Fishing for the truth about angling in Scotland
Between The Lines is on an extended sabbatical in order to write a book or two. Fiction – and quite different from Not Exactly Fishing. Why change from here, the cynics among you may ask? The answer is simple: I like a challenge and the process of writing publishable fiction is certainly that, as I…
Continue ReadingIT is comforting to note that I am not alone in identifying the SNP Government in Scotland of being long on rhetoric but coming up short on action when it concerns many aspects of marine conservation. And Richard Lochhead, the fisheries minister stands accused again of being out of touch with reality in the latest…
Continue ReadingTWO record-breaking sharks, caught off south-west Scotland by sea anglers taking part in an official tagging programme, have highlighted the bizarre rules governing official statistics of UK catches. Two of the largest smoothhound ever seen in Scottish waters were captured by Steve Frayling and Guy Stewart of Paisley-based Silverlure Sea Angling Club and weighed in…
Continue ReadingIT IS heartening today to see two organisations calling for our politicians to stand up and be counted – at least as far as supporting the future of our wild fish are concerned. As I suggested here at the beginning of the year, that action to put our politicians on the spot on the future…
Continue ReadingSIX weeks in Brazil for anyone with an interest in fishing, seems like too good a chance to miss. The opportunities, like the country itself, stretch far and wide from striped peacock bass and giant catfish in many of the rivers of Amazonia to marlin, tuna, sword and sailfish in the Atlantic coastal waters to…
Continue ReadingSSACN, the Scottish sea angling conservation pressure group, is running a series of thought-provoking articles this month on many aspects of the sport. The organisation is a touch-stone for all the key elements affecting marine conservation around our shores and plays an important part in helping to guide official policy in many areas. It has…
Continue ReadingSALMON farming injected more than £500 million into the Scottish economy in 2008 with over £84 million worth of capital investment during the last three years, according to an aquaculture industry research report published today. The study, which aims to underline the value of the salmon farming industry to rural economies, comes amid growing animosity…
Continue ReadingMORE than 100 anglers fishing from boat, shore and kayaks took part in the third annual two-day Spurdog Tagathon event in the Argyll area of Scotland earlier this month. The organisers, Scottish Sea Anglers Conservation Network (SSACN) say the number of fish tagged was down a little this year; there were many more smaller fish…
Continue ReadingGROWING confidence about the emergence of a new force in the drive for a more sustainable approach to sea fishing around Scotland was evident at the first symposium organised by COAST, the Arran-based marine pressure group. Some 40 international delegates from all fields of marine policy and science took part in the weekend event…
Continue ReadingTUNE in tonight to BBC-2 where David Attenborough takes a long, hard look at the state of the planet’s oceans following one of the most ambitious scientific studies of our time and asks the question: Is it too late to save the diversity of our seas? Meanwhile, Scotland’s environment minister, Richard Lochhead, has signalled a…
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