Stuart Mcpherson Resigns From Angling Trust

I was very sad today to read that Stuart Mcpherson has resigned from his post as Sea Angling Representative with the Angling Trust. Whitby Sea Anglers (WSA) learnt this morning that Stuart has now left the AT due to various reasons which will no doubt be made public in the long run. I look forward to reading the AT press release on the issue, but as usual, I expect that it will in no way represent the real goings on behind the scenes. In the meantime here is the email I recieved this morning telling me Stuart had stood down :

Dear all.
This email is for your information following the resignation of Stuart McPherson from the Angling Trust. For anyone who doesn’t know, Stuart took over as Angling Trust Marine Director from the old NFSA chairman, Richard Ferre. It is my opinon that Stuart was the man capable of finally doing what was right for sea anglers, following years of us being sold down the river; largely by a few unelected charlatans. In fact, one of the first things he did after taking up office was to recognise the threats we faced from Defra and Cefas and refused take part in the data gathering excercises that would have allowed the sell out, (started by said charlatans), to become complete.

Without dragging this out too much, suffice to say that I believe he was the man we all needed to stop the rot. Now he’s gone – because the people at the top of the Angling Trust made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for him to carry on representing sea anglers as they needed to be represented. It seems that politics and PR opportunities, for the Angling Trust and it’s hangers on, are more important than quality representation and the defence of sea anglers’ rights.

Now to the crunch. I have spoken to Stuart about his reasons for resigning and have to say that I fully understand, and support, his decision. He has not let anyone down in any way; in fact, I believe the oposite is true. He was totally commited to fair and steadfast representation for all sea anglers and, therefore, his actions should have demonstrated to all of us that, under it’s present form, the Angling Trust has nothing to offer sea anglers. If it had, I’m sure he would have stayed. We must remember that his reasons for resigning are as valid now as they were when he made the decision, so we should be very wary of anyone who steps into his shoes claiming that they can achieve what Stuart couldn’t. I am of the opinion that he did everything that was humanly possible to make the Angling Trust work for sea anglers.

Anything short of what Stuart was trying to achieve will involve unwanted compromises and the completion of the sell out. For that reason, I would expect the rest of the Marine Committee and the Marine Conservation Group of the Angling Trust to show a bit of ‘Angling Unity’, and support Stuart McPherson by handing in their own resignations. It will very interesting to see who does and, more importantly, who doesn’t.

Please see below, contents of an email from Wayne McCully, (elected Essex divisional rep of the Angling Trust and Marine Committee member), which he sent to the Marine Committee and Marine Conservation Group of the Angling Trust early this morning.

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Hi All

I am concerned that many / most of the comments received so far indicate a willingness to blunder on as per the NFSA of old. The NFSA that played a key role in discrediting RSA representation through sheer negligence. The NFSA that wouldn’t say boo to a goose, and was only too happy to sign up to, or invent, the next catastrophic initiative. The NFSA that let unelected CG members, completely out of touch with ‘real’ sea angling, and with a woefully inadequate understanding of the documents their names are attached to, toddle off to meetings to do and say all the wrong things. The NFSA that failed.

Gentlemen, we are at a crossroads.

General ‘Angling Unity’, certainly inside of a Government funded NGB, is but a myth. The most capable, fair and genuine of sea angling representatives has resigned due to a number of reasons, of relevance to all of us, and all of those represented. RSA politics is being eyed up as a political / PR opportunity, and it’s independence is in immediate jeopardy.

I do not believe the likes of ML, Salter, ‘Magnificent 7′ give a fig for sea angling recruitment. A parity with freshwater anglers concerning licensing, would clear the way for a levy to support this sorry reincarnation of failed organisations, except that this time it will be a state funded monopoly….. run by overpaid political eunuchs.

Is there even such a thing as ‘Sea Angling Unity’?

An entirely new format that demonstrates that each and every one of us irrefutably puts the long term interests the sport and it’s participants first and foremost. Preferably, conducted as far away from ML, Salter, Government funding, and their AT apologists, as is possible.

Prior to Friday’s meeting, the messages of support for Stuart were unanimous and, quite rightly, in full flow. Now that Stuart has had no choice but to hand in his resignations, again, with unanimous understanding and support, what? Ta ta, Stuart….we think we’ll stay put after all???

The loss of Stuart McPherson should sound the death knell for the entire MC of the Angling Trust. I am 100% confident that if he could not overcome the hurdles put in his way, in order to fulfil the role of Marine Director to the extremely high standards he set, and maintained throughout, nobody can.

I will not stand by whilst BS press releases begin to flow, appeasing sea anglers, and no doubt leading a few into that false sense of security a handful have identified and shamelessly exploited, by way of an anglers natural optimism.

To do anything else would be downright deceitful.

Wayne

No doubt WSA will be running more on this story in the coming weeks. Please bookmark our site for all your future updates.