Angling Trust Vacancies

We’re looking to appoint new non-executive directors to our board who will help us deliver our “Fishing for Good” strategy and encourage everyone to experience fishing. Join us in our mission to fight for fish, fishing, and the environment.

We are looking for people who can help us deliver our objectives, grow and build on our successes, increase our membership and influence, widen participation, and celebrate the ever-growing diversity within our organisation and sport. You don’t have to be an angler, but you must have a keen interest in issues affecting angling and the aquatic environment, ready to bring your knowledge and skills to your role as a director of our experienced board.

You must be prepared to give approximately 10 days per annum as a non-executive director working on behalf of the Angling Trust without remuneration, other than reasonable legitimate expenses incurred.

Becoming a director

• Drive change in one of the biggest participation sports in the country
• Ensure the health and wellbeing benefits of angling are accessible to all
• Make a positive difference to the environment
• Benefit from training and personal development
• Join a network across sports NGBs, environmental NGOs, and government departments
• Engage directly with a diverse cross section of society
• Help to lead one of the most active volunteering communities in the UK

What you bring to the role

• Impressive communication and social intelligence
• Enthusiasm for developing angling and protecting the marine and freshwater environment in line with the agreed strategy
• Collaborative approach to working as part of a team and agreeing a consensus position
• Capability to perform the duties of a director in a company limited by guarantee
• Appreciation for the importance of a positive public perception of angling to develop the sport
• Excellent independent judgement
• Willingness to join in discussion and the courage to check and challenge

What will make you stand out

There are areas of expertise we’d like to see more of in our board mix, so we’re very interested in hearing from applicants with one or more of these skillsets.

• fundraising
• policy / advocacy / marine
• digital marketing / PR / communications
• domestic competitions / elite performance / sports participation

Who we are

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.

Want to join us?

There are currently three vacancies and we would love to welcome those who can add to the mix of our board members by bringing new thinking styles, backgrounds, personalities, and perspectives to our table—and we believe we could make even better decisions if we had a more inclusive mix of people from under-represented communities on our board in order to more closely represent the wonderfully diverse world of angling today.

Email our Governance Manager, Karen Watkinson, at [email protected] to apply directly or arrange an informal chat about the role—and do let us know if you require any additional support to enable your application.

To apply, please submit your CV along with a covering letter to tell us a bit more about how you will add to the mix of our board and strengthen our effectiveness with your skillset, perspective, background, or thinking style.

The closing date for applications will be 31 May 2024.

Applications will be reviewed by our Nominations Committee on 11 June 2024 and any suitable candidates will be given further details of our interview process.

Want to give back to your community, learn about your coastline and meet interesting people? Then join the Catchwise Volunteer Citizen Scientist team today!

Catchwise is an exciting new survey of sea angling taking place across England and Wales in 2023 and 2024. The first of its kind in over a decade! The project aims to collect important insights into recreational sea fishing – both along the shore and at sea. It will involve a major shore and private boat survey of sea anglers as well as a survey of charter boats.

Volunteers will contribute to field surveys to record data from sea anglers to understand who takes part in angling, how often they do it what type of fishing they do, what they catch, and how valuable sea angling is to local communities. Data collection will cover days spent at sea, targeted and landed species, retained fish, the socio-economic benefits of angling, and the positive health effects associated with it.

Catchwise is made possible by our team of dedicated Volunteer Angling Citizen Scientists.

By signing up to be a volunteer citizen scientist you can get involved with this ground-breaking project and make a positive difference to sea angling along our coastline.

Volunteers must be over 18 years old, and will receive training on conducting surveys while guidance and support will be provided throughout the duration of the project. The average commitment for volunteers is 4 hours per month, which equates to one survey per month.

As a Citizen Scientist you would have the flexibility to engage at your own convenience whenever you have free time. Volunteers receive a list of sites in their chosen area and choose when to conduct the surveys.

Volunteers will enjoy various perks, including monthly prize draws, goodies, access to social media groups with fellow volunteers, a welcome pack, and a certificate recognising their contribution to the project. This certificate could be a valuable addition to the CVs of students studying marine-related fields or early career professionals.

If you’re interested in volunteering and have access to the coast in England and Wales, please express your interest by visiting smartsurvey.co.uk/s/CatchwiseVolunteers.

Here’s what we’re looking for in volunteers:

• Availability for at least 4 hours per month (there’s no upper limit), between October 2023 – July 2024
• Confidence in engaging with the public
• Interest in the environment and fisheries sector
• Access to a smartphone or tablet

For additional information or any questions about the role, please contact the Catchwise Project Manager at [email protected].