The Angling Trust launches their campaign against the June 2020 Benyon Review on Highly Protected Marine Areas. If you are a sea angler you HAVE to do your bit
If there was ever a time for UK saltwater anglers to all get together and behind this new Angling Trust campaign, then this is it right now. We have a history of banging on about sea angling being free because some ancient document said so, and we don’t half make excuses for collectively doing so little to help safeguard this thing we all love so much - but damn do we need to do our bit here and at the very least do what the Angling Trust asks of us and write to our MPs in support of this new campaign in response to the Benyon Review on Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). Below are full details and instructions lifted from the Angling Trust webpage here, and over the weekend you owe it to yourself to read their full and detailed response here. There is no other fishing organisation that I am aware of which is fighting our collective corner like these guys………………….
“Today the Angling Trust launches our campaign in response to the June 2020 Benyon Review on Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs). We are asking anglers to write to their MP in support of our campaign, and to send the clear message, that as anglers it is vital we are central to any future consideration on which sites will become HPMAs. While welcoming the establishment of HPMAs as one of a number of effective ways we can protect and manage our seas and fish stocks, we strongly object to the Panel’s recommendation for recreational angling to be banned within all HPMAs automatically.
Marine conservation and recreational fishing share the same goals and the Review Panel’s recommendation to exclude the angling community from the process has created unnecessary conflict; even before the government have selected the five pilot sites they will take forward. Sea angling generates considerable economic value to the UK economy, yet we feel it is frequently ignored or marginalised as a stakeholder regarding the management of our seas. For example, there was no representation of the recreational sea angling sector on the Panel. The Angling Trust calls upon Ministers to accept the case for the introduction of HPMAs as proposed by the Benyon Review, but to reject the aspects of the report which equate the impacts of modern recreational sea angling to those of damaging industrial activities including trawling, dredging and drilling. Through our response we set out evidence for recreational fishing that takes place both in and round marine protected areas in other locations around the world. In all of these cases, engagement with and the involvement of the recreational angling community has improved conservation outcomes. Our response has been sent to all Members of Parliament with a coastal constituency this week and has been sent to all Defra Ministers, the Chair of the EFRA Select Committee and the Shadow Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.”
How you can help, and this is SO easy to follow and then do: “Please write to your MP to support the Angling Trust’s Response to the Benyon Review on Highly Protected Marine Areas. It’s four simple steps that only take a couple of minutes.
1) Open our guide on writing to your MP - click this link here for all the details you need, very easy to understand and do. You can draft your own message or use our template (remembering to delete in bits in brackets!)
2) Copy your completed message
3) Open the ‘Contact Your Politician’ by typing your postcode into the box in the envelope and click.
4) Paste your message to your MP into the Write to Them box and follow the instructions to send.”
That’s it for the time being and of course I am urging you to follow the instructions above and do what the Angling Trust is asking us to do. A few years down the line we need to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror and be able to say that whatever does or does not happen, we as saltwater anglers in the UK did what was asked of us to fight for our corner. Don’t do it and you have nobody else to blame but yourself if our ability to sea fish almost where we want from the shore here in the UK ends up being severely curtailed. You all have a good weekend…………….