Source: Angling Trust
Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd said:
“Richard Benyon has been very receptive to the concerns of anglers and has made a personal commitment to improving the water environment. He responded positively to our Judicial Review of the river basin management plans by releasing £92 million of new funding and pressing the Environment Agency to be more ambitious in improving water habitats. He initiated a review of cormorant licensing and recently announced a needs-based approach to managing predation by cormorants and goosanders, with three new catchment advisors to be employed by the Angling Trust. He fought hard at a European level to deliver the first steps towards Common Fisheries Policy reform and to review the bass Minimum Landing Size.”
He added:
“Richard Benyon supported our vision of greater delivery of angling promotion and environmental management by third sector organisations and launched the National Angling Strategy last year. He has also been immensely personable and a pleasure to work with. His are large boots to fill and we will be working closely with his successor, George Eustice, to continue developing all these programmes and more for the good of fish and fishing.”
Angling Trust campaigns chief Martin Salter, former parliamentary neighbour and colleague of Benyon said:
“Whilst we are extremely sad to see Richard go and would have hoped to see someone appointed with a greater knowledge of the huge economic and social benefits that recreational fishing delivers it is clear that George Eustice is a serious and thoughtful guy who has not been afraid to take a stand. I´m encouraged by his environmental credentials and hope he will follow through on the good work that Richard Benyon initiated, particularly on bass conservation and over fishing at sea.”
The Angling Trust is sending a briefing on key issues affecting angling to Mr Eustice this week with a request for an early meeting with him to reflect the importance of angling to more than 3 million voters. Angling employs 37,000 people and generates £3.5 billion to the economy.
George Eustice MP
Once a UKIP candidate and then former press secretary to David Cameron during his time in opposition, George Eustice was elected as MP for the three way marginal seat Camborne and Redruth in 2010 by just 66 votes.
He was a member of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee and was in May appointed as the PM´s adviser on Energy and Climate Change. He was one of the few Conservative MPs to actively call for the implementation of the Leveson Report on press regulation.
Whilst he has made no speeches on recreational fishing he has spoken out against commercial discards and problems with the Common Fisheries Policy.
He has criticised wind farm and solar farm developments in his Cornish constituency in the past, arguing for tighter planning rules to stop over development of renewable energy projects in the area. However, it seems that there is plenty of distance between Eustice and climate change sceptics, even if he has suggested in the past that environment policy should be focused more on a range of issues and not just climate change.
He was a key member of Cameron’s team before the election, highlighting the party’s commitment to green issues, and has spoken in support of wave energy in the past, and has campaigned on conservation and natural environment issues.
Significantly, he has supported Friends of the Earth’s campaign to ban pesticides that are allegedly linked to a decline in bee populations, despite Defra’s opposition to an outright ban. Many of these pesticides are thought to affect invertebrate populations in rivers, lakes and canals, which are vital sources of food for all species of fish.
Eustice will be joined at Defra by Lib Dem MP Dan Rogerson who was confirmed as Parliamentary Under Secretary at the Department, replacing fellow Lib Dem David Heath.
