Fishing will not be allowed during the national lockdown, the Government has confirmed.
While official regulations have yet to be released, the Countryside Alliance issued a press release saying that people should not go fishing and clubs and fisheries should close their waters to anglers.
Sam Carlisle, a spokesman for the Countryside Alliance, said: ” As a keen angler myself I know first-hand the benefits of sitting by a riverbank for mental health.
“However, the guidance is clear and we all, individually, must be doing everything we can to stop the spread of the COVID pandemic; especially with a vaccine on the way.
“Understandably, many have questioned the logic of not being able to go fishing – given, that the sport by its nature, is mostly self-isolating, the benefits of pastoral wellbeing are well known as there is a degree of exercise involved.
“However, the Government is, up to this point, clear; angling does not fit the exercise criteria that it has set for the general public during lockdown.
“Going forward, the Countryside Alliance will be putting forward the case for the swift easing of restrictions to angling as and when it is determined that it is safe to do so.”
