If this email does not display correctly click here to read it in your web browser.    Join the Angling Trust CLICK HERE Welcome to the latest update from the Angling Trust. Please read on and click the links to find out more about what we have been doing to protect fishing and fish over the past month. If you like what you read, use the link at the bottom to forward this to a friend and encourage them to join us. We can only do what we do with the support of anglers. Remember, under 18s can join the Angling Trust for free HERE! NEWS Angling Summit The Angling Trust represented you at the Angling Summit in London on 25th January. We raised a wide range of issues with the Minister and his officials from the marine and freshwater sections in Defra: commercial bass fishing; monitoring sea anglers' catches; Environment Agency delivery and the Big Society agenda; hydropower and fish passage; Water Framework Directive; Invasive Non Native Species and Cormorant predation. Read about the points we raised HERE. We're now working with Defra on the agenda for the next summit in March. Defra's Data Deficit Defra has asked the Angling Trust to comment on a proposed project to collect data on recreational sea anglers' catches. Defra is required to collect this data to conform to EU requirements and needs anglers to provide information. We have raised concerns with Defra that the data collected could be used to restrict and regulate recreational sea angling activity and we highlighted the historic failure of the department to deliver anything for Recreational Sea Angling (RSA). We have asked the Minister to provide a statement clarifying the intentions of the data collection proposals and detailing how any data collected from recreational sea anglers would be used. Have a Cormo Rant! Following the Minister's announcement of a Defra review into cormorant licensing, we need as much information as possible from the angling world to present as evidence for a change to policy and practice. We will soon have a survey on our web site where you can let off steam to us about the impact of cormorants and any problems you have faced getting a licence to control the birds. We will also include information about other methods for protecting fisheries from predators and we'll let you know more about this in the weeks ahead. This survey will replace our cormorants@anglingtrust.net email address as the means to report your experience of cormorants and their impact on your fishing. Thank you to all those who have emailed and written to us so far. Click HERE to print out our cormorant campaign poster, produced in partnership with the Angling Times. Take us to your Leader... We have in the past fortnight had meetings with the Chief Executives of British Waterways and the Environment Agency. We explained how furious we are with the way their organisations have been licensing, permitting and even promoting hydropower installations which will cause huge damage to coarse and game fish stocks, river flows and angling access. We - and leading scientific experts - believe that the Environment Agency's Good Practice Guidelines are unfit for purpose. We have called for the guidelines to be torn up and rewritten. The Agency has at last promised an open, transparent review of them. We will be making robust representation on behalf of anglers and fisheries throughout the land. Click HERE to read our latest letters to the organisations which are supposed to be looking after our fisheries and click HERE to print out our campaign poster, produced in partnership with the Angling Times. Turbine or no turbine? Let the courts decide... Meanwhile our legal arm, Fish Legal, has appointed fisheries experts to quantify the damage to our members' fishing on the River Trent from hydropower so that we can mount a legal challenge to try to stop proposed installations which would prevent our members accessing their fishing rights above and below the weir pool on their stretch of the river and would reduce the normal flow over the weir to a trickle. Water Companies - Come Clean! Our lawyers at Fish Legal continue to do battle in the tribunals and courts to get Water Companies classified as public bodies, which would give them a duty to release information to us about pollution and abstraction which might be damaging our fishing. We have raised the issue with the European Commission and the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and have received some welcome support from Europe. This work is expensive and time-consuming, but really important for the future of our freshwater and coastal waters. We will keep you informed. High Speed Threat to Angling We have written to Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon MP to alert him to the potential impact of the proposed high speed railway line on fisheries between London and Birmingham. The new line will shatter the tranquillity of more than 40 fisheries including Savay and Korda Lakes, which are historic large carp and tench venues. We will be urging the Minister to minimise disruption to angling. Our legal arm Fish Legal will support its members in negotiations for compensation and mitigation. Click HERE for more information. Otter Fencing Funding Guidance on Environment Agency funding for fencing to prevent or reduce predation by otters on fish stocks is now available from our website HERE. One more step towards unification... The Confederation of English Fly Fishers, the England Ladies Fly Fishers Association and the England Youth Fly Fishers Association have wound up their organisations and have merged into the Angling Trust. This will bring hundreds of new individual and club members to the Trust. We will be seeking more sponsorship for Team England Fly Fishing and we will promote and develop new fly fishing competitions. Read more HERE and keep an eye out for information about how to take part in future updates. North West Freshwater Forum Don't forget the North West Freshwater Forum at 6.30pm on Thursday 24 February at the Holiday Inn, Lancaster. Details of this and all other regional forum meetings are on our web site's regional diary HERE. Felt? Just Say No! Following recent research into the potential for felt soles on waders to carry fish parasites, seeds of invasive weeds and other horrors from one water to another, we are encouraging our members to phase out felt soles unless they fish at one location all the time. Some bugs can live for several weeks and even months in felt, which is also very resistant to disinfectants. Manufacturers are bringing in new materials which are much easier to clean between fishing trips and offer good grip. For more details of the dangers of felt, please click HERE. Thanks to Fred French as ever for circulating this information from the Eden Rivers Trust. ANGLING TRUST COMPETITION NEWS Fish 'O' Mania XVIII 2011 With an increased first prize of £30,000 for the first time ever in its history, and the last of the 16 qualifiers expanded to 300 pegs, this year's Fish 'O' Mania looks set to be the best ever. The draw has now taken place with the published lists of qualifiers available on the Angling Trust website. Tickets will be posted out to all competitors at the end of February. We wish everyone who takes part in this event, and all our other competitions, the best of luck for 2011. Our match calendar will be available on our web site shortly. Sponsor Team England Angling The Angling Trust is seeking sponsors for some of our international teams. This summer, teams from all three disciplines will be representing England in the World Angling Games at various locations in Italy. We would love to hear from any company or individual who might be interested in sponsoring our teams. It is a great honour for anglers to represent their country, and the teams work very hard to bring back the medals each year. Please give them your support. Contact Sandra Drew, our Competitions Manager on 0115 9061 301 or sandra.drew@anglingtrust.net. Thames Anglers Conservancy News "Too many mitten crabs", "Cormorants eat all the fish", "Where's all the fish gone?". From the grassy banks of Windsor down to Wandsworth's urban jungle, Thames anglers all say the same. To find out what could be done, the Thames Anglers' Conservancy visited John Sutton, an Environment Agency Fisheries Team Leader and George Gerring, the Thames Catchment Officer. Read the full article HERE. While you are on their website spend a minute and join TAC - it's absolutely free. Facebook and Twitter Please go to our Facebook page and click the "Like" button facebook.com/anglingtrust. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/AnglingTrust. Carpin' On Come and meet us at Carpin' On, 5th and 6th March 2011 - Five Lakes Hotel, Essex CM9 8HX. The UK's huge annual carp fishing show, covering all aspects of carp angling and bringing all the biggest brands in carp fishing under one roof. See www.carpinon.co.uk. White Acres Bait Tech and Dynamite Baits Festivals White Acres, one of the UK's Premier Fisheries near Newquay in Cornwall, is all geared up to reopen its lakes for the 2011 season and starts the year off with two of its prestigious angling festivals, the Bait Tech Festival, running week commencing 26th March and the Dynamite Baits Festival, taking place on week commencing 2nd April. Both festivals have proved very popular so far and with just a few places remaining you need to act quickly to grab a piece of the action! Book now to secure your festival place. A group of three sharing can book from as little as £206 each. For full details and T&Cs or to book your festival place call the Fisheries Team on 0844 879 4268. More info HERE MEMBER BENEFITS Angling Direct: Loads of our members have already taken advantage of the huge discounts available at www.anglingdirect.co.uk. Go online NOW and save up to 20% RRP. Remember to use the code on page 3 of your printed newsletter when you checkout to apply your member discount. If you need a reminder of your discount code just email a request to admin@anglingtrust.net with your name and membership number. Waterline Ikonix Centrepin Waterline Ikonix Centre Pin Reel, a brilliant new centrepin reel at an excellent price! RRP £69.99 - AT members only price £45 - Click HERE. Daiwa Wilderness Travel Beach Rod Designed around a four section configuration but performing like a two piece model both these rods truly are a break through in blank development. RRP £110.99 - AT members only price £63 - Click HERE. Daiwa Signature Salmon Rods The outstanding casting and fishing ability of the Signature salmon fly rods has been captured by combining the world class knowledge of Scott MacKenzie and Daiwa's renowned rod making technology at Daiwa in Scotland. Save over 50% of RRP but get in quick - last few remaining. RRP £375.00 - AT members only price £112.50! - Click HERE. BOOK OF THE MONTH from Quiller Books Irish Rise - Reflections by Lough and Stream By Dennis Moss RRP £25.00 Angling Trust member offer price: £20.00 "As if the text were not enough, the book itself is beautifully produced by Quiller Publishing and generously illustrated with excellent, evocative colour photographs. Care has been taken in the placing of these pictures and they invariably have some relevance to the adjacent pages... Irish Rise (spot the pun?), for various reasons, has a special appeal for me and is the most enjoyable book of its type I've come across for many a year. Anyone, however, who loves books and who has an interest in game-fishing will want to have a copy on the shelf". Trout & Salmon. Order online HERE and use promo code AT211 to get this book for £20.00 or phone 01939 261616. Subscribe to Angling Times and save 46% The inside line on Angling. If you're a coarse or carp angler desperate for the hottest new ideas and venues that'll help you get more bites, then Angling Times is for you! Never miss an issue again, direct from the publisher, free delivery within the UK - Why wait - subscribe now! Click HERE. AND FINALLY... FREE membership for Juniors Junior membership for those aged 17 and under is FREE. Go online and register HERE. Young Adults aged 18 to 21 year olds can join for only £10! Both categories get all the benefits of Angling Trust Membership including up to 20% off at Angling Direct and free £5m insurance. Does your club or business know about our Commission Scheme? We send you membership forms, you return them to our office, we pay the club or business a commission of £3 or £5 for a Direct Debit. Your club or business can help recruit Angling Trust members AND earn a commission! Just call Tania on 0844 77 00 616 or email tania.smith@anglingtrust.net. The Angling Trust club which recruits the most individual members in 2011 will also win free membership of Angling Trust and Fish Legal in 2012! If you are already a member: CLICK HERE to forward this email on to a fishing friend, colleague or family member and encourage them to join. REMEMBER - if you are a member they should be too and for just 39p a week there is no excuse not to join! Please do not forward using Outlook or any other e-mail software; if the recipient clicks on the unsubscribe link then you may not receive e-mails from us in future. If you are not a member: JOIN THE ANGLING TRUST NOW online at www.anglingtrust.net or call 0844 77 00 616. All our work depends on the support of our donors and members. RSS: Please include our RSS feed on your website or blog. Subscribe at www.anglingtrust.net/rss.asp The Angling Trust - Our Mission: Promote angling Campaign for anglers' rights and the environment Lobby governments and agencies Protect our waterways and marine environment Develop angling as a sport for young and old Support angling interests Click here to unsubscribe Picture Credits: Sanitary Towels from the Ribble - Martin James | Savay - Angler's Mail | Otter Damaged Carp - Angling Times | Fly Angler and Cormorant - Wikipedia