GrahamM
Managing Editor
- Joined
- Feb 23, 1999
- Messages
- 9,773
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I suspect that at least some of Kevin?s article was written tongue firmly in cheek, but he raises a number of points that should be debated.
First of all I don?t believe the overall picture is anywhere near as gloomy as the one he paints. Yes, the majority of anglers are an apathetic bunch, but I firmly believe that like all sleeping dogs if we were roused we could bite with the best of them, and probably a lot harder. If any serious threat to angling came along that looked like it was going to succeed then I think we?d be out of the kennel and biting like a rabid beast.
One salient point we should always remember is that wars are won by winning a series of battles; win enough of them and you win the war. Where angling is concerned Kevin?s points about keepnets, livebaits, barbless hooks, etc, are spot on.
We should not allow any more ?battles? to be won. Put aside your own personal feelings about livebaiting, keepnets, barbed hooks, etc and support their use. Don?t let the anti?s win these battles because the next one (live maggots, worms, landing nets?) may be a battle that affects you and you?ll want anglers who use keepnets, barbed hooks and livebaits firmly on your side.
Never forget that every time something is banned there will be some anglers, like Kevin, who will say, ?sod it, I?ve had enough.? And get out of the sport altogether. Our numbers will dwindle and eventually there will be so few of us we won?t have any bite at all.
Kevin bemoans the fact that we pay a licence fee, and the fact that most other sportsmen, including most other water sportsmen, don?t.
I think our paying a licence fee is a massive point in our favour.
Like the revenue from tobacco has been a major factor regarding the government?s reluctance to ban smoking, the revenue from licences will be major factor when considering banning fishing. It also gives us that extra lever in any debates, as in, ?we pay for our sport, what do you pay for yours??
Of course, how the licence fee money is spent is another question and another debate, and one that we should be raising at frequent intervals. That Kevin has tackled the EA over issues that concerned him is more than most of us have done.
Kevin writes that we are facing a fishing future that ?I feel will be ever more constrained and restricted.?
He may be right, but that will only happen whilst we allow the antis to keep winning the smaller battles. So don?t let them do that, let?s come out of the kennel snapping and snarling every time they try to ban something. Not when it?s too late and we have no teeth left.
First of all I don?t believe the overall picture is anywhere near as gloomy as the one he paints. Yes, the majority of anglers are an apathetic bunch, but I firmly believe that like all sleeping dogs if we were roused we could bite with the best of them, and probably a lot harder. If any serious threat to angling came along that looked like it was going to succeed then I think we?d be out of the kennel and biting like a rabid beast.
One salient point we should always remember is that wars are won by winning a series of battles; win enough of them and you win the war. Where angling is concerned Kevin?s points about keepnets, livebaits, barbless hooks, etc, are spot on.
We should not allow any more ?battles? to be won. Put aside your own personal feelings about livebaiting, keepnets, barbed hooks, etc and support their use. Don?t let the anti?s win these battles because the next one (live maggots, worms, landing nets?) may be a battle that affects you and you?ll want anglers who use keepnets, barbed hooks and livebaits firmly on your side.
Never forget that every time something is banned there will be some anglers, like Kevin, who will say, ?sod it, I?ve had enough.? And get out of the sport altogether. Our numbers will dwindle and eventually there will be so few of us we won?t have any bite at all.
Kevin bemoans the fact that we pay a licence fee, and the fact that most other sportsmen, including most other water sportsmen, don?t.
I think our paying a licence fee is a massive point in our favour.
Like the revenue from tobacco has been a major factor regarding the government?s reluctance to ban smoking, the revenue from licences will be major factor when considering banning fishing. It also gives us that extra lever in any debates, as in, ?we pay for our sport, what do you pay for yours??
Of course, how the licence fee money is spent is another question and another debate, and one that we should be raising at frequent intervals. That Kevin has tackled the EA over issues that concerned him is more than most of us have done.
Kevin writes that we are facing a fishing future that ?I feel will be ever more constrained and restricted.?
He may be right, but that will only happen whilst we allow the antis to keep winning the smaller battles. So don?t let them do that, let?s come out of the kennel snapping and snarling every time they try to ban something. Not when it?s too late and we have no teeth left.