Where should the money go? (Licence Sales)

[DontKillZander]

Post-lockdown rod licence sales soaring - where should the money go? — Angling Times

THE ENVIRONMENT Agency has been handed the chance to tackle some of the biggest issues facing fishing after receiving millions of pounds in extra income. In the four weeks following the lifting of lockdown restrictions on May 13, more than 335,000 rod licences were sold, a 230 per cent rise in les

www.anglingtimes.co.uk

Obviously we know that if anything - it will be put into flood prevention, to the detriment of the sport which produced the money in the first place...

But where "should" it go?
I'm tempted to say a gung ho removal and banning of weirs which act as barriers to fish migration...
Imagine the Ribble as a prolific Salmon venue... the Mersey even!? And the Lune being returned to former glory.

Then again, how would the fish get the memo?

The reversal of the campaign to strangle the life and soul out of Northwest rivers - reviving them from being reduced to 1-2ft shallow streams of near 0m/s flow, and restocking them to levels prior to the "great suffocation" of the last few decades
... would be a great place to start, in its natural form - the Mersey is not unlike the Severn or the Trent, the difference is that it's absolutely destroyed by barriers and pollution, why should that be the accepted case? Look at the reason why it won't sustain Barbel and then fix that.

 

[tipitinmick]

Fighting pollution, poaching and more bailiffs. I’ve not had my license checked for 40 bloody years. Sorry, rant over.

Oh ... and some hob nobs for the minions would be nice. ??

 

[Flathead]

Until fairly recently the Ribble was a prolific salmon river, they have also been caught in the Mersey. The Lune was also a good salmon river.

Salmon stocks have declined nationally...nothing to do with weirs or obstructons
They have also declined in rivers without weirs

....and there are Barbel in the Mersey

 

[smiffy]

Flood prevention should have nothing to do with rod licence money. Don’t let them kid you otherwise.
I got an electronic newsletter from them once,many years ago, telling me how they’d cleaned this small stream up and how my licence money was being spent so well locally. Turns out the only reason they did it was because it was stagnant and local residents were complaining about the smell??
I’d like to see them doing licence blitz’s everyday of the week rather than bank holidays when it’s double bubble on the overtime? I’d also like to see them respond when you ring them about out of season fishing,poaching,netting,etc
So a bit extra for those departments would calm me down.

 

[Keith Sparky]

Towards building a secret escape tunnel from my side of the Severn bridge in Wales to the English side so I can go fishing again without getting arrested as I try to escape the lunacy that is Drakeford's Principality.......

 

[tipitinmick]

Towards building a secret escape tunnel from my side of the Severn bridge in Wales to the English side so I can go fishing again without getting arrested as I try to escape the lunacy that is Drakeford's Principality.......

C’mon, hang in there. Only 14 days left. ??

 

[RedRidingHood]

Fighting pollution, poaching and more bailiffs. I’ve not had my license checked for 40 bloody years. Sorry, rant over.

Oh ... and some hob nobs for the minions would be nice. ??

More bailiffs would be a great shout Mick. Never once even seen a bailiff in my entire life! Plenty of illegal fishing around here, as well as poaching that'd warrant regular bailiff visits though.

 

[Neil ofthe nene]

six years old but this might explain where the money goes already.

Where does your rod licence money go? - Creating a better place

News and updates from the Environment Agency

environmentagency.blog.gov.uk

And this from 2018

Where does our rod licence money go ?

About a year ago I wrote a couple of blogs, one about the changes to the rod licence and one about how the Environment Agency (EA) spend the rod licence money. Well the EA have just published their…

linesonthewater.anglingtrust.net

2010

Environment Agency reveal where your fishing licence money goes — Angling Times

Ever wondered where the money you fork out for your rod licence each season mgoes? This week, the Environment Agency has released a comprehensive breakdown of figures which answers exactly that, accounting for all the income it gets from the country’s 1.5m law-abiding anglers. In the 2008/09 sea

www.anglingtimes.co.uk

"In the 2008/09 season, its total fisheries budget amounted to £33.6m, of which £23.4m came from anglers, £9.4m from the Government and £800k from net licence duties."

 

[JayD]

Here's the answer to what is really happening, not the Angling Times attempt to boost sales, by creating controversy.

Rod licence sales generate more than £21 million to improve fisheries and support anglers.

Vital revenue funds fisheries improvement projects, facilities for anglers and work to tackle illegal fishing.

www.gov.uk

I haven't fished the North east rivers for some years, but I do know a guy who fishes the Ribble regularly. His reports on his catches of big barbel, as well as chub, and massive dace, show that it's fishing well, at least in some places.
The Yorkshire rivers have had salmon runs for years, going back to the 60s when Michael Parry, made it his main objective. From watching them leaping the weir at Tadcaster, to seeing them hooked on the Ouse, and Ure, back then, to seeing them leaping the weir at Topcliffe more recently. The run was such that Newby Hall used to charge extra for a days spinning for salmon, in the 70'80s, don't know if they still do. The rivers of the Yorks Ouse system have plenty of weirs, that are essential to the rivers, both for human activity, and to the wildlife on them. The salmon, and other species, get up past them because they have good fish passes built in. The weirs on the Aire, and the Calder, have contributed to the improvement of fish stocks in them, providing increased oxygen levels, and with help from the EA, provided fast shallower stretches vital for some species to spawn in.
As to stocking, it's no use stocking a water just for the sake of it. Adding fish to a water in numbers that the water can't support, or with species that are unsuited to the water, is a waste. Better to stock slowly, and let the water create it's own balance over time, while still monitoring it.
I've had a few 'beefs' with the EA over the years, but I've also had cause to praise them on occasions, and I think that 'over all' they don't do such a bad job. I've heard calls to do away with the licence, and let the work that the EA do come out of general taxation. If that happened I'm sure we would find much less money being spent on our rivers, as it got 'lost' on more prioritised projects. As far as I know, our licence money is ringfenced into projects that affect angling, not always directly, or apparent, but have a knock on effect never the less.
I don't think that the extra monies would be enough to finance many more bailiffs, not enough to make a difference over the whole of the country anyway. I much preferred the separate River Authorities of old, a bit more hassle with separate licences, but they could make decisions based on local problems, and because it was a local thing, you felt more of a part of it.

John.

 

[TrickyD]

They could start dredging again, and clearing some of the trees on the bank , not all, just thinning out. Cormorant traps, goosander traps, otter traps. Trouble is ,the more we ask of the EA, the more they will ask of us (license increase).

 

[Sam Vimes]

The somewhat excessive interest in salmon and migratory trout often concerns me. It seems that the powers that be use their presence as a primary marker as to how good a fishery is. It sometimes comes across that a single salmon in a river would be considered far better than a healthy population of coarse fish. It perhaps isn't a coincidence that most landowners are only too keen to see such migratory fish and the prospect of making pots of cash on the back of it.

It also concerns me that the EA can have such wildly differing stocking policies between similar rivers separated by as little as a few miles. One of my local river catchments has had in excess of 100000 fish stocked by the EA. In the same time period, the other has had none. The EA claim that this river is just fine, yet the closest monitoring point is a good twenty miles (as the river flows) downstream from the area that concerns me. The EA tell us that not enough people appear to fish it and there are no longer any matches on it. The last match I know of happened a couple of years back. A championship that has seen around a hundred competitors in its heyday attracted just eleven folks with a nostalgic soft spot for this river. Strangely enough, the lack of anglers on the bank is because few can be bothered to fish it for paltry returns. They either head well downstream or go to the river close by that has had a hundred thousand fish stocked in the last 12 years. This river was once amongst the very best of the northern coarse fishing rivers. The lower reaches are still more heavily fished and aren't quite so badly affected as further upstream. However, I'm actually increasingly convinced that the once grim industrial rivers further north and south are now actually better fisheries.

 

[rudd]

Where does it go?
When a water you know has a sudden oxygen crash and the EA turn up within hours complete with oxygenation kit they lend club for a few weeks.
And when a club loses alot of fish and they turn up with thousands of replacements from Calverton.
Most ang!ers will never have to deal with an incident involving a water just just vote with their feet when sh!t happens.
The EA have saved alot of clubs from going under and saved alot of fish.