Anglers catch the big prize: restarting competitions
FISHING will become the first sport to return competitively during the coronavirus pandemic – but new safety rules mean that anglers are banned from drawing lots from a hat for their riverbank space.
Having already been the first sport to resume on a recreational basis earlier this month, the Angling Trust’s “robust new best practice guidelines” for competitive fishing have been approved by the Government and competitions can restart immediately.
Separate rules have already been published for game, coarse and sea angling competitions, but charter boat fishing is still not compliant due to the potential difficulty with social distancing.
Martin Salter, the Angling Trust’s head of policy, revealed the three key safety changes to usual competition rules.
The first is that the draw for “pegs” – the position of anglers on the riverbank – cannot be done from a hat and must either be made online or by a single person.
The second is that special weighing nets have been designed so that they are in a self-supporting sling and anglers can step forward and place their catch into the net without touching it.
This means that the scales person, who is responsible for recording the weight of the fish, can carry out their work while remaining socially distanced.
Cash prizes must also be distributed online rather than in person.
The Government had said that only professional sport could resume competitively – and then from June 1 – but the Angling Trust compiled its case to explain why match fishing would meet general coronavirus guidance.
It is hoped that snooker and horse racing will begin elite level competition again from Monday, while Premier League football clubs hope to resume matches on June 19. There are one million fishing licence holders in the UK and the day after lockdown restrictions were lifted on non-competitive angling, applications for 21,000 new licences were received.