I remember the old days with the NRA licenses. They were a complete nightmare in the sense that each region had a different charge and licence. Where I lived I had to have one for Essex, one for Hertfordshire and one for Thams water.
However, I had hundreds of miles of river, canal and lake fishing that I did not have to pay a day ticket for, because the water was owned by the water authority.
When the national licence came in administered by the EA, in general it was a godsend for those who travelled for their fishing. It also ment that any emergency response to pollution etc had a bigger and better infrastructure to call on. More stocking of waters also took place.
Do I think it would work up here? No, I don't. The rivers and lochs are administered in a completely different way which I cannot ever see being changed as teh Salmon boards would effectively lose some of there hold.
Also, I know of about 7 people who have ever had there licences checked down south. The area covered by the EA staff is huge and they just cannot be everywhere at once...imagine the issue up here, especially the more remote areas.
Do I think a license would be a good idea? Well, only if ALL anglers had the same representation, but I do not see that happening either, with Salmon anglers always getting the thick end of the cash wedge. That actually happened on the Thames, so i can only see it being worse up here, with trout and grayling being pushed aside and coarse fish not even getting a look in.
So what does a licence give an angler down south?
Free fishing on public waters
Restocking from a central fund in the case of pollution
EA run fish farms and colleges teaching fishery management etc.
Pollution response teams
Enforcement powers (although heavily under staffed)
The rumours of the SNP introducing a rod licence have been doing the rounds, and they have flatly denied they are looking into it...but, they did write into the latest water structure bill or whatever its now called, a statement that leaves the door very much open.
