| KEVIN PERKINS | |
Never mind smelling the flowers, don’t forget to take time out to see the satirical side of fishing life and grab a laugh along the way as well. So here’s a regular column from Kevin Perkins to remind us that life is for laughing at, or taking the p*** out of, whenever we can. |
Rod LicencesROD LICENCES ARE much in the news lately, and as always the cry goes up that ‘Something has to be done’ and as always, angling apathy sets in, usually after ten minutes or so and the situation reverts to normal and ‘nothing gets done’. I know Keith Arthur is calling for a two week boycott on licence buying, but that is in with particular respect to illegal removal of fish (with no reference to illegal immigrants!).Back in the days of regional water authorities, where you could need different licences for fishing different sides of the same lake, there were areas of the country where you would not dream of going out without a licence, for fear of getting a ‘tug’. At that time I fished in waters covered by Thames and Wessex, and although bought licences for both, it was the ones from Wessex that were worn out by constantly having to produce them. Up and down the Bristol Avon, Chippenham, Keynsham, Bath, farmer’s duck ponds, didn’t matter where I went, up popped the bailiff. It was enough to give you a persecution complex. You don’t expect to go crawling around on your hands and knees stalking chub on the Kellaways section of the Bristol Avon, miles from anywhere, to be approached from behind with a cheery “Got thee ticket my love?” If you had been daft enough to leave it in the car it didn’t matter because, “Us’n will walk back the three miles together and get it.”
It was not a problem I ever encountered on the Thames, or at a later stage with Anglian water, because no one ever checked my licence(s) and that really is the crux of the matter, legislation without enforcement is not worth the paper it is written on. At this time we anglers should be working with the EA to find out what we can to improve the current situation. If it doesn’t already, every club’s rules should insist that members are in possession of valid licences before fishing. Failure to do so will result in membership being withdrawn. The same would apply to any day ticket waters. Most club’s AGM’s will be coming up soon, if those rules aren’t in place, get your club secretary to at least put it on the agenda for discussion. Note, I am not saying the club is responsible for checking the licences; just that anyone found fishing without a valid licence is breaching club rules. The EA must find the resources to clamp down on anyone fishing illegally, whether that is just licence dodgers, or those involved in the wholesale removal of fish stocks. It has to be said that rightly or wrongly the EA seem to home in on ‘soft’ targets, such as well publicised matches with easy vehicle access. Could not a force of ‘volunteer’ bailiffs be trained and authorised to do this task, freeing up the regulars to form snatch squads ready to pounce on those taking fish illegally? In fact, to paraphrase that famous speech, shouldn’t it be a case of “Ask not what the EA can do for you, ask what you can do for the EA.” Perhaps I, along with tens of thousands of other rod licence holders, remain in ignorance of what the EA already does for us, and far more importantly, how anglers in general relate to the EA and at what level those discussions (if any) take place? If we have any thoughts, ideas, comments, how are to we go about presenting them? Is there any mechanism in place whereby the EA can raise issues with their licence-payers, in short, is there any form of two-way dialogue taking place, and if so, do any of us know anything about it? I am sure that deep down we would all welcome a more visible presence from the EA, particularly with relation to enforcement, both of licence evasion, as well as illegal fish thefts. So just how do we go about asking what we can do to help bring that about? If a lack of EA bailiffs on the bank is a direct result of insufficient funding, then surely a £ 2/£ 3/£ 4 increase on the rod licence to bring this about is worth talking about, as long as it is ring fenced for just that purpose. How about accumulating a windfall brought about by offering, say, a £ 90 three-year licence to bring in enough cash to kick-start a recruitment programme? Any increase in presence/enforcement is bound to bring a higher uptake in individual licence purchases and therefore increase revenues; it is, in the common parlance, almost a win-win situation. In the past, like millions of others, I have just seethed about everyone ‘getting away with it’ and done nothing about it. This time I am prepared to stand up and be counted – but can someone please tell me what can I do? |
