EFTTA YOUTH GRANT SCHEME UPDATE

Twelve schemes were given EFTTA Youth Grant funding in 2007 – here’s a progress report on how three of them are getting on.

Spofa Spofiske (Sweden)
This scheme from the Swedish Trade Association was given funding to produce a series of DVDs showing how to fish and was aimed at encouraging young people to get involved in sport fishing.

Klas Elm said: “I am delighted with the progress of our Youth Grant project. The film has been produced and is being edited and mastered into a modern DVD. Early viewings look very promising indeed and we hope to create many new ‘Sportfishing kids’. The DVD will be widely distributed through different channels, including the members of the national organisation.


Stichting Belangenbehartiging Karpervisserji (Benelux) - Carp Fishing in a Responsible Way.
Funding was granted for this project to make an educational movie for young and up-and-coming carp anglers in the Netherlands and Belgium, on how to fish respectfully and responsibly.

The official premiere of the DVD ‘Verantwoord vissen op Karper ‘ was at the Fair CARP 2008 in Zwolle (Netherlands), where it was shown to over 800 members of the public over the two day show.

Each member of the public who saw the DVD at the show was given a coupon that could be redeemed at the show stand in return for the free DVD being sent out to them.

Michel Hollaar, Treasurer of the SBBK, said: “We are happy to report a HUGE success. Our DVD was received very positively, not only by the public, but also by standholders and retailers. Several hundreds of extra DVDs were ordered and now, a total of 10,000 copies of our DVD will be distributed in the Netherlands and approximately 250-500 in Flanders.”

Sportfiskarna: School Angler (Sweden)
Funding has gone towards assisting The Swedish Anglers Association - in cooperation with SPOFA, The Swedish Fishing Tackle Trade Association - to support fishing clubs throughout the country to help schools arrange outdoor activities in water ecology and fishing. The lessons have included both theory and practice sessions.

The fishing clubs have been supported with fishing gear and teaching aids, enabling them to help schools arrange the outdoor activities. The project’s target group is pupils from 10 to 12 years old and they are aiming to get 10,000 pupils to participate during 2008 - that’s double the numbers from 2007.

Bengt Olsson from Sportfiskana said: “School-Angler gives us a fantastic opportunity to meet the anglers of the future. The project is nationwide and pupils from all parts of Sweden can successfully participate in angling through the project.

“If we teach children how to fish they will also understand why it is important to protect fish populations and our waters. It is a challenge to make children of today interested in fishing and outdoor life, since we are competing with indoor activities such as computer games etc. With School-Angler we try to show a new generation how much fun it is to go fishing!”

Every year, EFTTA uses its Youth Grant Scheme in conjunction with its members to make thousands of euros available for fishing projects throughout Europe. Members offer their own financial support to projects and EFTTA boosts contributions up to a total of €40,000, making more than €80,000 euros available.

Gregg Holloway, EFTTA President said: “It’s great news that of the twelve projects that had funding agreed by the EFTTA Board back in November 2007, three have had fantastic success already, and its only February 2008.

“I’m looking forward to hearing success stories from the other projects involved. This is one of the things that EFTTA is all about – supporting and providing funding to encourage Sportfishing in Europe and I appreciate the generosity of the EFTTA members who make it happen.”