Angling for a Better Environment
Borderlines' Angling for a Better Environment Project has with the assistance of the grant provided by the Solway Coast AONB Sustainable Development Fund provided 10 days of angling events for a total of 120 young people between the ages of 9 and 16 from deprived wards in Allerdale and Carlisle between January and April 2006.
In order to reach youngsters in the most deprived areas Borderlines worked with Impact Housing to target the Mossbay ward, Netherhall School to target the Ellenborough, Ewanrigg and Netherhall wards in Allerdale (The Netherhall ward was targeted instead of the St Michaels ward in Workington because, unfortunately we were unable to find anyone to work with to target youngsters in the St Michaels ward within the time scale involved) and Carlisle City Councils Sport and Recreation department to target the Morton, Botcherby, Harraby, Castle and Upperby wards in Carlisle.
During the earlier sessions only a few fish were caught due to the hard frosty weather, but as the sessions went on more and more flounders were caught culminating in 40 fish during the final session. All fish caught were returned alive to the water.
On all of the events youngsters were not just taught how to fish, they were introduced to the geography of the area, the Solway Coast Environment, its animal and plant life. As well as learning about safety whilst fishing, the fish themselves and the countryside code participants were also introduced to the ecology of the Solway Firth and shown how by sieving the estuary mud they could find a host of invertebrates that provide food for fish and birds alike. It was also explained how man can spoil that environment through pollution, fly tipping and leaving litter. During all the sessions we tried to instil a caring attitude and a respect for the environment.
After each event all those taking part received a certificate of attendance. Participants were also given a questionnaire to fill to allow us to gauge their understanding of the events and help us to improve on our presentation of future events.
Borderlines Company No. 5500597, Registered at Company's House Cardiff 6/7/2005