Birmingham Anglers Association

More damage to fish is caused by misuse of tackle by the angler rather than the tackle used.
I'd ban social media from angling before keepnets, to end the 'get the picture at any cost' culture.
And I bet signal crayfish do more damage to our barbel stocks than anglers, just that we don't see them scoffing, which seems to mean its ok.

I haven't put a barbel in a keepnet, either because the clubs I fish ban it, or if I was able to, I'd be bothered about someone with an AK47 pointing the barrel at me for doing so.
I do think though a properly staked out fin safe net in the right place is a good place for barbel to rest up. I stake out my keepnet so that the bottom end of the net is upstream. I can put a fish in the net and he is facing upstream, it an swim up the net, sit there and rest, and if there ever was a problem the chances are I can see it has a problem and can act acordingly. I certainly wouldn't use a keepnet if I had fatalities. You don't need to pour fish out at the end of a session, lowering the mouth of the net into the water allows the fish to swim out themselves.

Some people don't really care about fish welfare in the way they fish, so you'll never rid the problem. If there weren't so many that will take the p*** then there wouldn't need to be half the rules and regs. It's not just in fishing but in society as a whole, looking for faults in what others do, and hoping they fail.

I do find it odd that the a couple of pro amtch anglers appose using a keepnet for leisure sessions, when they fish matches many days of the week where they use a keepnet, and on their leisure sessions they are doing an article for the mags or their sponsors, and have to use a net for the pics.

I find it quite strange that nobody on any fishing forum leaves fishing line behind. It must be the damn otters again How many fish do you see mistreated because they are not the target species or are too small, dodgy rigs, or setups?

You can go to the other end of the spectrum too, with those that haven't caught a barbel or any other large fish before. Are you going to stop them fishing for barbel, and if so how are they going to learn.
Most of my fishing time is not only spent introducing kids to fishing, but teaching them how to fish, on a voluntary basis. This came about after watching bailiffs ticking off kids for various things but never showing them or teaching them how to do things correctly. And the same happens on forums, rather than go and help somebody, it's more convenient to wait to get home to have a whinge online. Help them out if they're struggling

The fun has gone out of fishing and needs bringing back. I wish people would just go out and enjoy their fishing rather than jump on the latest Politically Correct Bandwagon. If fishing makes your blood boil then take up golf. I hate commercial carp puddles but it doesn't me a right to shout to ban it. It's just another discipline of our sport that I don't participate in.

It's not just the match angler, the carp angler, barbel angler, game angler, etc, it's the angler with no common sense.

But before campaigning to ban keepnets, ban Social Media from fishing, as 'The Photo' is probably a bigger killer of fish.