The Angling Trust hosted the European Anglers’ Alliance General Assembly in London last weekend, with delegates from 12 countries including the Netherlands, Germany, Slovenia and Norway. The Alliance represents a membership of more than 5 million of the 22 million anglers in Europe and employs a full time lobbyist in Brussels.

Discussions included marine fish stocks, hydropower, cormorants and mixed stock salmon netting. The Angling Trust’s Mark Owen was appointed as the EAA’s representative in Brussels on the Water Framework Directive working group. The AT’s David Mitchell is the secretary of the EAA’s Sea Subgroup and was involved in discussions about the reform of the Common Fisheries Policy with his European counterparts.
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said “As the representative body for angling in England, we need to work at a European level to have an influence on many policies which affect our fish and fishing. We can only do this by working in this important alliance of angling organisations. Many of the issues we face in England are shared with anglers in Europe.”