So, 2006 is now well underway.
Well, long enough for most people who have made a New Year’s resolution to have broken it already.
If you are one of the few that have made a resolution that will change your life and are still sticking with it, you have my utmost respect, and encouragement.
It’s not often that we get the opportunity to make the whole of our future life better, and are prepared and able to put in the effort necessary to achieve that.
For us sea anglers, especially those of us who have been around for a few decades now, 2006 must rank as one of those very special years.
It’s taken a lot of hard work, by many people, over many years, to bring us to a point where we are on the verge of making a breakthrough which will start to reverse the years of decline in opportunities for angling success, and where we can start to look forward to some better fishing in the years to come.
Not just words, intentions and perhaps promises, but real action from the authorities to begin to address some of the issues that are devastating the sporting opportunities around our coasts.
But the future isn’t assured by any means.
The catching sector, long used to fish stocks being managed entirely for their own benefit, even where they are socially, economically, and biologically, the least efficient exploiter of our inshore marine resources, are determined that their needs and interests should remain supreme.
And it appears that the managers and civil servants who have long been involved with the catching sector retain the mindset that the primacy of the interests of the catching sector should be maintained.
They may have adopted the language of equal access, consultation and opportunity for all stakeholders, but old habits and mindsets die hard.
And if through apathy we anglers are not prepared to keep pushing our interests hard, to make every opportunity to be recognised count, then things are likely to quietly go back to how they have always been, as our sea fish get fewer and smaller.
A perhaps unique opportunity will have been lost.
So, I would urge everyone, whether you have been able to keep the resolutions made at the beginning of 2006 so far, to make and to keep just one more.
Makes sure that someone else, who hasn’t yet responded to the DEFRA or Welsh Assembly Government consultation on the new Minimum Landing sizes for bass takes the small amount of time needed to do so.
And remember, it’s not just about bass, it’s about showing that all anglers are committed to their passion for angling, and the huge potential for development of the sector.
This consultation is just a first step along that path, and the politicians who will be watching the development carefully, will use the response from anglers to gauge whether or not this is a sector that can safely be ignored, or must be won over.
So, now is the time to browbeat friends, relatives, and especially those from whom you buy your tackle and bait, those who operate the local charter boats etc to put in their own response to the proposals, thus giving the lie to the catching sector’s claim that they are about jobs and livelihoods whereas angling is just about fun.
Originally a three month consultation, there are just a few weeks left to make the impression needed.
The closing date is February 8th.
Let’s not spend the rest of our lives wondering if things would have turned out different if we had just made a little more effort.
Do it!
Tight Lines - leon
Details of the consultation, and advice on the issues and how to respond etc are available on the BASS website at http://www.ukbass.com
