I propose the creation of NUBA to represent the 95% of British anglers who have no voice at present.
If enough people respond to this call we will at last have a strong voice to challenge the serious problems
affecting angling today (i.e. the policing of our rivers and the taking of coarse fish so prevalent today.)
I’m presently talking to MPs, The Environment Agency and other bodies at a high level but without your help
and support my words will not carry the weight of representation angling deserves.
The angling press are willing to get behind NUBA if enough anglers support this call to arms.
Alan Suttie

Letters from the Prime Minister

Dear Mr Suttie,
NUBA questions to Jonathan Shaw and answers
 
Please find responses to each of the questions below:

Q1. In light of the EU’s proposed total ban on lead from 2015, could you give us your assurances that Britain’s representatives will be lobbying for the EU to adopt the current situation in England and Wales which permits lead shot of No.8 and smaller and lead weights of one ounce (28gms) instead?
Tom Legge NUBA member and Editor of Southern Angler and Midland Angler.

We understand that there is no longer a live proposal. The following information is largely extracted from a report by the EU lobbyist for the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTA) and the European Anglers' Alliance (EAA):

The EU Parliament's aim of securing a ban on the use of lead in fishing tackle has been defeated. The Parliament is pushing for the inclusion of 28 more priority substances, nearly doubling the existing list of 33. Parliament considers 22 of these 28 substances to be priority hazardous - including lead - and it voted to upgrade a further ten substances on the existing list to priority hazardous. However, on June 28 2007, the EU Council reached a so-called 'political agreement' on water quality standards and stuck to the Commission's proposal whereby it doesn't support the Parliament's wish to expand the existing list of toxic substances. Further discussions are planned which may see this position change.

Q2. Can you think of a practical way to help disabled anglers to access fisheries without alienating fishery owners and able-bodied anglers who fear today’s climate of political correctness? This would bring us all together to pursue our passion for angling. Nick Rowe (Buddy Bus - Reels on Wheels)
NUBA member and one of our disability reps.

The Government and the Environment Agency wants to increase angling availability and participation for all. The Environment Agency has worked with the British Disabled Angling Association to develop guidance on the facilities necessary for disabled anglers. It is important to work with fishery owners when developing facilities to promote the concept that these facilities should be for ‘all abilities’. Facilities that are good for disabled anglers are also good for senior anglers and young anglers who might want to learn with others.

The Environment Agency has developed angling guides to open-access fisheries across England and Wales. They include information on whether the fishery offers access suitable for disabled anglers. The guides are distributed through tackle shops and are available free at www.environment-agency.gov.uk file://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

Q3. With regard to the lack of effective bailiffing on our watercourses due to the financial constraints of those agencies tasked with enforcing angling legislation, what would you propose to do to ensure that the correct level of policing is achieved?
Grev Humphrey NUBA member

Enforcement is an important activity but its priority needs to be seen against the resources available and the other priorities that maintain, improve and develop fisheries. The Environment Agency targets enforcement to where it has greatest benefit for fish stocks and therefore increasing their use of intelligence-led enforcement has to be the way forward. This means working with anglers and angling bodies to collect and report information in a timely manner. Whilst this may not have a successful outcome with every incident being dealt with, it will inform priority ‘hot spots’ and therefore where planned enforcement campaigns can be undertaken.

Q4. Following the well-publicised impact upon the River Wandle (the one subject I am an expert on) due to fish taking, I have been warning for almost 2 years now of the truly worrying consequences if nothing is done. As predicted, we now hear of fisheries all over Britain experiencing similar problems. Presently, most Eastern Europeans who take fish do so perfectly legally. The EA, The Police and many others fearful for our precious fish stocks cannot enforce laws that either do not exist or are clearly unfit for purpose. Angling cannot afford the negative publicity and consequences if this avoidable situation deteriorates into conflict on the riverbanks, this would surely be a disaster for angling, for law-abiding immigrants and citizens of all backgrounds. Before we see decent law abiding anglers wrongly taking matters into their own hands due to anger and exasperation at a continuing problem that festers as we speak, would you please acknowledge the extreme urgency and need for action concerning the taking of fish from our rivers, lakes and canals and will you promise to act with utmost rigour for appropriate changes to current inadequate laws?
Alan Suttie NUBA

Illegal fishing has occurred for many years and has historically been targeted at the removal of large specimen fish that are of high value to fishery owners.

The recent issue of fish being removed by Eastern Europeans is not a simple one. This reflects a different culture where coarse fish are still valued as food in their countries whereas the majority of anglers in the UK value fish for their sporting qualities. In most cases fish can be removed legally if these anglers are using legal methods and have the owner’s permission. If fish are removed without the owners permission it is a matter of theft and the police can deal with this. Where illegal methods are employed this is illegal fishing and enforcement action will be taken by the Environment Agency.

There is a need for better education of both anglers new to this country and also fishery owners to help make the position clear to all. There are many initiatives to try and do this including a recent initiative to produce posters that inform anglers of the rules at fisheries. The Marine Bill will be an opportunity to clarify current fisheries legislation so that a limit on the number of fish that can be removed will be able to be set across England and Wales by the Environment Agency.


Q5. What was the size of the British commercial fishing fleet when New Labour came to power and how big is it now 10 years later? Has the fishing industry flourished since New Labour came to power or has it declined?
Steve Coppolo. NUBA Sea Angling Representative.

The number of fishing vessels in the UK has declined in number from 8458 in 1997, to 6752 in 2006.

Q6. How does New Labour hope to develop sea angling and therefore achieve best value from the resource when they won’t introduce conservation measures that would benefit the fishery for fear of upsetting the commercial fishing sector? Steve Coppolo. NUBA Sea Angling Representative

We have launched a consultation shortly on a strategy for recreational sea angling in England which will set out plans for the development of the sport. This strategy has been developed collaboratively with key angling and commercial representatives and we believe that this collaborative approach is the key to its successful implementation. The consultation can be viewed at http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/sea-angling/index.htm http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/sea-angling/index.htm


Q7. I am the instigator of the proposed National Angling Museum project in partnership with The National Trust to be located at Mottisfont Abbey in Hampshire if all goes well and to plan. An understanding of the actual number of anglers in this country is pivotal to our success and crucial to the feasibility study now embarked upon. We and others urgently need definitive and authoritative figures in black and white. Would you please for the sake of total clarity give us all a definitive figure acknowledged by government of actual angling participation numbers re Coarse, Game and Sea anglers– firstly in England and then in the whole of Britain including Ireland? I believe the environment agency can assist you with these figures.
Neil Freeman NUBA Trade Member, Angling Auctions

The Environment Agency undertook a public survey in 2005 to determine the number of anglers in England and Wales. We do not have figures for the UK. The report ‘Public Attitudes towards angling 2005’ can be viewed at www.environment-agency.gov.uk file://www.environment-agency.gov.uk

The definition of ‘an angler’ is important in defining these numbers. We know that many people will fish in one year but not the next. The Environment Agency considers anyone who has fished in the last two years as ‘an angler’ and these are the figures most often quoted. The number of people who have fished in different time periods is also included for completeness.

Past 2 years
5.8 million (13%) of the population over 12 years in England and Wales have fished in fresh or sea water in the last two years.
3.5 million of the population over 12 years in England and Wales have fished in fresh water in the last two years and;
3 million of the population over 12 years in England and Wales have fished in sea water in the last two years.
Past year
4.2 million (9%) of the population over 12 years in England and Wales had been fishing in fresh or sea water in the last one year.
2.6 million of the population over 12 had been fishing in fresh water in the last one year.
2 million of the population over 12 years had been fishing in sea water in the last one year.
Past 10 years
8.8 million (20%) of the population in England and Wales have fished in fresh or sea water in the last 10 years

Q8. As there are numerous Government agencies involved with angling licensing and monitoring, would it be better to consider a new department similar to the US model of the Department of Fish and Wildlife that would have responsibility for all matters concerning fish, birds and mammals that are actively pursued?
I would really like your views on this one
Andy Clapperton. NUBA All Ireland Representative

The Governments independent Review of Freshwater Fisheries Legislation in 2000 considered the arrangements for managing freshwater fisheries in England and Wales. It concluded that the current model where the Environment Agency has the duty to maintain, improve and develop fisheries was the best. The Environment Agency’s objectives have been updated through Government’s Section 4 guidance, to take into account the need to promote the economic and social benefits of fisheries.


Q9. I have been working in schools for ten years for JetSet Trout in the Classroom UK. We take nature into schools to entice children back to the environment on their doorstep. Les Webber of Angling Projects and Junior Coarse Angling has been encouraging children to fish, thus reaping the many benefits of angling (completely free of charge) for over 30 years. Les deserves proper recognition for his battling selfless efforts for our sport. We both struggle relentlessly for funding and every year is a challenge just to survive. I am sure there are many others like us. Do you acknowledge the important and inspirational role angling can play in the physical, mental and social wellbeing of our children in their formative years and the need for projects so often struggling to carry out this valuable work. Especially when so many kids today live in amoral, virtual worlds, locked away in bedrooms supposedly safe from that dangerous world outside?
Alan Suttie NUBA

The Government has acknowledged the social benefits that angling can bring to local communities. It has modified the Environment Agency’s objectives through the Section four guidance to promote these social benefits.

Q10. The precautionary principle requires that the state of our environment (and in particular rivers) needs to be continuously monitored in order to identify trends relating to climate change, species diversity and ecological quality caused by for example over exploitation, abstraction, modified drainage, diffuse pollution and discharges. Do you agree that it is extremely unlikely that the EA can maintain current activities, let alone enhance them to take account of the increasing threat to our environment given the planned cuts to downsize the agency by 25% and put at further risk endangered and economically important species such as the Atlantic Salmon?
Ally Gowans NUBA Game Fishing Correspondent

The current climate for public spending is difficult and the Environment Agency will need to prioritise its activities and seek to deliver its activities more efficiently and effectively where possible. This will include taking risk-based decisions on what and where it monitors. It will produce Climate Change Adaptation Plans in 2008 to include freshwater ecology and it is currently revising its Salmon Strategy.


Q11. Recently the Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Association (500 members) lost a stretch of the River Yar it had leased for over 30 years to the RSPB whose national policy is to prohibit angling on its land. As the RSPB nationally is a major Government and Environment Agency consultee, is there anything you can do or suggest to protect angling interests when faced with the financial clout of the RSPB so as to resolve this apparent dichotomy?
Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Association NUBA Club Members.

It is the land owners right to determine the function and use of a site. In this case it has been demonstrated elsewhere that multiple uses can be developed at sites when planned correctly.

Q12. If it wasn’t for the dedicated angler, who would be the ever-present eyes and ears of riverine ecology and water quality in Britain today?
Professor David Bellamy NUBA Eco Spokesman

It is true the presence of anglers has acted to report pollution incidents early and reduce their impact. Anglers have also pressed for improvements to our rivers and lakes and, as fishery owners, have contributed significantly to improving river habitat for fish and other wildlife. In many parts of the country River Trusts have been developed to work alongside owners and other bodies, e.g. Wildlife Trusts, to provide sustained improvements to the water environment.

I hope that this email addresses your concerns.

The Thames Water Award to the Wandle

I agree with Keith Arthur in questioning the £500,000 but only if it means that Thames Water escape prosecution. The Money must not be a substitute for forcing Thames Water to install the infrastructure so long promised to enable the Wandle to at last become a healthy evolved ecology the people of the Wandle Valley deserve. In my view a million pounds over five years would not be too much to restore this wonderful river as any planned habitat improvement is very expensive. Theo Pike and the Wandle Trust must ensure that the money promised is ring fenced and not squandered on council feasibility studies and the EAs desperate funding backlog.

Alan Suttie
12 December 2007

NUBAs real influence

Yes, all anglers should join the ACA if they can afford to. Without question all clubs should join. It is a pity though that Mark Lloyd has allowed Martin Salter MP and Graham Wynne to pressure him into suppressing at all costs NUBAs utterly pivotal role in the River Yar success and the so-called Wandle victory.

Keith Arthur is spot on in questioning the £500,000 pay out by Thames Water. It was only because I phoned Mark on the day after the Wandle disaster that the ACA involved themselves at all. Quite understandable actually, The Wandle Trust had somehow neglected to join the ACA. It was a favour to me personally and I thank Mark for this. I asked that the ACA become involved so that this time Thames Water would be criminally prosecuted for their studied negligence and inadequacies and be taken to task over promises made and broken re pollution monitoring equipment absent throughout the Beddington Works during the last disaster in 1995. This crucial monitoring equipment has been promised once again this time. It is to be rushed in from America 12 years too late.

In future and quite frighteningly, Thames Water and other such failing utilities are to be given the right by the Environment Agency to police themselves. Difficult to believe but true. That is why it is so critical that Thames Water is prosecuted this time. The current Wandle pollution must be seen as a line in the sand by all such utilities. This surely is our responsibility to all such fragile urban river systems. It must not merely be about the money this time.

Thames Water have used and manipulated many along the Wandle to welcome and celebrate this big pay out. This will effectively deflect all criticism and all but bury the real story and the real facts. Soon Thames Water will even be seen as the good guys again and this £500,000 reparation for once again murdering the Wandle will be seen as positive input and not the cynical built in price worth paying it actually is.

Three weeks ago, David Bellamy travelled down from Cumbria especially to confront Thames Water with me. We met Mr Aylard Thames Waters chief disaster deflector, (a very busy man). It was quite a heated affair. At that meeting Mr Aylard stated and on request repeated that ‘Thames Waters priority is what enters Beddington sewage works, not what is discharged from it’ this discharge forms almost 90% of the Wandle's flow below the works. David and I were speechless for once.

Oh yes, the River Yar. Without NUBA’s intervention, the ACA had not and would not have become involved. It was only after my personal protestations to Mark Lloyd that they eventually did. The Isle of Wight Freshwater Angling Association were ACA members after all. Seeing no way forward, the IOWFAA joined NUBA. NUBA immediately pressured Martin Salter MP, Mark Lloyd and Graham Wynne to urgently meet and confront the problem. I also requested that John Millington IOWFAA representative be present at that meeting. My letter challenging and exposing the RSPB and Graham Wynne re angling policy was the main factor in banging heads together productively. John Millington has been instructed to suppress NUBAs part in all this. A bit sinister and a little paranoid don’t you think?

I shouldn’t have to write all this, in fact I find it all a bit crass. Those involved really ought to have the decency, the moral courage, and the strength top openly acknowledge NUBAs pivotal role in these issues. I am writing this as a duty to the NUBA membership every one of who have made our increasing influence possible.  Thank you for that voice.

If the Environment Agency do not prosecute Thames Water then I will look to a private prosecution myself. The thought appals me but someone really must. The future of all such urban rivers may actually depend on what happens now.

Alan Suttie
11 December 2007

Many thanks to all of you who have contacted me with messages of support and questions also many thanks to all
who have joined NUBA it is very encouraging. All cheques will be cashed very soon sorry for the delay.
Membership cards will be posted as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience.

I am pleased to say that Les Webber of Junior 'Coarse Angling UK' and 'Angling Projects' has now agreed to be NUBAs Schools Youth Development Officer and also Steve Coppolo has kindly agreed to be our Sea Fishing consultant.
Andy Clapperton is our Northern Ireland consultant and Ally Gowans is our game fishing consultant.
Alan Suttie

I thought it was time for an update re progress. The Go Fishing Show in Birmingham was a great success and we have
now reached nearly 1300 members. Most importantly some of the high profile anglers have now joined NUBA i.e. Tim Hearn, Tom Legge, Dean Macey, Charles Jardine and Des Taylor who kindly did a photo shoot as our thousandth member.
I have spent the last seven or eight days sending off membership cards and many of you will have received them by now those who haven’t thanks for your patience. I will try and get all of them out in the next week. I will be putting comprehensive coverage of NUBA into many of the fishing magazines prior to press launch on 11th July. We hope to have 2000 members by this date which will be a great achievement. I will be writing to MPs prior to the launch and will post this letter in full on the NUBA website by the end of April. I look forward to your response to this letter in due course.

There is lots going on in the background, all will become clear on 11th July. Keith and I are both very grateful for all your support, please spread the word and lets keep the ball rolling. This movement is going to work and will make a difference to the future of angling with your continued support the most important factor. Thank you once again.
Alan Suttie 30/03/07

The letter I posted on this website was written when Keith was in Florida and was intended to catch the local elections. The views written in it are my own and no more relevant than any other members. I accept all criticism but must stand by what I say given my experiences on the River Wandle and whilst working in schools over the last ten years. If my ego has got in the way I do apologise but my views are passionately felt. This said I will take criticism on the chin and to heart just as much as the support I have been getting. It is the members who will dictate the direction we will take and certainly not me or a few individuals.
Alan Suttie 03/05/07