Even if you disregard the flora and fauna argument,my point about the EA being under funded is still valid. 10,500 staff does not necessarily mean that they have enough staff to cope. The EA has to deal with the following as a part of their remit:
Environmental pollution, this doesnt just mean water pollution but discharge consents to all industry for their water, discharge to air, discharges to water. All of these require applications from industry which must be processed, premises visited and inspected on a regular basis, licences issued, samples taken and monitored etc. Then there is waste which I have mentioned before which has the same pressures as discharge to air. Who controls all the waste sites eg landfill? The EA do!
10,500 staff could not cover all the banks of all waters in the uk even if they only had a mile each to cover!! the other work they do would still have to be carried out.
The problem lies as I said with the under funding by the government. Should you fish without a licence your chances of being asked by an official of the EA to produce a licence are absolutely minimal. European legislation and government(Any party)priorities ensure that the majority of the EA budget is not targetted towards anglers; we are way down the list. To state that the EA dont care is patently unfair and inaccurate. Give them more money directed to the right places and maybe we would see some enforcement of the law that is in place.
