We have been contacted by several angling clubs on whether angling is permitted at the current time.
The Government announcement on the 23rd of March included the following:
The only permissible reasons to leave your home are as follows:
-to shop for basic necessities and that should be limited to once a day
-to take exercise once a day – but alone or with your own household, not in groups
-for medical reasons or to care for a vulnerable person
-to travel to essential work if that cannot be done at home.
Further guidance to employers is pending.
In agreement with Police Scotland, officers will be permitted to deploy ‘soft enforcement’ of these measures, prior to the Scottish Government taking legal powers from Thursday (tomorrow).
The First Minister reiterated guidance of the Scottish Government for people to stay home and only venture outside when absolutely necessary.
As angling is not and can not be seen as an essential activity we believe it is now an excluded activity.
Fishery Management Scotland issued this statement today:
Ultimately, it is for individual proprietors to determine whether fishing can take place in accordance with the latest announcements. However, we do not consider that fishing is an essential activity, and, in most cases, it requires a degree of travel which could not be considered essential.
It is our view that the fisheries management and angling communities should play a full part in this greater societal commitment, and therefore it is the strong recommendation of Fisheries Management Scotland that we should refrain from fishing during the lockdown period.
This guidance will be reviewed in 3 weeks time so we encourage anglers, angling clubs and proprietors to respect the guidance as it is designed to save lives.
