Angling for money

ALITTLE birdie has told me that the issue of payment by salmon farmers to the wild salmon and sea trout lobby is being discussed again. In fact, a sum of £0.5 million per year has been suggested and is apparently being seriously considered. As I understand it, this would be an annual payment from the salmon farming industry to Fisheries Management Scotland.

I am also aware that the major driver is a company that wishes to produce under the Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s standard. It is interesting that this company does not wish to pay FMS themselves.

One would have to be curious why not. If they believe that paying this money would be so much of an advantage for the industry, then surely that advantage would attach much more strongly to them and their brand if they were the only ones to do it.

Or maybe they are pushing this issue out of altruism for the industry. If so, then I would like to persuade them that this will not work out well.

My guess is that they know, as I do, that such a move imputes liability. No one ever paid compensation for something they did not do. If they are being duped by FMS that this is not the case then I would beg to differ.

The history of relations between the salmon farming and angling industries has long been mired in government initiatives to try and broker peace, or even simply to improve the debate.

All have been doomed to failure, usually for the same reason. Once an agreement has been made, the angling lobby wait a short while and then send in the attack dogs again.

- ing about how these organisations are not under their control. They will infer that they have nothing to do with these attack dogs (the anti-salmon farming lobby groups), even when they have had a meeting with them the week before.

I am sure they will insist that this sort of practice will not happen this time. I also believe that they will say anything at all to ensure the salmon farmers’ money gets paid.

However, once it is paid, the salmon farming industry will never stop paying, and if you think that the negative press will stop, think again. Before you can blink, the attack dogs will use the argument of liability. Remember, Fish Legal (which represents anglers) is sitting out there just waiting to use a chance like this.

There is a fundamental principle here.The industry is being levered into this position by two forces, one within the industry and one without. Once that lever is in place, it can never ever be undone.Why? Because once the industry suggests that it is going to pay to support the angling industry, what is its argument for stopping? Just see if you can come up with a choice of words that would look good in a newspaper. ‘Salmon farming stops supporting angling because it’s skint?’ ‘Salmon farming stops paying anglers because it’s not to blame?’ ‘Salmon farming will not pay because all the salmon and sea trout have returned?’

Come on guys, we can all see that this never stops and while I have no issue with a company wishing to join the ASC, I cannot ever support them dragging the industry into a position that it can’t get out of.

I can see why the government might support the move. How nice of the industry to pick up a tab that previously the state had funded!

There is an even more compelling reason not to do this.The angling lobby is getting old and there are fewer and fewer young anglers. The endless negative press, even when catches are good, has impacted their industry. Getting salmon red listed and complete catch and re

They have opened themselves up to welfare and put them back.This becomes even more ridiculous when discussing a threatened species.

The angling industry is losing its ‘greenwashing’ defence because the arguments about conservation simply do not add up.

I have been in this industry for the best part of 40 years and have always wished for the two sectors to work together.

When you see what Bob Kindness has done on the Carron, it shows what we could achieve if we use our combined knowledge.

If we wait, both government and the anglers will see the logic. But if we give in now, they will never stop blaming us for the decline

in stocks.Would you?

No one ever paid for something they did not do