The Angling Trades Association (ATA) has joined HFW’s Fish Fight to provide its wholehearted support to end of the unnecessary and unethical practice of discarding commercially-caught sea fish. It is crucial for the future of recreational sea angling that the oceans support plentiful, robust and sustainable populations of catchable fish.
There has been a steady decline spanning more than two decades in the stocks of sea fish for anglers to catch, with many of the reasons attributable to some of the provisions of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and the commercial malpractices that it encourages.
This has adversely impacted on recreational sea angling activity and the diverse array of business it supports, many of them vital to coastal areas. It has also had inevitable and damaging consequences on sales of sea fishing tackle.
ATA Chief Executive Dr Bruno Broughton commented: “We must all shoulder some responsibility for allowing the continuation of the wasteful and counter-productive policy of discarding fish. Now is the time to get involved, ahead of the Common Fisheries Policy reform in 2012 by joining the Fish Fight initiative and campaigning for the end of this abuse of marine fish stocks.”
Naidre Werner, ATA Chairman added: “Whilst some of the arguments put across by the famous chefs and the TV programmes are simplistic, adding their names raises awareness of these issues and will give strength to the message. Hopefully recreational sea anglers and the trade alike will benefit.”
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