Almost three weeks in to 2008 and I still haven’t wet a line yet. The weather has continued its bad form from 2007. It’s been exceptionally windy, very wet with localised flooding here in North Wales, with the sea as grey as a Russian army blanket and choked with weed. Hearing from good contacts throughout Wales, most of us have had the same feeling and stayed at home. To say catches have been minimal is an understatement.

The Recreational Sea Angling consultation white paper is out. It contains pretty much what I expected, though is a little naive in its assumptions. Talking to other anglers and as I expected many can’t be bothered to respond feeling “it will never happen”, or in the case of the sea angling licence “I won’t buy one” seems to be the recognised answers.

I’ve voiced my concerns in mags and weeklies regarding a sea angling licence over the past 20-years and I haven’t changed my opinion. I can’t see the logic in being asked to pay up for a resource that’s been in massive decline for the past 30-years and gets ever worse, that’s where some of the naivety shows in the RSA paper. Unlike freshwater we can’t simply restock from a fish farm.

I’d tolerate a licence if the government tangibly showed genuine intent by implementing measures to improve fish stocks, but unlike them, I’m not naïve and realise the likelihood of that happening is nil! You have to smile that the government expects us to take their word for it that they’ll use our money to improve the lot of the recreational sea angler, even after they’ve just reneged on the bass minimum size limit, literally going back on their word. I can’t see how they are going to police the licence either!

All that said what the government are looking for is a response. So few sea anglers bother to respond to such documents that those assessing the figures assume no one cares and their recommendations are based on that. Like I said, it’s dangerous to ignore it.

I spent a Sunday putting my response together, a 3000 word document. You don’t have to go to such lengths, but if you only disagree with the sea angling licence, now’s your chance to say so. At least read the paper, it does and will affect you! You’ve got until the 31st of March to respond!

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/sea-angling/consultation.pdf

Tight Lines to all

Mike