Angling Trust secures £131,000 grant from Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to campaign to protect fish stocks over next two years

The Angling Trust has successfully applied for £131,000 funding from charitable trust the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to spend on increased campaigning to protect dwindling marine and freshwater fish stocks over the next two years.

The funds will be matched with membership subscription income and fundraising from other sources to pay for political advocacy, campaign materials and staff time, including for a new Campaigns Officer who will support the work of our National Campaigns Coordinator Martin Salter and existing staff in the Angling Trust and Fish Legal.

This new post is being advertised this week at a salary of up to £25,000 and the closing date for applications is Tuesday, 23rd February. Applicants should be based in or around the West Midlands or London and have the ability to work from home.

The focus of the campaigns funded by the charitable trust will be in three key areas:

• Protection of marine fisheries – reform of legislation on inshore netting, new conservation measures for sea bass and to protect sensitive estuarine environments
• Reversal of decline in salmon stocks – regulatory measures to tackle agricultural pollution, removal of fish barriers (e.g. weirs and dams), restrictions on commercial netting for Atlantic salmon as part of the Save Our Salmon campaign
• Restoring natural flows of rivers – reform on water abstraction to lead to the restoration of natural flow regimes on more rivers

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust & Fish Legal, said: “We are very grateful to the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for its generous support of our work over the next two years and very excited by the opportunity to continue to extend the reach and impact of our campaigns and legal action to protect marine and freshwater fish stocks.

“This level of funding is a major vote of confidence in our organisation and will, I hope, encourage more anglers to support us with donations and membership subscriptions because they will know that their funds will be matched from a charitable trust. If we are successful with these ambitious targets, we may be able to secure further funding in the future from the Foundation and other sources.”