For anyone interested I see the new green party manifesto is out
If you have a little gander to page 11 you will see this::
1/
The Green Party is concerned about the damage caused to wildlife by carelessly discarded fishing tackle and the costs involved in cleaning it up. It is believed that this can best be tackled through ensuring a level of competency and knowledge prior to being permitted to engage legally in angling.
2/ The Party will introduce a new licensing scheme for anglers to ensure a competent level of environmental awareness and responsible behaviour in anglers.
3/ The new ‘anglers’ licence’ will be valid for a period of 10 years. This will not affect the current system other than being a prerequisite to gaining either a seasonal licence or a local fishing permit.
4/ A licence will be issued only upon successful completion of a written and ral angling test following an accredited training course.
5/ An accreditation scheme for the running of training courses for angling will be introduced. These courses will be designed to raise awareness of harm caused by irresponsible angling practices (to both fish and the wider environment). These courses will
demonstrate and encourage best practice in angling and prepare participants for an oral and written test necessary before the individual can obtain an angling licence.
6/ A short written test will be necessary to renew the licence after each 10-year period in order to ensure that any changes in legislation and/or environmental practices are understood and implemented.
7/ It will be a new offence to be angling on any waterway in England or Wales without a 10-
year angling licence.
8/ It will be an offence to sell a seasonal licence or local fishing licence to anyone not able to show
a 10-year angling licence.
9/ Revenue raised from fishing licences and permits will be used to set up the accreditation scheme and for training and awareness campaigns
As much as I appluade the work that the Green party do I cannot help but think there heads are in the clouds with this little doozer. What if a young boy wants to take up the sport with his pals, on a nice hot summer day he cannot go down to his local river with a rod and a bunch of worms. Instead he would have to apply in writng to do a test for a licence.
Good grief!!
Love to read through this website. Great stuff. Lots of us who really see the value of the Green arguments will think their approach to angling is crazy. Living in Carlisle I only get to Glasgow with my wife for shopping or with my Geography pupils. Any offers to show me some really good fishing on the Kelvin ?