From AT web site...

19.03.09 Confederation of English Fly Fishers joins Angling Trust

The Angling Trust has announced that another major angling organisation will become a part of the new organisation. The Confederation of English Fly Fishers voted unanimously at its reconvened AGM on Saturday 14th March, at Rutland Water, to wind up and become a part of the Angling Trust, as soon as governing body status for the Trust is confirmed.

All of its activities will then be delivered by the Angling Trust. The CEFF will form a committee reporting to the board, called the England Fly Fishing Committee. Further discussions are ongoing with the England Ladies Fly Fishing Association, the England Youth Fly Fishing Association and the England Disabled Fly Fishers about their involvement with the Trust.

This latest development will bring the number of merged organisations to seven and strengthens the Trust’s representation of anglers’ interests in the UK.

Mark Lloyd chief executive of the Angling Trust says of the merger “I am delighted that the CEFF has decided to become a part of the Angling Trust. This will enable the Trust to develop national and international fly fishing competitions, to increase participation in all areas of fly fishing and to address directly the many issues affecting fly anglers throughout the country.”

Baz Reece, Chairman of CEFF comments: “CEFF has decided to become part of the Angling Trust because we can see that our aims will be best served by joining the single, governing body for all anglers. The Trust will attract new participants to our competitions, secure additional sponsorship for the national teams and provide a coaching framework to develop the skills of potential England team members.”

Good news I think.
Gillaroo

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We pass this way but once and in so doing grab a handful!

Yes mate, it also adds about £15 to our match entry fees for CEFF events this year which is going to decrease numbers!

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The AGM decided that the extra fees related to membership of AT would not start until the beginning of next season in October so there should not be any extra costs this year.

The Airflo International Classic will not be adding any extra costs this year.

Egnot.

It has been a long process for the CEFF to amalgamte into the trust.

All federations and associated organisations have been involved and it has been a unanimous decision.
Unlike other organisations we do not have paid professionals and as we were more diverse. All monies collected were for competition.

Being part of the Trust means that they have paid staff to do the jobs such as sponsorship and promotion. I have to be honest to say that we were not very good at that.

Also it was clear that we could not be recognised unless we accepted the Trust as the new governing body. The S&TA had a less robust attitude to competitors being members of the organisation but it was once in the constitution.

We knew that the issue regarding membership to compete would be a 'hot potato'. But we pay entarnce fees all the time in excess of what we pay for confed fees. The coarse and sea anglers have accepted this already so we can't be excluded.
We realised that there would perhaps be a drop in numbers. Next year the fees will reduce to £10.

The short sighted view is that we have to pay more.

But lets look at the whole deal here. Fly fishing is reducing in numbers as a whole year on year. The whole system of encouraging new blood into the sport and retaining them is disjointed. The Trust with the Angling development board is working on a development plan throughout the country to get youngsters, Ladies and disabled into angling. Introducing a network of regional developers to get funding locally to promote angling.
Once hooked the individual will be offered training to develop. They will have instructors and coaches to work with them. Should there be an aspiration to go into competition then we are working on an academy to develop those that have the potential.
So that is one positive area to see that we have a stream of future anglers and increase our numbers.

The Trust will also continue the work of the A.C.A. to bring polluters to book.

They will be the recognised body to pursue anglers interests at government level.

They also want to see that the teams that enter International competitions are well funded and also supported with qualified managers and coaches. Individual costs would come down.

Surely these objectives alone are worth paying into.

As an added incentive they have deals which could benfit individuals that would bring the initial cost down further.

The key to this is gaining Individual membership and representative numbers.

We are not only looking at competitive flyfishing but the whole of angling.

There is no magic wand and time will tell. But at the moment the Trust is the best way forward for us and I would ask anglers to be less short sighted and consider that apart from the added expense there is something for everyone here.

Baz