Since gaining charitable status this year, the Salmon & Trout Association (S&TA), one of the prime movers of the angling unity initiative, sought – as part of the “due diligence” process – legal clarification of its position within the new unified body. Lawyers have now advised that, as a Charity, the SATA needs to ring-fence its activities to demonstrate that they meet the ‘public good’ requirements of the Charity Commission. Although this prevents the SATA from merging with single-interest, non-charitable organisations, it enables the S&TA to work alongside the unified body in order to provide a professional influencing lobby for the protection of all fish species and their habitats. It is currently negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the other unity organisations to this end.
Paul Knight, S&TA CEO, declares, “We are totally committed to the principle of unity among the various angling organisations. We have worked very hard to achieve this much-desired result, and will continue to use our very best endeavours to assist in making this come about. Our charitable status now gives us a much greater flexibility to take the widest possible remit in protecting salmonid and other fish stocks, and the environment on which they depend, and we are delighted we can now offer such a valuable facility to our unity colleagues.”
James Carr, S&TA Chairman, adds, “We believe that our broader charitable remit provides the best possible way for us to win arguments and influence Governments. It gives us the ability to link issues directly involving angling with other environmental and social matters, thereby providing a wider support base for our lobbying efforts. We can, therefore, represent the interests of everyone with a love – for whatever reason – of the aquatic environment. This, combined with our heritage of 105 years of working to protect fisheries and fish stocks, offers a unique and powerful contribution to the angling cause.”
