MISSION & VISION

We get to the heart of Recreational Angling & related politics!


The European Fishing Tackle Trade Association (EFTTA) was established in London in 1981 with a clear purpose: to support the European sportfishing tackle sector - the manufacturers and wholesalers, the importers and exporters.
 
The EFTTA support includes promotion and protection of the sportfishing activities, to grow the tackle business and influence policies and legislation of importance to the sector, the sportfishers (also named "recreational anglers") and the environment. To do so effectively EFTTA has registered as an official lobbying association in Brussels.

Our MISSION


Our mission is to promote and protect the interests of the European Tackle Trade sector by lobby activities and raising awareness among politics and society. More than 3,000 European manufacturing and wholesale companies trading in sport fishing or related to the recreational angling industry benefit from our lobby work in the EU institutions. Our work aims at ensuring that millions of recreational anglers can continue practicing their hobby in a responsible and sustainable way.

Global network for the benefit of the recreational angling industry


To this end, close relations have been established with - among others - the American Sportfishing Association (ASA), the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) and the Japanese Fishing Tackle Manufacturers Association (JAFTMA). EFTTA has negotiated agreements with these associations for reciprocal exhibiting rights, enabling our members to break into world-wide markets. In addition, EFTTA lobbies in close cooperation with EAA (European Anglers Alliance) and Aliénor/the RecFishing Forum, being directly linked to the European Parliament. Bundled synergies make us stronger!

Our VISION


EFTTA is convinced that recreational angling can only survive as leisure activity when we encourage nature conservation and the fight against climate change. Since anglers want to have healthy habitats for healthy fish stocks, EFTTA fully supports und promotes the restoration and protection activities of anglers, players of the industry around recreational angling and other stakeholders for a sustainable environment.
 

Recreational anglers as protectors and restorers of biodiversity


Recent studies from the Bournemouth University, UK have demonstrated that recreational anglers contribute to the protection and restoration of biodiversity, whether it be ethic angling practices to maximize survival rates, knowledge building for data-lacking species, monitoring actions aimed at protecting and restoring aquatic biodiversity. The value of the voluntary activities that anglers undertake out of passion and commitment is inestimable. Many local initiatives are taken by organisations in UK, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and elsewhere in Europe. 
 

Coordination platform


Local actions could be much more efficient if they were collected and coordinated on a pan-European level and communicated in a professional way. To this extend EFTTA will set up a centralized platform with a clear communication structure, tying together EU lobby projects, local actions and impacts in the individual countries.

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