The current position of this proposal is that the JNCC have made their recommendation to Defra who will share it with the House of Commons and the House of Lords before reaching/communicating the final decision. 

None of this will happen before a new PM is appointed and both houses return from their summer break. As we get closer to the time when the politicians will have sight of the JNCC recommendation it is even more important that we don’t provide those who proposed the ban with any more material they can use. 

Images, even if they are showing best practise, are routinely manipulated and used against the sport. Reports of caught fish, long fight times etc are also be used against us.  

The vast majority of charter skippers have heavily edited their Porbeagle posts and many have stopped them entirely this year. Reducing their business marketing is a big sacrifice for these businesses and we should all respect that by not making any posts ourselves unless you are 100% sure they are being posted in a private site.  

One bad image or piece of poor reporting when we are so close to both houses reviewing the JNCC recommendation could easily change the minds of politicians who currently have a neutral view to one where they support the ban.  

If we are to succeed in challenging this proposed ban, all participants in the sport, whether they are commercial or private individuals, need to work together on this and resist any temptation to post stuff. 

Once a post is made, we lose any opportunity to challenge any misinformation put in the minds of the politicians and the public by the media. All it takes is one post, no matter how correct it is, to be manipulated and incorrectly presented for recreational sea angling for Porbeagle to be banned and that would just be the start  – bans on other shark species would quickly follow.

Please help us challenge this ban by either not posting any porbeagle material or only sharing it to 100% private sites