Is this the biggest ever gathering of the UK tackle trade? Seventy representatives from manufacturers, retailers, fishery owners, the media and government bodies met last week to formulate a plan for growing participation in fishing.

Delegates came from as far afield as Prague, Scotland and Cornwall to attend ‘Keep Britain Fishing: The UK Angling Think Tank’, organised by the Angling Trades Association (ATA) near Solihull, Birmingham. The think tank is the first step in the ATA’s goal to devise a large scale marketing campaign, led and resourced by the angling trade.

“This is a day for action,” said ATA Chairman and CEO, John Loftus. “The fact that so many people have turned out shows how important this is and that they really do care. The aim is for the people in this room to find solutions to the challenges facing us. We can only make change by working together. If we don’t act this industry will find itself in terminal decline.”

Marketing expert Catherine Pybus, who is co-ordinating the campaign, told delegates they had ‘to make something happen’ and challenged them to come up with a marketing development plan:
Ÿ• that will get more people fishing;
Ÿ• that can be communicated;
Ÿ• that the trade will get behind;
Ÿ• that will bring in new ATA members, and
•Ÿ that the ATA can execute.

Source: www.angling-international.com.

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