The most important issue of the evening (imo) was the reduction of angling representation on the EA/DEFRA committee which decides how rod licence money is spent.
£24,000,000 is alot of dough which we contribute and decisions as to its allocation shouldnt be settled by groups such as the Atlantic Salmon Trust, The Association of Rivers Trusts, or the Wild Trout Trust who are all charities and not allowed to lobby and dont really represent anglers interests - maybe the RSPB will be the next group to be invited onto the committe to settle how rod licence money is spent? There is to be a reduction in the input the AT has on this allocation of rod licence money - and that is just plain wrong.
This committee is now only going to meet on a national level, rather than a regional basis (maybe because fewer awkward questions will be asked).
So now as anglers - we have taxation without representation!
This should have been one of the main talking points of the evening - but as ever apathy reigns.
This information was presented by David Hinks of the Ribble Consultative and seemed to get lost or ignored in the evenings general concern with administrative and fighting individual corner issues.
Mark Lloyd has one hell of a job on his hands unifying us moaning anglers - and if you really care then dont sit on the sidelines moaning - get involved and state your case/opinion no matter what branch of angling you come from.
My view is that it will all settle down and once commiittees are in place, and agendas and actions agreed, then the regional forums will be a real force for the administration/communication/promotion of the sport we all love.
It makes no odds what our favourite branch of the sport is - when we cross a bridge we all have a look below to see if we can spot a fish or two - mullet, trout, salmon, carp, pike or chub makes no difference - each one is a treasure and exciting. That desire to take a peek over the edge is what unifies us all as anglers.
Now I'm not even going to go into the county angling group (ADB) and local catchment consultative committee pros and cons - that would be a can of worms too far