Suggestions that marine anglers should pay for sea fishing rod licences have received a frosty reception from some of the sport's enthusiasts, who claim the idea could drive people away from the pursuit.
Speaking to the Norwich Evening News, two anglers questioned the wisdom of introducing such a measure and suggested administrative costs could make the scheme prohibitively expensive to manage.
"For centuries, local people have enjoyed the right to fish from the foreshore and anglers around this town would strongly object if that right was taken away from them," Gorleston fisherman Paul Tovell told the newspaper.
His comments were backed by local league organiser Tony Thomas, who claimed the implementation of sea fishing rod licence controls would be near-impossible because of the size of the area which would need to be patrolled.
There has been a nationwide debate on the future of angling funding in recent months, amid fears the coalition government may cut subsidies to the Environment Agency.
