In Europe, the management of sport fisheries is usually the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture although, in some cases - Denmark, Ireland, Norway 1 and Sweden- it falls partly under the Ministry of Fisheries. In some countries fishery administration is historically linked with water, wild game and forestry administration (France, Spain, Italy). In France this association dates back to the 13th century at which time the “Maître des Eaux et Forêts” was responsible for supplying the King's table with fresh fish. Biologically, fish and wild game are closely related, particularly from the point of view of management of natural resources. Both have affinities with forest and national park management, water control (irrigation, drainage, flood control) and other general problems of land use.
1 Moved to the new Ministry of Environment Protection as of January 1973.
The machinery set up in each country to manage sport fisheries varies with existing norms governing ownership of water, fishing rights and fishing licences. These in turn vary from country to country and often within each country.
Inland fisheries, unlike international sea fisheries, usually come under the political control of one single government and, consequently, should give rise to less controversy or governmental intervention. This is not always the case because hereditary rights, documentary titles, methods of defining fisheries limits, separation of fishing rights from the ownership of land, etc., do create many administrative and legal complications (Gaudet, 1968).
As a general rule, in Western Europe, inland water fishing rights belong to the owner of the adjacent land whether it is the State, a province, a municipality, an organization or an individual. Incidentally, Roman law made it clear that fish living in private waters belonged to the owner of that water area. Poachers could be sued on two grounds: trespassing and theft.
In Finland the primary ownership unit is the village and each farmer or landowner has his share in the collectively owned water area and enjoys fishing rights according to the size of his farm. However, in that country, the collectively owned water area may be parcelled or divided between the farmers according to their shares. It is easy to imagine the controversy that this system may engender between landowners and industry in cases of dam building and water pollution control.
In Denmark and the Netherlands, the separation of fishing rights from landownership is forbidden. In England and Wales, in non-tidal waters, the fishing rights are presumed to belong to the owner of the soil thereunder, but the owner may sell or lease these rights separately from the land. In Finland, irrespective of ownership, the government monopolizes salmon and trout fishing in the rivers flowing into the Gulf of Bothnia. Also, in that country, every citizen has the right to angle with natural bait within the limits of one's own commune without any licence or permission from the owners. In big lakes (over 8 km in diameter) as in coastal waters facing the open sea, the riparian right of the village reaches 500 m out from 2 m depth. It is, nevertheless, possible for the landowner to sell or lease the fishing rights separately from the land.
In tidal waters, in Ireland, England and Wales, fishing rights are in favour of the public but, again, there are exceptions in cases of historical or immemorial rights.
In Scotland, salmon, trout and all other freshwater fisheries are subject to proprietorship and there is no such thing as public fishery for these fish even if the land is owned by the Crown Estate. A proprietor of a salmon fishing area has no right to the fish until they are caught, but he has exclusive right to catch them within the boundaries of his fishery. Under law, however, salmon and sea trout fisheries in the Orkneys and Shetlands are pertinent to the ownership of land as in the case of ordinary freshwater fishery.
In France no fishing can take place without the permission of the owner of the fishing right, private or public. However, in order to facilitate sport fishing, the State has taken exceptional measures allowing licenced fishermen to angle in all public waters. This includes as many as 17 000 km of canals and rivers and 72 000 ha of lakes and reservoirs.
Fishing rights of water areas owned by the State in Turkey are normally publicly auctioned, while in France they are leased for five year periods.
In Israel, fisheries are owned collectively in kibutzim while fisheries in inland waters belong to the State. In Poland, commercial fishing rights may be given to any legal (or natural) person with proper qualifications. Sport fishing rights may be given on the condition of being a member of an anglers' association and on paying for a fishing licence.
Very little information is available on the licensing systems in use in the various European countries. From the data at hand, it appears that licensing serves both to regulate the fishing effort and to assure some revenues for the improvement of fisheries in general.
To finance the protection services in Ireland, the Boards of Conservators may impose a fishery rate on all fishery hereditaments. In addition, they obtain revenues from licence duties which are fixed by statute at uniform rates throughout the country and from grants from the Salmon Conservancy Fund which is fed by a levy on sales of salmon and a form of levy on salmon rod licences.
In France, being a member of a recognized fishing or fish culture association and the payment of an annual fishing tax (taxe piscicole) are compulsory. The proceeds of the fishing tax are earmarked for improvement of lakes and rivers.
In Poland, also, a licence has to be paid by anglers for particular types of fishing. Membership in the Polish Anglers' Association is compulsory. To fish in lakes of State fish farms, permission from the farm manager is necessary.
In Scotland, there is no fishing licence at all, either for sport or commercial fisheries. The same is true in Denmark, where anybody can fish freely for sport or commercially, provided the fisherman pays the owner of the water for the fishing rights.
Angling for brown trout in Ireland is not subject to licensing control.
In the United Kingdom the executive control of fisheries is vested in 27 River Authorities and 2 River Conservancies, which are responsible for pollution prevention and fisheries management. Each Authority has a Fisheries Department, staffed by a fisheries officer and a variable number of water bailiffs. Their task is to ensure that the various byelaws which are proposed by the Authority, and confirmed by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, are adhered to. Owners of private fisheries also employ water-keepers and bailiffs for the management of their fisheries. A reorganization of these bodies into 10 Regional Water Authorities is in progress, and the executive framework which will cover fisheries is not yet known.
Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Scotland have boards which fulfil similar needs. In Norway, Inland Fisheries Boards organized in each of Norway's 450 communities cooperate with district Salmon Fisheries Boards to supervise and improve inland fisheries. In Sweden, the bulk of the executive administration is carried out by boards which enjoy a high degree of independence from the Department of Agriculture. In Denmark, fisheries administration is oriented commercially and the relevant laws emphasize the commercial exploitation of inland waters.
In addition to river authorities and boards, the management of sport fisheries in Europe is facilitated through a variety of fishery trusts, fishery commissions, trust funds, conseil supérieur de la pêche, etc., etc. They can be private or subsidized partly or completely by Governments. In Belgium, the Fonds Piscicole is administered by the Ministry of Agriculture in collaboration with representatives of the fishermen from various provinces. This Fund is financed by 55 percent of the returns on fishing permits. In Spain, the final responsibility is vested into the Instituto Nacional para la Conservacion de la Naturaleza (ICONA) in the Ministry of Agriculture which includes two sub-divisions on sport fishing.
In Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the supervision and protection of fisheries and for fostering the establishment and development of fisheries. Two statutory bodies are responsible for the conservation, protection and improvement of the salmon and inland fisheries - the Foyle Fisheries Commission (established jointly by the Governments of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic) for the Londonderry Area and the Fisheries Conservancy Board for Northern Ireland for the rest of the country. The Ministry of Agriculture has acquired or leased fishing rights in a number of waters and can now offer to the public angling in over 40 lakes and stretches of rivers. These waters are stocked as necessary with fish from the Ministry's own fish farm and shore development works (provision of fishing stands, stiles, bridges and paths and clearance of weeds and shore vegetation) are carried out. A wide range of first-class angling is, therefore, available to local fishermen and tourists at low cost. Management is facilitated by a modern research laboratory. Because of previous low exploitation, especially with regard to coarse fishing, there was little tradition of management of fishing in Northern Ireland. However, management experience and expertise is increasing as the Ministry is opening up hitherto inaccessible waters and is cooperating actively with angling clubs involved in the development of their waters. To develop interest in coarse fishing, instructional courses and schools angling competitions have been organized and more are proposed.
In Sweden, courses are offered for the different owners of fishing waters as they have to manage their waters by themselves. A considerable amount of work is currently being done on the management of impoundments and on the regulations concerning power stations. National planning is treated in various departments. Recreational activities form a very strong part of it with fisheries playing an important role.
In Finland, there is no central national administration over sport fisheries. The Department of Fisheries and Game, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the National Water Board are jointly doing the planning for the rational development of sport fishing. According to the fisheries Act, the management of water areas (fisheries) under joint ownership has to be organized by the meeting of owners. The meeting defines the extent of fishing rights for different shares. The owners also are responsible for conservation and management of the area. The costs of the management are partially paid with the fisheries conservancy fees. The State is the sole owner or a shareholder of water areas exceeding 560 000 ha. These areas are administered by the National Board of Forestry.
In federated States such as the Federal Republic of Germany, Switzerland and Austria, sport fishery management is completely decentralized. This complicates the collection of standard data and seems to cause some duplication of effort.
To assist governmental units and the various boards and commissions to manage sport fisheries in Europe, a popular and effective tool is the angling association. In Poland and in France, membership is compulsory and it appears to greatly simplify the management task. In other countries, participation in voluntary anglers association is rather deceptive. In Finland, less than 10 percent of the anglers belong to angling associations, while in Belgium almost 20 percent do. Some associations are public, but most are semi-private or private. The latter two may receive financial assistance from the State. These associations regularly assist in re-stocking of sport fishing waters.
The Polish Anglers' Association with a membership of about 400 000 members is powerful indeed. It dates back to the National Fishing Association founded in Kraków in 1879 when the mountain streams were allotted to anglers and the lowland waters to net fishermen. There is still a considerable amount of controversy between anglers and commercial fishermen but the Association helps in smoothing out difficulties. It employs various specialists, fishery biologists and fishermen. It has an ambitious programme of re-stocking, building of facilities and with the cooperation or ORBIS (State tourist agency), the creation of facilities for foreign visitors. Its statistical service appears to be very efficient and it has made a number of studies on the management problems in that country (Paladino, 1965; Dabrowski and Walus, 1965). It also breeds fish for stocking in state-leased open waters (lakes and rivers) and conducts selective catches in those waters. It has numerous fish ponds and some hatcheries.
Yugoslavia claims 493 sport fishing associations and 41 clubs, all of which were associated in 8 unions, according to the political set-up of the country, which are fully responsible for the management of their respective waters. These are further regrouped under a Federal Union of Sport Fisheries Unions.
In Romania, departmental associations are grouped under the General Association of Hunters and Sport Fishermen with their headquarters in Bucharest. Similarly to the one in Poland, it administers sport fishing activities countrywide.
One management tool which should be underlined is the “cotos” system used in Spain (Spain, 1963). The term “coto” literally means “refuge”, but in the context of American fishery management (Gottschalk, 1970), it would be more accurately defined as managed stream section. In 1971, there were a total of 523 cotos in Spain: 66 for salmon, 322 for trout, 18 for crayfish, 50 for trout and crayfish and 67 for other species. The programme of fishery management includes stocking, population surveys and careful creel censuses. The principal activity on the fishing streams themselves has to do with improvement of accessibility. The effort to make the fishing experience more attractive to the angler is perhaps best exemplified by the provision of fishing shelters (refugios) and fishing piers. The shelters are well constructed and the local fish wardens apparently are in competition to determine the landscape gardener champion. Fishery activities on the streams are greatly facilitated by State ownership of the stream, including the riverbanks on both sides to a distance of three metres above the high-water mark. Exclusive state control was established early in the history of the management programme. The fish wardens keep minute records on the catch of fish from various areas, the movement of fish, size, weight of fish caught and bait used. Licence fees vary according to residence, fishing location, and the class of fishing-society membership to which the angler subscribes.
Membership in a society endows the angler the right to fish in special areas and to receive special treatment generally. A local resident who fishes in a section of a stream set aside in a “coto” with unlimited permits would pay only about 50 pesetas (72 U.S. cents). Fishing in a “coto” where permits are limited would cost twice that amount. Licence fees for those who are not members of societies are substantially higher.
At the international level, one body is particularly active in Europe, that is the Confédération Internationale de la Pêche Sportive (CIPS). It groups 23 member countries (all European except for South America). Its main purpose is to facilitate sport fishing at the international level. Its statutes which were revised in 1971 make it possible for international federations such as the International Pêche au Coup Federation, the CIPS Sea-Angling Federation and the CIPS Casting International Federation to operate within CIPS with their own statutes. CIPS has permanent committees on tourism, public relations, youth, and water protection. Although the CIPS has done little by way of measuring the importance of sport fishing, the machinery exists to, at least, strongly encourage such studies at the national level through the existing network of anglers' associations. EIFAC is in close collaboration with CIPS.
