Labour’s Charter for Angling

“Comment on Labour’s Charter to address the political balance of this site which has often been unintentionally in favour of other parties, and to highlight the more important aspects of the document which all anglers may find more interesting.” – Kevin Thornton.

NOTE FROM GRAHAM
It should be made clear that it is NOT the political balance of this site which has often been unintentionally in favour of other parties, but the political balance of this site’s contributors. We have published every political article or press release that has been submitted to us. We even invited other parties to reply to some articles, but never received a reply. We can’t do any more than that to keep a fair balance.

During the build up to the general election, there were several articles and comment within these pages suggesting that the Labour party were ready to join forces with the anti’s and that together, they plan to ban angling just as they did fox hunting.

What nobody mentioned was the fact that Labour, far from wanting to ban angling had earlier actually produced a Charter for Angling, which should, if the proposals are implemented, safeguard our sport for the foreseeable future.

Having read the entire charter, and I warn you, it is quite lengthy, I will state that it might just prove to be the most important piece of political action for anglers since the signing of the Magna Carta way back in 1215.

Here are a few snippets:

“Every person who walks, cycles, boats, and watches birds or simply admires Britain’s rivers, streams and lakes owes a huge amount to the efforts of anglers to protect the waterside environment. Without anglers to guard against pollution the nation’s watercourses would be in a poorer state”.

With regard to the alleged associating with the anti’s, how about this:

“Labour will take whatever legal steps are necessary to protect angling and anglers from those extremists who seek to disrupt the sport or intimidate people from going fishing.”

Professor David Bellamy, a powerful friend and ally is quoted: “Good anglers are the eyes and ears of waterside wildlife. Without their lobby our rivers would still be used as sewers.”

The charter recognises the important work of people like Mick Watson and the “Get Hooked on Fishing” project in Co. Durham. It states how young offenders who have been given the opportunity to fish have had their lives turned around and re-offending rates have been minimal. “Labour will continue to support angling projects which seek to divert young people away from crime mindful that the cost to the taxpayer of keeping one young person in a secure unit is £ 150,000 a year. We believe that sport and outdoor activity programmes have a major role to play in tackling problems of poor health and anti-social behaviour”.

This is a sound message to the public. It demonstrates that us anglers are generally sensible law abiding souls; not the hard blood thirsty vandals that the anti’s would have them believe.

A new Fisheries Bill has been promised. Amongst the key outcomes sought from new fisheries legislation are:

• Better Bailiff powers
• Accelerated procedures for Net Limitation Orders and By-Laws.
• Better fish movement controls
• Powers to limit the amount of trapping of fish such as eels
• Equal levels of protection for all fish species

Apparently, the government intends to put all of this in the Fisheries Bill sometime during this Parliament.

There’s even something in here for sea anglers who have long been a voice in the wilderness as far as their sport is concerned:

“Fisheries management policy should recognise that sea angling may, in some circumstances, provide a better return on the use of some resources than commercial exploitation.”

Put simply, there is a better economic return in limiting the over exploitation of the sea by commercial fishing and allow sea angling to develop and prosper.

So there’s to be a Marine Bill too.

The key outcomes sought from a new Marine Bill are:

• Protection of fish stocks and spawning grounds
• Creation of Marine Conservation Zones
• Introduction of Minimum Landing Sizes for certain sea fishing species
• Better managements of inshore waters
• Proper representation of recreational sea angling and an overhaul of the current Sea Fisheries Committees
• Better control of inshore netting
• Management of fish stocks of species such as bass, wrasse and mullet specifically for angling
• A commitment to a new Marine Bill is contained in the current DEFRA 5 year plan

Labour is at pains to distinguish anglers from commercial fisherman:

The charter states:

“Labour in government is the first political party to acknowledge and quantify the tremendous economic contribution of recreational sea angling. We are committed to taking action to halt the decline in fish stocks in coastal waters. We intend to introduce a new Marine Bill following the current consultation with stakeholders including sea-angling organisations.

Labour will seek to influence the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy to rebuild fish stocks in coastal waters for the benefit of recreational and commercial fishing”.

Be warned though, Labour will not abolish the Freshwater Licensing Scheme. This they say, provides much needed revenue to help improve the waterways etc. (Let’s hope they spend our money on them!) and they just might introduce a licensing scheme for sea anglers to help towards the cost of the measures put forward in their proposed Marine Bill.

There’s a lot more besides, and all very encouraging, including:

• A bass management scheme
• Measures to deal with mink
• Control of cormorants and goosanders
• Support for otters
• Control of fish movements to prevent the spread of disease and alien species

Strangely, there’s no mention at all of the American Red Signal Crayfish which continues to have a devastating effect on our fisheries. Either the issue is not considered to be a major problem, or, as seems more likely, the problem is much bigger than they can deal with at the moment so they have chosen not to mention it.

I’m generally really excited by this document. There’s good news here for everyone who fishes, be that in fresh or salt water. These proposals are wide ranging and comprehensive. It is clear that an enormous amount of consultation and research has been undertaken to gather the facts and obtain the required information in order to address the serious questions that we anglers have been asking for many years. Having read the charter, it seems obvious to me that the Labour Party has been talking with and listening to anglers and angling representatives very carefully. It seems that at long last we may have a party that really will support us.

Let’s hope that these measures be introduced swiftly. Let us give the proposals our firm commitment and support. The government and bodies like the EA have come in for much deserved criticism from anglers over the years. Let’s give them the chance to show us what they can really do.

The entire charter can be read here.

Kevin Thornton
May 2005