Logo : Angling Trades Association - At the heart of the tackle trade

The Angling Trades Association (ATA)

The Angling Trades Association represents angling manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, publishers and distributors and is the Voice of the British Angling Industry.  Formed in 1977, the ATA remains the only trade body representing the angling industry.

It counts amongst its 60+ strong membership base a majority of the countries leading angling suppliers, as well as a number of the industries leading retailers.

Its function is to promote, represent and protect the trade across all three angling disciplines - sea, game and coarse fishing. In so doing it aims to achieve not only long-term stability for the sport but, more importantly, growth and development.

The Association is run by a board elected from its membership with the assistance of a technical director and secretarial guidance from the Federation of Sports & Play Associations (FSPA), the UK's largest sports trade body.   The ATA are one of 17 UK trade associations who operate under the umbrella of the FSPA.

ATA Press Pack

The new ATA Press pack is now available to media and related organisations to download for more information about the Association

Please navigate the menu to the left to find out more about the ATA and its members.

 

National Trade Survey

Latest News

  • ATA Initiatives. Consumer and Trade Adverts
    New adverts have been produced that have been sent out to various publications,simply designed to inform consumers what the ATA is and what it does and for the trade to inform them of the benefits of joining the ATA.
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  • ATA Initiatives - Take your line home campaign - LOGO
    New campaign - to promote safety of wildlife.
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  • A Statement on Otters from Angling Trust
    The joint statement put out recently by the Angling Trust, Natural England and the Environment Agency was the product of the first of many meetings about otters and fisheries. It was based on the information available at the meeting. Since then, anglers have contacted us reporting problems on other waters. The Trust has been set up to represent the views of all anglers, based on good quality information, and we have therefore produced a questionnaire for anglers to let us know what is going on in the rivers and stillwaters they know best
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  • Sea Anglers selling fish are cast adrift.
    The Marine Committee of the Angling Trust meeting in June agreed that they would only represent recreational sea anglers. The meeting confirmed that the EAA definition of Recreational Sea Angling formulated in 2004 should be their criteria:
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  • Trust attacks fishing firm's 'let-off'
    THE sentence handed to a fishing firm which flouted EU quota regulations was a "let-off" that undermines attempts to protect threatened fish species, an angling association has said. The Angling Trust has described its dismay at the two-year conditional discharge handed to Newlyn-based W Stevenson and Sons in place of a fine. Judge Philip Wassall sentenced the firm at Exeter Crown Court last week after the firm pleaded guilty to running a scam between April and September 2002 which involved falsifying landing documents to sell more expensive fish.
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  • SALTER SAYS SEA ANGLERS HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR FROM THE MARINE BILL AND ALL ANGLERS HAVE MUCH TO GAIN FROM “ONCE IN A GENERATION” OVERHAUL OF FISHERIES LAW
    Parliamentary spokesman for Angling and Reading West MP Martin Salter spoke yesterday in the House of Commons in support of the Marine and Coastal Access Bill which received an unopposed Second Reading and will now go into its final committee stage. The Bill, which is expected to become law in October, has been eagerly awaited by angling, environmental, and conservation groups and will be an international first, as Mr Salter said in the House. He said:-
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  • Ancient eel fishing tradition under threat
    For centuries, their lives have been ruled by the moon and the tides. Now East Anglia's last few eel fishermen could be forced to hang up their nets because experts believe a ban could be the only way to save the mysterious fish. Scientists say eel populations are at less than 10pc of 1970s levels. A parasite which infests the creature's swim bladder - which it needs to regulate its depth when swimming at sea - is believed to be responsible.
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  • Despite Economy Tackle and Fishing License Sales Holding Steady
    Despite the sluggish economy and cut backs in consumer spending, there are strong indications that recreational angling remains one of the largest outdoor recreational activities in the nation as well as one of the most solid industries in the United States
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  • Joint statement about Otters and Fisheries from Angling Trust, English Nature and the Environment Agency
    The Wildlife Management Group met recently to exchange information and to seek opportunities to resolve issues regarding otters and freshwater fisheries.
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  • Environment Agency release value of Rod Licenses Sold
    Environment Food and Rural Affairs information
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  • Environment agency release their rod license database
    Environment Food and Rural Affairs
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  • EU begins fisheries policy review
    European Union fisheries ministers are in Brussels to review rules on how much fish can be caught in EU waters
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  • SALTER SPEAKS UP FOR ANGLING IN THE COMMONS
    Labour Angling Spokesman and Reading West MP Martin Salter spoke up for angling once again in the House of Commons this week in a debate on the “Condition of Rivers” in Westminster Hall timed to coordinate with the launch of the “Rivers on the Edge” campaign supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the RSPB and the Angling Trust.
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  • Angling Trust announces new regional team to promote angling nationwide
    The Angling Trust has recently confirmed the appointment of six new Regional Officers to join the two already in place.
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  • A statement on inland navigation on waterways from the Angling Trust
    The Angling Trust has issued within the below document a statement on navigating inland waterways.
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  • National Fishing Week – a new era
    Following a recent strategic meeting between the Angling Trade Association, the Angling Trust and the Environment Agency, it was unanimously decided that the newly-formed Angling Trust would oversee the running of the successful National Fishing Week in 2009 and beyond.
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  • Equitable use of our waterways
    A campaign led by the Welsh Canoeing Association (WCA), and supported by numerous organisations from Wales and beyond, led to the Welsh Assembly's Petitions Committee carrying out a "short inquiry into access along inland water". That short inquiry has now led to a full inquiry with a view to legislation.
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  • Anglers urged to throw back fish
    The Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) said numbers were down on almost all of the major rivers. At present more than 70% of salmon caught are released back into the water but the group said there was a "strong case" to make it 100%
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  • Eels in crisis after 95% decline in last 25 years
    Mysterious disappearance could lead to limits on fishing and ban on exports. They ought to be wriggling through briny water and marshy flatlands in their hundreds of thousands right now. But the mystery of the vanishing eels is troubling fisheries officials, conservationists and fishermen who for generations have hunted the curious animal.
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  • Conservation Group Offers "Freedom to Fish" To Highest Bidder New Management Approach Would Sell Off Recreational Access
    Galloway, NJ - In what can best be described as a "pay to play" version of fisheries management, the Texas-based conservation group, Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), has gone on record with a new socialized approach to managing the nation's coastal fisheries, whereby access to the resource is offered to the highest bidder.
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  • Anglers welcome regulation of forgotten sewage discharges (at last)
    The Angling Trust and Fish Legal cautiously welcomed today’s announcement from the Environment Agency that, 20 years after privatisation, over 4,000 unregulated sewage overflows are finally to be monitored and policed

Events Diary