BASC Competitors

We manage thousands of nature reserves and run marine conservation projects around our coasts. There are 46 Wildlife Trusts covering the UK, the Isle of Man and Alderney. Each of the 46 Wildlife Trusts is an independent charity with its own trustees.

Fishing is one of the country’s largest participation sports and the benefits of angling have never been more widely recognised—the Angling Trust is the national governing body for the sport of angling in England as well as a leading environmental NGO, representing anglers and creating opportunities for all to experience fishing in a healthy aquatic world. The Angling Trust has established itself as a leading voice in the protection and enhancement of the aquatic environment—we work across saltwater and freshwater environments alongside other leading partner NGOs as well as Fish Legal, our sister organisation, in advocating greater environmental protection, lobbying for positive change, and influencing political and NGO stakeholders in developing policy. We are leading members of the End Sewage coalition and across the past 70+ years, anglers have done more to raise awareness of the mistreatment of our waterways and practically seek to improve habitats and ecosystems than almost any other stakeholder group. In the past 12 months, we have introduced nearly 40,000 children and families to angling for the first time and engaged a further 20,000 primary school children through our innovative Reel Education programme. As an organisation, we have over 2,500 club and fishery members representing over 600,000 individuals—our army of national volunteers carry out thousands of water quality tests, thousands of community coaching sessions, thousands of voluntary enforcement hours, and we are rapidly approaching a million pieces of litter cleared from our aquatic environment.

The leading UK conservation charity conducting scientific research and developing sympathetic ways of managing the countryside for the benefit of Britain's game and wildlife. Our long term research is reliant on membership subscriptions and donations from our supporters. For the latest news about the Trust visit www.gwct.org.uk What do we do? We use science to promote game and wildlife management as an essential part of nature conservation. We develop scientifically researched game and wildlife management techniques. We promote our work to conservationists, including farmers and landowners and offer an on-site advisory service on all aspects of game and wildlife management, so that Britain’s countryside and its wildlife are enhanced for the public benefit. We influence government policy with sound science that creates progressive and effective policies. We support best practice for field sports that contribute to improving the biodiversity of the countryside. What do we believe? Scientific research should underpin sustainable conservation practice. Game and wildlife management is the foundation of good conservation. Field sports (in particular shooting and fishing) can contribute substantially to the conservation of landscape, habitat and wildlife. Humane and targeted predator control is an essential part of effective game and wildlife conservation. Good conservation goes hand-in-hand with economic land use.