For some time now, the ATA has worked with the Environment Agency in respect of the angling licence and the accompanying awareness programme.

With increasing pressure from anglers and the angling industry over water pollution, the Environment Agency has now published a report titled “How we spend fishing licence income” to dispel some of the myths surrounding licence income. This latest Annual Fisheries report for 21/22 hopes to provide something that will be more readily consumable by existing rod licence customers than that which is currently hosted on the gov.uk website.

With anglers on social media threatening not to buy licences at a time when this income is of paramount importance, it is vital that both anglers and the industry understand the background to the licence income and what it actually funds.

For some time, the misconception that not buying a licence will solve all the ills around water quality has been rife on social media, and the fact that this practice contributes in the main to an erosion of funds in support of angling, fisheries and enforcement, is an important one not to mention the negative effect on evasion.

ATA chairman Andrew Race said: “The fact that anglers equate the licence with water pollution in this way is regrettable but hopefully with the right awareness campaign we can prevent the ’non-buying’ of licences as a form of protest.

“There is no doubt that the quality of rivers and shorelines around the UK is under serious threat from the persistent dumping of sewage and chemicals into our water courses, and this is a very emotive subject, but in order to fight this scourge in the right way, angling needs to be at its strongest”.

This latest Environment Agency document details the way in which income from licence sales is spent and what it is spent on. With rod licence income supporting the likes of Angling Trust, Canal & River Trust, Wild Trout Trust and many more, it is vital that angling income is maintained.

You can view the report HERE