For the first time in fifty years, I missed the recent Annual General Meeting of the United Clyde Angling Protective Association. Ironically, I had anticipated that this meeting might have taken place at the end of January and I expressed the fear that bad weather might have persuaded a lot of members not to venture out.

 

When it became clear that the meeting was not going to take place until the end of February, I felt confident that there would be no such excuses. This failed to take into consideration the possibility of the sudden and savage return of winter, at least on high ground. Within a few hours, several inches of snow had blocked my route out of my West Lothian home. Even without this inconvenience, a thick freezing fog started to settle in. I opted to telephone my apologies. I hope to be given a report in due course.

 

As far as the formal business is concerned, I can make quite a few predictions about how the first part of the meeting went. Hopefully, the chairman, Matt Mitchell, will have read out my apology, and not too many others. He would then welcome those who did manage to get through and try to thank all of the members who have worked on behalf of the anglers who fish the Clyde. I think he once forgot to mention Joe Quigley, the hard working secretary. He never seems to include his own considerable efforts which he makes to protect our river.

 

The minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting will probably have been accepted with little comment. Joe is an old hand at getting this sort of thing right. The accounts will have been gone through with a fine tooth comb and someone is bound to want clarification about some minor point. The important thing is that the association’s funds are still in relatively good condition.

 

Most of us would be perfectly happy to accept the accounts are accurate. However, the association has been a limited company for many years and is therefore obliged to have the accounts independently, and professionally, audited. The auditor’s report will have been accepted without comment. The auditors, themselves, will no doubt be invited to continue to carry out their duties.

 

One of the resolutions on the agenda is the election of directors. This is only relevant to one third of current Board of Directors. I like this rule. It has offered a high degree of protection for thirty five years ago. Before then, it went unnoticed that it would have been very easy for a small number of anglers to band together and hijack the association, take its funds and disappear into the night. All that they had to do was to turn up at the annual general meeting with enough supporters to be in the majority.

 

I remember one year when the stocking policy of the association was turned around by a small number of anglers who relied upon the bulk of the members to support them without necessarily knowing why. Even although the Executive Committee did not agree with the proposal that was put forward, they were obliged to carry out the instructions of those members who were present and voted. Needless to say, the policy was changed the following year and it was decided that decisions of that magnitude would be kept in the hands of the committee and not left to the emotional reactions which could surface at an annual general meeting. Of course, anyone who cared enough could join the executive committee.

 

The Executive Committee was obliged to rename itself when the Association became a limited company. Any permit holder can become a member and any member can become a director. Because the directors retire on a three year rotation, it would take three years to replace all of them.

 

The most interesting part of the meeting comes after the formal business has drawn to a close. The various committees report on their activities and then the members get to put their ideas forward. I wonder if anyone suggested that UCAPA should follow Lamington in becoming a fly only water. I also wonder if anyone suggested that they should follow the attempt of the Mid Clyde Angling Association to purchase Migratory Fish Rights on their section of the lower Clyde. This association was established for the purpose of looking after the salmon fishing downstream of Bothwell Bridge. Just like UCAPA and the Avon Angling Club they lease the salmon rights from the Crown which today means the Scottish Government.

 

When a beat on a major river is sold, its asking price is usually based upon the average number of salmon that have been taken during the previous five years. A few years ago, this equated to something like £2,000 per fish. When the owner of the fishing rights, which would probably not be the owner of the land, wanted to sell, they would invite the best anglers in the country to fish their water in order to boost the catch rate and therefore enhance the price.

 

I have never developed an interest in salmon fishing and therefore I have not developed the same relationship, with Mid Clyde, that I have with the other groups working on the main river and some of its tributaries. I know that they will be hard working and honest. In spite of that, I hope that they have a robust constitution to protect them.

 

While they merely lease the rights to fish for salmon from the government, they are not an attractive proposition. If the Government officials did not like the look of them they would not let them have the lease. The same would apply to any other group which wanted to move in. However, if they owned the lease outright, there could be some unscrupulous people who would be quick to infiltrate the association. Such people would not have the best interests of the Clyde, or its anglers, at heart.

 

The main aim of all of the clubs and associations along the Clyde has been to maintain the fishing on the river at a price that was affordable to the local angler. This is why the salmon fishing is currently available at such a low price. The entire river has been looked after by volunteers for more than a hundred and twenty years. During that time, no one has sought to turn a profit from the fishing. We would like it to stay that way.

 

Article by Mr Tom McGregor, UCAPA Director Public Relations