mikesbytes wrote:fat and old wrote:mikesbytes wrote: What % of the population fish?
Angling IS banned, in many areas, at various times. Anglers have been battling this for years, and have been trying to put a humane/responsible face on their sport for a long time. In many cases, with the advent of social media, it's been self regulating. In fact, thinking about it, the differences between anglers and cyclists when approaching this are quite stark. Something I'd not thought about before.
The fact remains however that no matter how Catch and Release is presented, the angler is in reality dragging a fish towards him/herself using a hook in it's mouth, sometimes for hours, in order to take a piccie and let it go.
So insufficient voting power to control their destiny?
I don't think any one political Party can take on environmentalists; who can present solid evidence, the moral high ground
and emotional rhetoric to support their cause; and win. The fact that so many clubs, "peak bodies", associations and celebrities
got on board with the self regulation....although often at the expense of other groups within the angling community (see the wars between pro-native and pro-trout anglers for attention and Government funding).....speaks volumes. There are strong correlations with the cycling community here, and lessons to be learned.
As for any voting power anglers had/have, iirc they got together with the shooters originally in NSW? and gained limited representation. As has been seen in NSW, if you have even one seat when it matters, you can turn that limited representation into power to influence way beyond what is "fair" (depending on your outlook on "democracy" of course).
The 4wd community in NSW also had limited representation in Government, 1 seat in the upper house iirc? That was a good example of what can happen when a "niche" community gains "power" and what not to do. Again, strong correlations with the cycling community and lessons to be learned.
It has to be remembered that while lessons can be learned from these groups, their place in society is in no way looked at in a similar way to cycling. As is the case with dog racing. That's why I can't see cycling having anything to fear from Government in a similar way that those groups do.
My opinion only.