On Sat, 1 Oct 2005, Phil L, gave forth these words of wisdom:
Yes the rivers are ours, but the way they were after many decades of
neglect left them polluted, stinking open sewers! - the fact that you
are thinking of fishing the Mersey at all is testament to the work put
in by the Environment Agency, parially paid for by funding from fishing
licences, the 7p per day you contribute goes towards improving water
quality, breeding and releasing millions of freshwater fish,
prosecuting buisnesses that pollute waterways and giving grants to
people to enable them to clean up riverbanks etc, this is where the £25
goes - the rivers have never been cleaner or contained more fish at any
time in the past 150 years, plus, you don't only get to fish the
Mersey, try the lake district for trout, or any one of the thousands of
canals and commercial fisheries for coarse fish.
Well said Phil.
It peeves me a bit when people complain about the cost of the Rod
Licence. There's always someone who wants something for nothing. Are
these people so short-sighted as to not to realise that SOMEONE has to
pay for the upkeep of our precious inland waterways?
If those concerned don't want to contribute then let them fish without a
licence and I hope they get caught and their tackle confiscated. I won't
lose any sleep over them.
Alec
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Alec Powell
Watlington Oxon. UK