Bit crackers this like

[paulthespark]

I don,t think that it is apathy among sea anglers' i think the problem lies in that out of1.4 million anglers ,1.3 million havn't a clue about whats going on and that includes me. If you want to go political and put forward the views and aspirations of of all sea anglers you have to have all of thier backing collectivly as one voice .and at the moment that ain't goinig to happen, because there isn;t a professinal body that can unite us all and work on our behalf to infofm us on a regular basis what is going on,and speak out for us at the highest levels. If you have an orginisation with 1.4 million payed up members the goverment or anyone else for that matter are forced to sit up and listen to our grievences, until that happens nothing will happen.and all we will get is apathy.

[The Great Wallsendo]

I think it is apathy among a lot of anglers - granted not every angler is up to speed with current events but I can't believe for one minute that out of 1.4 million over 99% of them have not heard in some form about the licensing issue

There are a few national and regional organisations in place that "represent" it's members...problem is they are all working to their own agendas pretty much and not together

I don,t think that it is apathy among sea anglers' i think the problem lies in that out of1.4 million anglers ,1.3 million havn't a clue about whats going on and that includes me. If you want to go political and put forward the views and aspirations of of all sea anglers you have to have all of thier backing collectivly as one voice .and at the moment that ain't goinig to happen, because there isn;t a professinal body that can unite us all and work on our behalf to infofm us on a regular basis what is going on,and speak out for us at the highest levels. If you have an orginisation with 1.4 million payed up members the goverment or anyone else for that matter are forced to sit up and listen to our grievences, until that happens nothing will happen.and all we will get is apathy.

[Red5]

I think it is apathy among a lot of anglers - granted not every angler is up to speed with current events but I can't believe for one minute that out of 1.4 million over 99% of them have not heard in some form about the licensing issue

There are a few national and regional organisations in place that "represent" it's members...problem is they are all working to their own agendas pretty much and not together

Well said. The vast majority of anglers I know are apathetic, with most saying "it'll never happen coz they can't police it", or "it's my right to fish, it says so in the magna carta", along with many other excuses not to get involved. Same when I club fished, there were two or three lads that put themselves out to make the club run smoothly, whilst many others sat in the background and moaned and groaned when things weren't going the way that they wanted, but didn't speak out when given the chance.

As for national and regional organisations, you are bang on. Same with the angling press, telling us it's a great year etc, well they would want us to think that so we continue to buy their magazines.

DEFRA have done nothing either, being a government agency they've hardly highlighted issues over the past year for the public to get the chance to respond to