God I could write a weighty book on this subject?. Litter in society.
Litter is endemic in British society, angling represents the whole cross section of that society, ergo it follows that angling has litterlouts within its midst. Being the largest participant sport in the nation, again it follows that it will have what seems to be more than any other sport. Whether this is true on a pro-rata basis is hard to tell and no one has ever looked at it from study point of view that I know of.
From a societal point of view, the only way we will change the culture is when we give what is considered waste by the individual a ?value.? Be that value money back on bottles, paper, cans, etc, the worth of repair, or penalties for the discarding of it.
Those who have said it?s no use fining people for discarding litter, they don?t pay the fines. I?ve got news for you, as from the 1st of Jan this year the courts and councils now have the power to seize goods off those who wantonly refuse to pay fines & fixed penalties notices.
It?s to be seen now whether they use these powers??????
A practical suggestion to those seeing litter problems on council owned free stretch of water and private ones to some extent is to contact the local council, and ask them to put you through to the litter wardens office. Inform them there is a problem in that area and ask them to pay a visit in a low-key way. Once it gets on their ?hotspot? list, it?s likely to get frequent visits until the problem cesses. On private land the council can serve the owner with a Visual Disamenity Notice to have the land/site cleaned up.
You could go even one step further and become a Community Environmental Guardian, a scheme that this Govt are pushing for all Councils to adopt. This scheme was pioneered in Manchester and the ward I live in, and has been so successful that the Govt. has picked it up to be adopted nationally. I don?t give praise to MCC very often, as generally they?re siht at most things they do, but this one they?ve got right, and in my ward an officer backing up CEG who is very proactive.
For those who don?t know, M/C won the infamous title of being the dirtiest in the UK for about 3 years running. The last time being a year before Com Games. So they had to do something about it because the Global Spin, and I do mean Global, didn?t fit the image and the awards they infamously won.
At Club level they have to bring in and police heavily the rule that you are responsible for all the litter in the peg you are fishing. If the bailiff comes round and there?s litter in it, he books you. No excuses, no exceptions!
Prince Albert have this rule and have had for the nearly thirty years that I?ve been a member, and it works, their waters are the cleanest I?ve ever seen. They expel some members each year who fail to adhere to this rule. And just for Jeff, they also have a no tin rule, which also works.