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Having spent a fair amount of time pestering and questioning different agencies regards sustainable fishing, I am seeing some seeds of change, even support. Now is the time to make even more inclusive effort between all the fishing community. We will be sending out a few letters and the more signatures or backing we can show the greater the effectiveness, please make the effort to support these seeds of change. I know only too well that we have had years of form filling and Surveys, many believing it will likely end up in more sanctions or bag limits and it often has. Now our stakeholder status is finally being recognised especially with the AT who we thought were not ready to take on the RSA cause, seems they are. They also have a seat at the right table. We are standing up for the future of the fishing area we fish for the following generations, nothing here will be short term, it is a long game at Glacial pace.

After our last Meeting with Senior SIFCA, I felt that there were more glimmers of hope and that we are starting to be listened to. The Senior Fisheries also clearly recognised the Angling Trust as a voice for Sea Anglers. Thank you Mal and other Club Members that attended the Meeting which was expected to last an hour or two, but went on for three hours with, at times, frank exchanges. Both sides generally listening to each other and some new channels of communication seem slowly to be opening up. Allan

I agree the meeting seemed fairly positive and it certainly looked as though they were listening. I think what Pia was hearing really woke her up, lets hope she stays awake. Although nothing will ever be decided at one of these meetings but what will happen is seeds will be planted and time will tell whether they take root. The best we can do is keep attending them and plugging our end

Max, I totally agree and as I mentioned I have had a reply from the AT Hannah Rudd and she has invited me to have a chat with her with regards to the points raised in my letter to her and also Peter Morgan her rep who visited us at the Club. I am also going to write to the CEO at the AT who released a letter that had our interests covered.

Hi Mal Thank you for the invite to this event. I agree it did feel more constructive than some of the other events. My main observation which I wanted to share is that I think it will take time for this process to bear fruit. As you pointed out the level of RSA engagement has dwindled for a number of reasons and for that to reverse one of the main things which has to change is for the sector to start to see the benefits of continued/increased engagement. So we must be patient while not being fobbed of by platitudes - perhaps we need to agree some tangible actions with SIFCA (and other bodies) which are aimed at promoting our interests? Is it worth having an agenda item at the next meeting to feed back and discuss the approach with a view to getting some more members actively involved in the dialogue? Thanks again and regards Max