Sea Angling Census?

I'm interested in finding out how many sea anglers, both boat and shore we have in this country. It'd also be useful to see how many sea angling clubs we have. I'm also going to check how many tackle shops and charter boats we have. Just to get an idea of the size of the industry as it seems that nobody has really explored this yet, which is surprising as you would think that information like that would be of interest to the tourist board etc. I'd also like to see if we really are the sad bunch of losers that the government seems to feel secure in ignoring.

Could anyone who is a member of a sea angling club email me (NOT PM) the contact details of their Club Secretary, including particularly an email address if possible? I'll eventually post and manage the list of clubs as I get organised - I'm sure it'll be useful for anyone new to the sport looking to find a local club. You may use the template below if you wish.

Subject: Sea Angling Clubs

Club name:
Town:
County:
Secretary name:
Address:
Tel:
E-mail:
WWW:


I'm sure a good number of people fish who are not members of clubs. If that describes you, please also e-mail me. You can keep your details private if you wish - just send me a blank email with the following subject line

Subject: Unafilliated sea angler.

If you wish to add your name, location, preference for shore/boat angling etc, please feel free. Any and all personal details will be kept confidentail.

Is this for both sides of the border or only for the south m8?

Both.

price water house coopers are currently doing a fesibility study on recreational sea angling here in northern ireland at the minute and they are sending questionnaires to all ifsa affiliatted club secretaries as this is the only way they could think of to try to find out their info, i have requested a few extra and if there is a contact address on them once i get them i will post it here and anyone who wants one should get in contact with them to send out to you. put it like this, the more anglers they can see the better, it will all lead to helping us in the long run.
i think it is the department of the environment ni or something that has taken them on.
i will post more details when i find out more on the issue.

It'd be interesting to see what sort of questions they're asking. It might be worth dropping them a line outlining how we (and there's a lot more to 'we' than IFSA members) would like to see the future of angling shaping up and what we feel would be required to enhance things. Questionnaires are great for getting answers to specific questions from targetted groups but I've yet to see one that asked all the right questions from all the right people....

This sounds very good. I'd be well up for filling the form out and advertising it to as many sea anglers as I can.

John D.