Fishing: Call to promote Welsh angling tourism more

Fishing in Wales needs to be promoted more, to increase the economic benefits for rural communities, according to a former world champion angler.

Hywel Morgan, who was also European fly-casting champion, said he believed the money generated by angling tourism could be doubled.

According to a 2018 Natural Resources Wales (NRW) study, river fishing adds £20m each year to the Welsh economy.

This figure did not include fishing in lakes, fisheries or the sea.

But Hywel Morgan said he thought Wales could see far bigger benefits if more people knew about its "top class" fishing in all waters.

"For years in Wales we've been very secretive, keeping all the fishing to ourselves. We've got top class sea trout, salmon, brown trout and grayling fishing, and fantastic coastal fishing," he said.

"We run the grayling festival in north Wales for teams from all over Europe. They say that the Dee in north Wales is one of the best grayling rivers in Europe. We've got superstar waters in Wales."

In a statement, NRW said although some fish stocks were under pressure, there were plenty of sustainable rivers, still water and sea-fishing adventures for anglers in Wales.

Principal Fisheries Advisor Ben Wilson added: "Angling already plays an important role providing socioeconomic benefits often in rural parts of Wales.

"Fishing on Welsh rivers alone adds about £20m in goods and services to the economy every year and supports more than 700 jobs. We already attract anglers from England and Europe, and there is scope for us the attract more.

"We remain committed to supporting the angling community, improving fisheries and securing a sustainable future for the sport."

For the past two years, an angling tourism initiative has run called Fishing in Wales.

Despite coinciding with the Covid pandemic, marketing manager Ceri Thomas said it had been a success, with its website receiving 630,000 visits since July 2020.

Mr Thomas said: "We are certainly seeing ever-increasing numbers of inquiries from anglers outside Wales looking to fish here.

"Wales really has some world-class fishing, especially for trout and grayling. Llyn Brenig attracted 132 anglers for the prestigious Scierra pairs competition. Other trout lakes such as Llyn Clywedog are immensely popular with visitors.

"Sea angling in Wales is huge and very popular with visiting families, with charter boat skippers reporting a bumper summer. I feel we can market Wales as a premium angling destination much closer to home.

"The fishing is just as good as you will find in Europe and with our Celtic neighbours."

Cheryl Bulman, from Tregaron, Ceredigion, who manages two Welsh men's angling teams and fishes for the women's team, has competed across the UK.

As secretary of her local angling club she has seen the benefits fishing tourism can bring to the local economy.

"We have people constantly asking about hotel accommodation or where's the nearest campsite? What else is there to do in the area? So the economy across the board is benefiting. It's certainly a massive draw to it to any area," she said.

"I think the fishing in Wales is comparable with anywhere, but I think possibly we need to have a bit more self belief in what we have as well."

This weekend, a new game fair will be held on the Faenol Estate near Bangor, Gwynedd.

Hywel Morgan said he hoped the Welsh Game Fair could be a platform to promote fishing in Wales to a new audience, and a step towards emulating the success of a Celtic cousin.

He said: "I've been going to shows for 30 years and back then the Irish Tourist Board was the big stand on every show. They were just pushing and pushing the quality of angling in Ireland. We're playing catch up.

"The Welsh Game Fair in Bangor is a step forward, but we have to do a lot more. It's about time now Wales stepped up to the plate started showing people how good the quality of fishing is in Wales so we reap the benefits."