Written By: Press Office
On Date: 25/7/2014
The new Environment Secretary Lizz Truss was one of a clutch of senior politicians to visit the Angling Trust stand at this year’s Game Fair at Blenheim Palace in one of her first public appearances since taking over from Owen Paterson.
Other visitors who came to hear how the Angling Trust & Fish Legal is standing up for fishing included former fisheries minister Richard Benyon, his successor George Eustice and the LibDem peer Lord Marks. Mr Eustice tried his hand on the fish fighting machine while Richard Benyon was keen to meet the Angling Trust’s new Fishery Management Advisors who are helping deliver the cormorant controls that his reforms made possible.
Angling Trust representatives stressed to all these high profile decision-makers the need to take urgent action to halt the decline in fish stocks in the marine and freshwater environment and to protect angling which makes a vital contribution to the rural economy, employing more than 40,000 people and contributing around £4 billion to the national economy. They were also able to showcase the many initiatives that the Trust is delivering in partnership with the Environment Agency, funded by rod licence revenues, such as the Voluntary Bailiff Service.
The Angling Trust also played an active part in the talks and debates at the various forums over the weekend with Campaigns Chief Martin Salter giving presentations on the threats to chalk rivers from poor farming practices; problems caused by over abstraction and the solutions put forward in the Chalkstream Charter; on the future of angling and how to engage young people; and even a session with Mark Everard on catching specimen roach.
Angling Trust Campaigns Coordinator Martin Salter said:
"We were delighted to welcome our new Environment Secretary, and her past and present fisheries ministers, and to brief them on some of the key aspects of angling as well as on the threats to our sport. Strong relationships with key politicians is vital to ensuring that angling is able to punch its weight in the corridors of power. "
Top Politicians make a beeline for the Angling Trust stand at the Game Fair