Angling protest

By not questioning private ownership of the right to fish, the Fisheries and Aquaculture Bill passed on 15 May continued the effective pricing out of working- and middle-class Scots from many of their own waters.

No thought of a national angling body to control, under state license, local councils’ fishing rights, and Crown Estate waters should they be devolved. Nothing of a right to buy for tenant angling associations. No change of Sunday salmon fishing law, no free fishing for children, no boats rocked and no establishment upset.

Scotland’s angling laws, in comparison to the former colonies, are archaic, with sycophantic ministers doffing their hat to Victorian exploitation whilst they glowingly crow of the equality achieved via free-bus passes.

Their statement is loud and clear: look at your country, but don’t touch. It is further evident that the only way to change the 19th century fishing law in place today is the same as it was for crofters over 100 years ago in their struggle for land.

Daibhidh Rothach

Scottish Anglers for Change

Kilwinning, Ayrshire