Has Angling Been Maginalised ?

Angling is being marginalised in Scotland, is it government policy?


Driving through the Scottish Borders the other day a friend remarked how quick the rape plants grew. They were in full bloom, blindingly yellow. I readied myself as the aroma wafted into my car, my nose itched and I could feel a cough coming on only halted when I put my foot down and sped past the field.

This set me to thinking how time after time I have heard "experts" saying that there is no evidence to prove that there is a connection between respiratory problems and rape seed pollen. This off course flies in the face of the tangible evidence of people suffering respiratory problems every time they encounter a rape seed field.

Expert opinion does suit the agricultural moguls as rape seed is big business. Government can 3 monkey this "annual asthma attack" blind, deaf and with nothing to say or do for the coughing and wheezing afflicted. Pass them a lozenge Phil.

What suits vested interests will always find an expert to give them solid ground and a platform from which government can spin.

So what has this got to do with fishing, well I' m getting there.

I saw video footage of lambs attacked by crows, their eye pecked out. I read a piece by Patrick Galbriath in the i News paper " Birds are a weapon for the wild lobby" which reveals that as a result of a legal challenge by Wildife Justice 16 species of birds that could be controlled were now protected in England. Their objective " Wild Justice has been set up to fight for wildlife".

As a result of a succesful legal challenge Wildlife Justice has forced Natural England to revoke, from 25th April 2019, General Licenses 04/05/06. This gives protection to crovids, pigeons and parakeets to name a few. I note from their web site that

"Our successful legal challenge may well have implications for what happens in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland"

There seems to be an avian thing going on here and I thought wildlife included more than feathered friends, but what do I know I'm not an ******* expert I am just an angling punter who cares when I see my local rivers stripped of small brown trout, salmon parr and smolts that we have worked hard to preserve.

Lions and bears have been eating us since they evolved and in return we have been eating them. We are part of that world of life and have our place and that place is not cowtowing to twichers in a hamogenised world of beliefs dictated by narrow minded interest groups and lobbyists.

Fish are wild life and a resource to be enjoyed by watchers and by hunters alike. Wild Justice believe they have a right to protect birds. We believe we have a right to conserve our fish and if that means culling some predators so be it. We cannot stand by and let the bird lobby dictate to the millions of anglers, the many men and women who shoot or the hard working farmers left helpless as unprotected live stock are deemed a food resource for predators (and in this I include fish stocks).

If we do nothing it is a certainty that people like Wild Justice will turn their attentions to "conservation" of fish, fur and feathers to make hunting shooting and fishing illegal. If this happens future generations will be left fishing for stockie rainbow trout which are after all a non native species, then I remembered the parakeets!

We need to stand together for our sports. At least one MSP has had the guts to speak out. Rachael Hamilton MSP for Ettrick and Roxburgh has raised the issue of the £100m contribution made by angling to the economy of Scotland, the 2,800 jobs. Have a look at BBC News S Scotland

£100m (£223m if sea angling is included) is but a quarter of what fish farming contributes to the economy. These expert statistics support the govermnent's ability to three monkey angling concerns denying the ravages of sea lice on wild miratory fish.

How is it that the Irish goverment values angling at 836m Euros, 11,000 jobs? They also have a strategy for the development of angling in Ireland. I cannot see how angling in Ireland can be valued at more than 3 times the value of angling in Scotland. Could it be that fish farming is only worth 120m Euros and 1,800 jobs.

Agriculture, aquaculture and conservation vested interests and goverment will collude to pervert the truth to suit their agendas. It is time for the government agenda to strongly include supporting country sports. WE are many, we are not all yokels we are town and city voters by majority. WE have a voice!

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