Rubbish!

Woke up early on Sunday morning. It was a beautiful sunny day so I left the still sleeping wife and weans and drove to Lenan Pier for a few casts. The fishing was good with five Gurnard and a wee pollack, all taken on mackeral. There was two cormorant and about six razorbill feeding away there in the sunlight. I left around 11 am feeling all was well with the world. Before leaving I made sure tidy up and to leave nothing behind me.

Later in the day I was out for a drive and called back round by the pier. To my disgust there were beer tins, bits of smelly bait and the plastic blast frozen bags, plus a squid box and a plastic bag of crap cleaned out of a car including crisp bags, tissues, etc etc, all dumped on the peir, not to mention a strong smell of urine in the air. Such a contrast to the beauty of the morning I had experienced there. I had a nosey in the bag and found a receipt from a shop in Derry. These mucky muckers just threw everything at their arses and left the pier in a dreadful mess. Who do they think they are? They and their ilk get all anglers a bad name. How do the local fishermen who use the pier for thier living feel when they find this sort of mess left behind at their place of work?

Not only do dirty anglers ruin beauty spots and cause enviromental damage but they give ammunition to those who want our sport banned. I appeal to every angler to treat the marks we fish with respect, take your rubbish home.

fishing should not be banned. if the government actually prosecuted 'people in general' for littering offences there would be a lot less rubbish- everywhere.

it gets on my wick too. but what can you do?

Interesting subject that. I have always though that in general all anglers cared for the environment. as we spent so much time outdoors taking in all the beauty that nature has to offer. I'm sure nearly every trip and angler will see something really nice that will add to the pleasure of their day thus promoting the love of Nature and the outdoors. How wrong I am. In the last couple of years I have noticed a large increase in the amount of litter I find and all venues. Those that know me know that I trout fish and coarse fish. I am finding rubbish everywhere I go. This is something that needs to tackled NOW and tackled hard. It's hard to suggest an exact fix, but maybe if there are local clubs they should get in touch with the local council and request some signs for the worst hit areas. Maybe requesting bins to be places on all piers and popular marks... Maybe if the requests were coming from clubs and numbers of individuals rather that the odd single request, we might make a little progress. Just my thoughts, but I hope we can start resolving this problem before is gets out of control.

Kevin

they only solution that will work is bins provided by the council - as long as they empty them on the weekends, which I understand they are only now doing on dollymount :shock: . A twix wrapper blew from my pocket yesterday while fishing and I had to chase it at full tilt to capture it into the sea - thank god for waders !

tackle shops should use more paper bags. i know with frozen baits plastic wrapping makes sense. in this case wouldn't it at least be nice if the makers had something like 'Ammo baits encourages people to dispose of there litter accordingly'. again i say 'people' because using 'anglers' is not fair to anglers!! it may seem harsh but i don't consider litter louts as anglers. they are often just 'visitors' to our past-time and they don't care. how can you get through to them? the chances are they will never read anything on this forum nevermind the posts on this topic of all things. people that litter are people, not anglers. angling should not take the blame. ever see O'Connol street early on a weekend morning? rubbish everywhere!!!! a right kip!! they won't ban going out too will they?!

yes i totally agree with you there m.b3

ever see O'Connol street early on a weekend morning? rubbish everywhere!!!! a right kip!! they won't ban going out too will they?!

While I agree with you mate, us anglers seem to be a quite bunch. They wont ban angling outright but if the amount of litter keeps growing at the rate it is especially on some peirs and rock marks some local coucil member might push for a ban on that mark on safety grounds. This might be accepted given that on some venues I have found discarded feathers and loads of nylon. This is a serious danger to wildlife and people.

Kev