3 billion quid

...is what angling is worth to the national economy.

That is according to the EA report that I heard this morning on (shock horror) BBC Radio 5 live at about 8.06am, we must be big time now boys and girls!

All we have to do now is get organised and use our political/financial clout... No good being big time if we are fragmented and always bickering amoung ourselves. Suggestions, anyone? Trefor West makes some good points in his latest book.

I was joking about the big time thing Laurie, I would have thought the number of jobs was higher than 20,000 however!

Well for a start, every single one of us should join the ACA. That would mean something like ?30m a year into this organisation. That would mean pristine rivers in a few years time. The ACA not only fight polution but abstraction and the plundering of aquifers.

One industry we must stop is the bottled water mob!!

Seriously!!

Why is that Ron, what exactly is their threat?

Nice one Eddie - here goes.

Much of the bottled water you buy is taken from boreholes, springs and river sources, not from the point where rivers run into the sea.

Anyone who tampers and robs groundwater sources eventually causes rivers to run dry. Look at what has happened to the classic chalk streams of Hertfordshire for example.

One of the incredible things about some bottled water is that it is not what you think it is. It's tap water that has been filtered, with minerals and CO2 added in some cases.

If you want nice tasting water free of chlorine, taste, odour, pesticides, certain heavy metals, herbices and toxic sheep dips, consider fitting a filter on your drinking water.

These are very low cost to fit and for the average family it will only cost you about ?25 a year for replacement cartridges. which will process up to 160,000 litres of water.

MOST households have these filters in the USA by the way, as well as filters on the fridges. You can have a supply of chilled water that tastes better than bottled water and you are not removing water from natural springs.

Bottled water is BAD, if you are an environmentalist.

Cheers Ron, thats very interesting, which manufacturers are the biggest threat to the UK rivers then, any ideas?

so whats the ACA and what exactly do they do?

" I would have thought the number of jobs was higher than 20,000 however!"

Got to be more than that Eddie, tackle shops, bait manufaturers, tackle manufacturers, clothing etc.....It must be closer to 50,000 at the very least. And thats not including the fishery owners and all the staff they employ!