The following is a DRAFT statement that summarises the SFCA policy and is intended to act as our 'Manifesto' .  This is issued for discussion and any comments are welcome - to Ron Woods     

1. We share the belief of other angling, conservation and fisheries management organisations that effective policies must be developed for the conservation, sound management and sustainable exploitation of fish of all species in fresh water in Scotland. SFCA is willing to work with statutory bodies and other organisations to develop, publicise and implement measures to achieve these goals.

2. We see substantial gaps in the structures and statutory controls which presently exist, and serious flaws in the way they operate either overall or in particular localities:-

1. It is abundantly clear that even after the changes arising from the 1997/98 Review, the system of Protection Orders under the 1976 Act is signally failing to deliver effective management and reasonable access for angling - especially coarse angling - in the few areas where it has any effect at all.

2. Legitimate coarse fishing methods are effectively outlawed by Scottish angling legislation.

3. Coarse fish populations continue to be decimated in some waters through ill-informed, unscientific, and almost always ineffective "management" measures intended to enhance fisheries for other species.

4. Coarse fishing interests have little or no effective voice in most of the management structures which exist at present

3. These and other problems must be remedied. Current statutory protection and management structures have failed to tackle them and may be fundamentally incapable of doing so. We need to act to address immediate issues arising in individual fisheries, and seek permanent changes to the basis on which fisheries management is presently conducted in Scotland.

1. In the short term, we will seek wherever possible to engage with existing fisheries management bodies and other relevant institutions to represent the interests of coarse fish species and coarse anglers in particular waters and areas.

2. For the long term, new legislative and administrative framework for fish conservation and fisheries management, which covers the whole country and encompass all species, is required. We will work together with other interested parties to achieve this.

4. Our prime objective is simply to create a level playing field for coarse angling and coarse fish species in Scotland. This must ensure that :-

1. Stocks of coarse species are protected, and may be enhanced to the maximum degree compatible with the interests of other water users and the ecology of each location;

2. Access to coarse fishing venues is preserved, and extended to the maximum degree compatible with the interests of other water users and the ecology of each location;

3. Restrictions on legitimate coarse fishing techniques are eliminated except insofar as they may be essential in the interests of other water users or the ecology of each location;

4. Coarse angling interests have the opportunity to participate fully in the management bodies of fisheries which contain coarse species.

5. We will wherever possible seek to ensure that fisheries management decisions are made on sound scientific grounds with an overriding obligation to maintain the well being of all species currently present in a particular water and balance the interests of the different groups of anglers who pursue each of those species. This should start from the following principles:-

1. established stocks of every species of fish in each water should be maintained and protected from elimination or reduction unless there is clear scientific evidence that their presence forms a significant detriment to other species in that water;

2. stocking, or reducing the stocks of, any species in any water should require authority from the fisheries management body responsible for that catchment area / locality;

3. adding more fish of a species already established in a water should normally be permissible unless there is clear scientific evidence that their presence already forms a significant detriment to other species inhabiting that water;

4. adding fish of a species not already present in the water should be permissible, provided there is clear scientific evidence that the water in question would provide a suitable habitat for the new species and that their introduction would not risk creating a significant detriment to those species already present.

6. Responsible access to fish for all freshwater species present must be made available at reasonable cost wherever possible. As well as granting physical access to waters, the owners or operators of fisheries should:-

1. make permits available on the bankside or from convenient outlets in the locality throughout the longest possible period of each day and week;

2. allow fishing for freshwater species on every day of the week, whether or not Sunday fishing for migratory species remains forbidden, and throughout the year, regardless of close seasons for salmonid species;

3. allow the legitimate use of baits, tackle and angling methods appropriate to the species being pursued.

7. Scottish angling legislation should allow the use of all legitimate tackle, baits and methods for the pursuit of coarse species. General prohibitions on certain practices must be removed from the legislation, including local bye-laws. This must leave coarse anglers free to use tactics involving, for example:-

1. rods set on purpose-made rests or rod pods rather than held in the hand;

2. fishing with more than one rod simultaneously, providing appropriate control and observation by the angler can be assured;

3. loose-feeding (ie, introducing samples of hookbait to attract fish and provoke feeding) or groundbaiting (ie introducing other baits, such as breadcrumb, to attract fish to a preferred feeding area) in appropriate quantities;

4. retaining captured fish in a suitably sized, constructed, and situated keepnet, pike tunnel, or carp sack prior to returning them to the water.

Ron Woods - 14/01/01