Charles Walker leads a debate on the contribution made by recreational fishing to the UK economy.

12.57 pm

Mr. Charles Walker (Broxbourne) (Con): I feel like I am over Heathrow airport, stacking up and waiting to land on the runway, not having done a Westminster Hall debate before. However, I am delighted to be called in such good time and that I arrived here three minutes before I was due to start, otherwise I could have been slightly embarrassed.

I will use my brief Adjournment debate today to discuss the fabulous contribution that the great sport of recreational fishing makes to the economy of this country. I have been a passionate angler for 37 of my 40 years. I was introduced to the sport by my grandmother, who gave me a cotton reel, a bamboo stick, a bit of string and a bent pin. I fished for five years without any reward. Then my dear grandfather took me to a pond and I caught three goldfish. The less said about that the better probably at this stage, but my grandfather was at my shoulder when I caught my first brown trout and for the first salmon that we caught together on the River Feshie in Scotland. A love of angling has been his great gift to me and it is one that I treasure. I am also pleased to say that, in his early 90s, my grandfather is still going strong and can still wipe my eye on the riverbank.

As hon. Members may know, angling captivates somewhere in the region of 3 million people; 1.5 million of us are extremely hardcore and the other 1.5 million, who make up the total number of anglers, dabble from time to time, but we are still very lucky to have them. Angling also brings people, including the families of anglers, to our great countryside and it gets people experiencing some of the wonderful sights and scenery that this great land of ours has to offer.

The wonderful thing about fishing is that it is blind to class, religion and ethnicity. On the riverbank, everyone is equal and completely consumed by their passion, discussing tactics and methods for landing the fish of their dreams. If more politicians from across the House spent time on the riverbank together, we might be a little nicer to one another and, on occasion, a little less savage.

At this juncture, I should like to pay tribute to my good friend, the hon. Member for Reading, West (Martin Salter), who is chairman of the all-party angling group. Since his election to Parliament 11 years ago, he has done a huge amount for the sport of angling and, as an angler, I am very grateful to him for all his hard work on behalf of all 3 million anglers in Britain.

I should also like to say quickly that some of my happiest times as a Member of Parliament are spent on the riverbank in my constituency, armed to the teeth with tackle bought from Simpsons of Turnford and Johnson Ross Tackle in Hoddesdon. I am a member of the Amwell Magna trout fishing club and recently joined one of the oldest coarse fishing clubs in the country, the Red Spinners. In between my engagements on the riverbank, I find time to be attentive to my constituents.

This debate is about the economic contribution of angling, but I should like to mention that anglers contribute a huge amount to conservation as well. The Anglers Conservation Association works tirelessly to improve habitats along rivers and streams, thereby not only improving the well-being of many species of fish but having a huge impact on invertebrate life, bringing otters back to our waterways and having a beneficial impact on flora and fauna across the piece.

Let us get down to the meat of this—the bold, hard facts. There are about 3 million of us out there fishing at any one time, or on some occasions. As the Minister discovered from the good report that his civil servants prepared on angling, we spend about £3.5 billion to £4 billion a year in pursuit of our passion, and angling is responsible, directly or indirectly, for 16,000 to 20,000 jobs.

Mr. Jim Devine (Livingston) (Lab): I will take away the thought that the hon. Gentleman is a member of the Red Spinners. Given where he comes from, that will probably ruin his political career.

The point about tourism and jobs is important. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that places such as Ireland sell tourism by specifically targeting fishermen and describing the facilities that exist for them, but that the United Kingdom does not do a good enough job to publicise the sport?

Mr. Walker: The hon. Gentleman makes a good point. For the past 15 or 20 years, Ireland has heavily promoted fishing tourism. Many people come to this country to fish—to Scotland in particular but also to England—but a great deal more could be done. I am proud to say that we have some of the best fisheries in Europe, and long may they last, but we could do more to promote them. The hon. Gentleman is working in his constituency to bring such matters to the fore.

There are 1,000 commercial fisheries—perhaps more—and hundreds of fishing clubs. The economics of fishing are simple. There is bait and tackle, of course, and my garage is like the garage of the hon. Member for Reading, West, which is full of mountains of tackle and hundreds of fishing rods.

Martin Salter (Reading, West) (Lab): May I ask the hon. Gentleman to desist from notifying every burglar in the Thames valley area of the contents of my garage, which I should like to say for the record have all been moved to a secure lock-up? I thank him for his kind comments earlier.

On a more serious point, does the hon. Gentleman acknowledge that some of the figures that he quotes were published in Labour’s charter for angling, which was a serious contribution to Britain’s most popular participant sport? Is he pledged to do what he can within his own party to ensure that there is consensual support for the sport of angling among all political parties in the House in the run-up to the election?

Mr. Walker: I am happy to say that that will be the case, if I have anything to do with it. Angling should be non-political—support should cross all political parties. If I get the chance at some stage in the future, I should like to be at the fore in forming my party’s position on fishing.

Let us return to the economics. There are fishery fees, and we all spend money on motoring. At a time when we are worried about our environmental footprint, perhaps I should not dwell on the money that we spend travelling around the country to far-flung fisheries. We spend fortunes on provisions from local shops. We bring tourism in the form of trade to pubs and restaurants. We often stay overnight at hotels or campsites, or in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.

To put this into perspective, I give the example of my annual pilgrimage to the sunlit uplands of Scotland to try to catch a salmon. Each beautiful silver fish that I land probably costs me in the region of £1,500 to £2,000. It is money well spent. I have wonderful holidays with my family, but it is my love of fishing that takes me to Scotland. My family also engages with the local community and brings tourist pounds to villages and towns in the area of Islay where I go fishing.

Direct employment is also important in the world of fishing. Many water keepers are employed to look after our fisheries, and professional booking and guiding services are increasingly growing in this country and sending fishermen overseas. The Minister will be aware of our thriving fish farming industry. Fishery managers look after the many thousands of fisheries that people enjoy in this country. Fishing makes an important contribution of some £3 billion to £4 billion a year, as I have said.

In my last two minutes, I shall conclude with these few points. Fishermen are the eyes and ears of our rivers and lakes. If there is a problem, we are the first to raise the alarm. We play a huge role in ensuring sustainability. The catch-and-release mentality pioneered among the coarse fishing fraternity has now moved into the game fishing and sea fishing fraternities.

There are still issues that we need to address. For example, abstraction remains a concern. I was at a presentation a few months ago at which some fishery officers were applauding the increase in barbel and chub stocks on the Wye. I love catching barbel and chub—I am a passionate barbel and chub fisherman—but the Wye is changing from a cold-water fishery that supports salmonids to a warm-water fishery that supports chub and barbel. We need to address the issues that are causing that. Global warming is certainly playing a part, but there is no doubt that abstraction is affecting the water quality of that river.

We need to educate the people who come to this country about our traditions. I always welcome fellow anglers to our shores. We have a lot to offer them, but some people are used to taking fish for the table in their own countries. In this country, we do not do that. We need to educate them, so that they can enjoy our fishing and not come into conflict with people who are concerned about fish being removed from our waters.

I do not share much common ground with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in respect of cormorant predation, which still causes concern to fishery owners. I am worried that the RSPB does not recognise that cormorant predation has put, and will continue to put, commercial fisheries out of business until it is properly addressed. However, I do agree with its concerns about the damming of the Severn estuary with a barrage. The hon. Member for Reading, West will say a few words about that.

We must continue to protect fish stocks. I was delighted to serve on the Joint Committee that considered the draft Marine Bill, and I know that the Minister has been at the forefront in promoting marine conservation zones, which will have a huge part to play in improving the prospects for commercial fishermen and recreational sea fishermen. We in the fishing world are good at keeping our own house in order, but issues surrounding the overstocking of certain small still waters are causing concern to the fishing fraternity.

Finally, the Minister will be aware that people are concerned about the ongoing cost of fishing licences. We are happy to pay for the maintenance of our waterways—it is essential that we pay for that—but, at the same time, we must ensure that we do not discourage new entrants from joining us on riverbanks and lakesides. With that ramble, I shall sit down and let the hon. Member for Reading, West say a few words.

1.8 pm

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