What Price to Pay?
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 03 July 2008 07:01
- Written by John Watson
Now here is a poser for us all. As wild fish anglers, what do we bring to remote village economies? In my own case very little. When on a fishing trip most of my provisions are taken with me and village is usually just a safe parking area for access to wild waters.
On hill-walking trips I do tend to use the shops, pubs, cafes etc. and spend my leisure time in the community meeting locals and other walkers/visitors. On the very rare occasion, nowadays, when I am a paying guest in a chalet, caravan, hotel etc. I will frequent the local traders, but I find mostly I arrive and spend my time off the beaten track fishing, returning to the car and heading home without even calling into the local pub. This, on reflection, is not a good way to spread the vision of a sociable angling society. To be brutally honest, we as anglers in some ways are no better than some absentee landlords. We work elsewhere to earn enough to pay for our leisure time in remote areas whilst putting almost nothing into the local economy. At the same time, we are usually taking nothing out so we probably feel justified in doing so, but is this the case? It is true that these communities have managed for many years without our contribution and will continue to do so for many years to come, so why should we bother?
My social conscience was pricked a few years ago on a large loch dotted with small communities. We had asked locally if we could park our car and boat trailer in the village hall car park. The gentleman we had spoke to was extremely polite informing us that the car park was indeed usually empty as there was little demand for the village hall. Most people who came that way looked at the scenery, took a short stroll and then carried on to their planned destination taking nothing, but also leaving nothing. Why didn’t we spend a weekend in the village, hire a boat and add something to the local economy, perhaps even making some new friends? Because we were selfish. We wanted peace and quiet for the weekend, to have a drink and to "chill out". Understandably so as we work all week and want to spend our leisure time as we please.
So as wild fish anglers what can we do? Simply, next time you are in a remote village please use some of the services - well done to you if you already do so. If you feel you are being overcharged then say so, but remember goods in remote areas do cost more due to delivery charges. In a few instances you will find the rip off culture, usually to be found to in incomers to an area charging well over the odds for what can be a sub standard service. If possible let them know your feelings by refusing their service and moving to somewhere more deserving. This is not always practical and in some remote areas we just have to grin and bear it.
So there we have it. We may have to pay slightly more for our trip but, compared to what we spend on throwaway consumables, is it really a high price to pay for us anglers to earn some goodwill?