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A poll has just been launched to identify a national fish for the British Isles. The four hundred odd British species have been pruned down to twenty freshwater and twenty sea species that we can vote for. Here’s a link for the webpage.
www.btwlfishproject.com/#!uk-national-fish/gus4w
The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot a glaring omission. The Sea Trout, arguably the national freshwater fish of Wales, has been left off the list. I emailed in complaining about this and was told that Sea Trout had been excluded because they are the same species as brown trout (and that, if I wanted Sea Trout to win the poll, I should therefore vote for brown trout).
Scientifically this may well be true but it is also misleading and unhelpful. Whatever the scientific technicalities, anyone who fishes for sea trout knows that they have to be approached as a separate and different species in their own right. An eight foot number 4 fly rod, a four pound point and a size 18 dry fly isn’t going to cut it with a Towy or a Dovey fifteen pound sea trout.
A lot of what happens in the UK is geared up to the needs and preoccupations of England’s Home Counties. As a born and bred Londoner who has lived in Wales for the past twenty two years, this often strikes me as both odd and rather unfair. The blithe assumption that Sea Trout can be airbrushed out of the equation is, I think, an unfortunate one that ought to be challenged.
If anyone else shares my unhappiness about this, it would be interesting to hear what response they get from querying this. I used the ‘contact’ link at the top of the voting page.
I had at first thought, wrongly, that the poll was being run by the Angling Trust but it turns out that they were merely publicising it via their newsletter but were not organising it.
www.btwlfishproject.com/#!uk-national-fish/gus4w
The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot a glaring omission. The Sea Trout, arguably the national freshwater fish of Wales, has been left off the list. I emailed in complaining about this and was told that Sea Trout had been excluded because they are the same species as brown trout (and that, if I wanted Sea Trout to win the poll, I should therefore vote for brown trout).
Scientifically this may well be true but it is also misleading and unhelpful. Whatever the scientific technicalities, anyone who fishes for sea trout knows that they have to be approached as a separate and different species in their own right. An eight foot number 4 fly rod, a four pound point and a size 18 dry fly isn’t going to cut it with a Towy or a Dovey fifteen pound sea trout.
A lot of what happens in the UK is geared up to the needs and preoccupations of England’s Home Counties. As a born and bred Londoner who has lived in Wales for the past twenty two years, this often strikes me as both odd and rather unfair. The blithe assumption that Sea Trout can be airbrushed out of the equation is, I think, an unfortunate one that ought to be challenged.
If anyone else shares my unhappiness about this, it would be interesting to hear what response they get from querying this. I used the ‘contact’ link at the top of the voting page.
I had at first thought, wrongly, that the poll was being run by the Angling Trust but it turns out that they were merely publicising it via their newsletter but were not organising it.
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