Splitters

One of the most disappointing presentations at this year's CLA Game Fair was the debate on angling unity which I can only conclude after the events of recent weeks, is anything but.

The presence on the platform of Mark Lloyd, executive director of the Anglers' Conservation Association alongside Paul Knight, executive director of the Salmon & Trout Association, did little to remove the impression that the unity initiative has been dealt a damaging blow by the withdrawal of the S&TA from the merger.

Both executives had supportive words for each other and Knight had an explanation of sorts in that the S&TA had just been granted full charity status so, he argued, needed to remain outside the new structure. If that was the case, why did it commit itself to merger in the first place?

Judean People's Front

It's only a few weeks ago I was joking about fishing organisations resembling the Life of Brian Monty Python sketch where the Judean People's Front tries to present an image of unity that is far from the truth.

Sadly I did not realise how close I was to reality. The unity initiative prompted Jonathan Young, the editor of The Field, to commission from me an opinion piece asking whether the same might happen in shooting.

The article had to be scrapped shortly before publication in the August issue after the S&TA announced its withdrawal from Unity.

As I pointed out in the article, no-one was saying that unity was going to be easy. Fishing has experienced a number of abortive attempts to create broader representation in the past.

Fresh impetus

A fresh impetus emerged after Lord Moran’s review of salmon and freshwater fisheries in England and Wales ten years ago paved the way for the co-operative body, the Fisheries and Angling Conservation Trust (FACT) in 2005.

It soon became apparent that there were significant overlaps in the work of this group and that of its supporting organisations, hence the merger initiative among six (now five) of those groups.

Imagine pulling together the respective web sites, governing bodies, administrations and their respective marketing departments, memberships, fee structures and benefits. Petty rivalries, internal politics and personal egos had been buried to secure the big prize of a single powerful representation covering a whole series of angling issues - or at least that was story presented to me.

“Laying aside personal differences and hundreds of years of history to pursue this single overriding vision was a big ask,” said Mark Lloyd, speaking just a few weeks ago before the S&TA decision pull out. “But there has been the will to do it,” he said. The words ring a little bit hollow now but Lloyd shouldn't be blamed. He has worked has hard as anyone to make Unity a reality.

Better positioned

The result, he still argues, is a body that should be far better positioned to represent the 1.8m anglers in England and Wales than anything existing at present. While the combined membership of all the participating groups is no more than 25,000 individuals, the prospective body remains confident that it will provide a range of organisational benefits capable of boosting that figure to 100,000 on a par with the bigger field sports associations.

My Field magazine article had asked whether the fishing initiative could be the start of a trend across all field sports? Goodness knows there are enough organisations out there, from the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) with an annual turnover of around £7m and 125,000 members to the comparatively tiny Shooters’ Rights Association.

For those of us who engage in field sports the landscape can sometimes appear unclear, not to mention the competing demands on our pockets. As a paid-up member of three different fishing conservation associations and trusts, I had been mightily relieved that one set of subscription fees would be saved in the fishing merger.

Then a few days ago my annual subscription reminder notice for the S&TA popped through the letter box. Too late. I have resigned my membership and with it my committee membership of the Surrey branch.

Shooting merger

So could there be any merit in discussing a merger in shooting? One big difference between shooting and fishing, arguably, is the greater polarity of interests across shooting. While the nature of fishing means that all anglers are trying to catch wild animals, it is possible to go target or clay shooting without having any interest in pursuing game. I heard a target shooter at the Game Fair making it quite plain that he had no truck with killing animals.

Target shooting organisations based in Bisley – the National Small Bore Rifle Association, National Rifle Association and the Clay Pigeon Shooting Association – have been holding talks on closer co-operation for about a year now but have yet to reach agreement.

“I know that hasn’t been an easy process,” says John Swift, chief executive of the BASC. “This has been driven in large measure by the coming Olympics and opportunities for funding. But I think there will always be a distinction between the competitive target shooting disciplines and what might be called the country shooting interests – wildfowling, deer stalking management and so forth.”

Political focus

He also points to distinctions of function between organisations such as the BASC with its strong political focus, and those such as the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, that are research focused.

“There are similar divisions to this in most countries and I don’t see it as a practical option to merge those organisations,” he says.

The problem with large organisations, he says, is that they are vulnerable to splinter groups emerging after they have formed (back to The Life of Brian). On the other hand, there is nothing like a strong combined body for tackling the biggest political fights, argues Simon Hart, chief executive of the Countryside Alliance. Fewer issues have inflamed the passions of country lovers more than the Fox Hunting Bill.

The Alliance is committed to seeing through repeal of the Foxhunting bill under a future administration. If it succeeds, what then? Hart points out that the Alliance is about far more than fox-hunting. Just now, for example, it is campaigning against the closure of sub post offices in village communities.

But he doesn’t discount closer co-operation between organisations in future and thinks the days of the single-issue pressure group could be numbered. “Shooting is just one part of the jig-saw,” he argues. “I think there is considerable scope for closer working arrangements than is currently the case.

Future of shooting

“There are obvious attractions in merger such as saving overheads on administration and marketing, and providing just one insurance arrangement. The only thing standing in the way of that happening is the internal process. You need to look at the overall objectives of an organisation and may need to set aside some issues.

“The future of shooting, I believe, would be better served in one body rather than interests being broken down in to many smaller bodies. Unless we take a more co-ordinated approach the Government can hold a telescope to one eye when it faces the countryside lobby.

“A whole way of life is under threat and we shouldn’t forget that,” he says. Neither should we forget the broad constituency of field sport enthusiasts. It's good to hear some open-mindedness in shooting, the sort I had believed was making such significant strides in fishing.

Angling Unity is still going ahead. But, make no mistake, the withdrawal of the S&TA is a serious blow and no amount of warm words at the Game Fair can disguise that.

The People's Front for the Liberation of Fishing

Fishing or angling? Debate over the name of the new all-embracing organisation that is going to represent angling interests in England and Wales has swung away from Angling (or Angling Unity) to something around that word “fishing” I can exclusively reveal.

This is my first bit of exclusive revealing, I do believe, since I exclusively revealed that the body would be called Angling Unity (or Angling). I had every confidence in this assertion because here, for the first time, anglers were speaking as one.

That was before some splitter suggested “Fishing” of all things. So the betting has swung now to something like the Fishing Association or simply Fishing although you can get good odds on “Judean Liberation Front.”

Apparently there was a feeling that “Angling” sounded too antiquated, the sort of thing that Isaak Walton would do with a pole and a length of cat gut.

Fishing, on the other hand is bold, simple and to the point. Unless, of course, you use a net. Then there’s the problem with gender neutrality. The beauty of “angler” is that it can refer to either sex while the rarely used “fisher” does not trip off the tongue so easily as “fisherman” which can get us in to so much trouble with the gender police.

Fisherman is the word you associate with so-called fishing humour – the male-oriented birthday cards, mugs and tee-shirts depicting silly men standing in the rain in waders, exaggerating the size of their catch or doing unspeakable things with maggots.

Fishermen refer to their wives (they don’t have partners) as “‘er indoors.” They lie about walking the dog or going shopping when really they’re off to the river. They’re always buying tackle they don’t need to feed their obsession and they eat Marmite sandwiches washed down with flasks of lukewarm instant coffee.

It is for this reason that I have persisted with the concept of the “fisher” in my writing. I think it works particularly well in fly fishing and have absolutely no problem now writing of “fly fishers.” Somehow “fly anglers” just doesn’t work so well for me.

Angling, on the other hand, has survived well over the centuries, which is surprising given its description, not of fishing, but merely the angle of rod and line. But it doesn’t look as if it will survive as the name for the new body.

Instead it seems we are marching in to the bright new dawn as fishers who go fishing. Unless someone decides otherwise and at some future date I can exclusively reveal that the People’s Front for the Liberation of Fishing has prevailed.

Angling

Angling Unity or Angling? These are the two names in the frame for a unified body to represent angling interests in England and Wales that is to be created from an amalgamation of six associations. The new body should be ready for legal registration in July if all goes to plan, becoming fully operational by January next year.

Pulling together six different groups in 15 months since the idea was first mooted by the Angling Conservation Association has been a minor miracle. The various boards who have buried any differences and self-interest for the good sense of having single more powerful voice, are to be congratulated.

The six associations in the move are:

Angling Conservation Association,
National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives,
National Federation of Anglers,
National Federation of Sea Anglers,
Salmon and Trout Association,
Specialist Anglers' Alliance.


Now there is just the question of a name. Unless the group comes up with something it thinks is even better, my preference would be "Angling" so that way its interests would be rolled in to a single descriptive word.