RECREATIONAL sea anglers should have the same say as trawler fishermen when it comes to managing the fish they are both trying to catch - according to fisheries minister Ben Bradshaw.

"Sea Anglers have been saying to me and my predecessors for years that something will have to be done to conserve the fish and that they want a greater say over the management of those stocks in comparison, for example, with the commercial trawler fishermen," said the minister. "I think that is absolutely right.

"Future management of sea fish will have to be paid for just as that of freshwater fish was paid for partly by a very modest licence fee. I don't think it is unreasonable to ask sea anglers to make a small contribution towards the cost of managing the fish in our seas," he told the BBC.

National Federation of Sea Anglers chairman Ted Tuckerman believes that, before agreeing to a sea angling licence, the federation would want to see tangible advantages.

But he said that protecting fish would bring good fishing and urged the setting up of a marine agency to really look after inshore fishing, including commercial fishing inshore.

"We would like to see it probably banned within a mile of the shore," he said.

Recreational sea angling is vital to the economy, bringing in, according to government figures, £1.3 billion a year to the UK.

Bradshaw said one reason freshwater angling had been growing rapidly was the money spent, partly collected by a licence fee, to improve the quality of the waters and therefore the fish population.

"I would hope that exactly the same would happen in our inshore waters," he said.

"There could be benefits from more fish in the sea, more people coming to do sea angling and sea anglers getting what they have been asking for many years - a real say in the management of inshore waters."

Andrew George, Liberal democrat spokesman on fisheries and MP for St Ives, wants government to safeguard sea stocks and look after anglers' interests before introducing sea licences. On a personal note, I believe that a sea angling rod licence could work, given that the money raised was spent to enhance our sport - on things such as building and

repairing slipways for the small boat enthusiast and constructing angling platforms such as proposed at West Bay, which would

benefit both junior and disabled anglers.

Money raised could be used for education, repairing coastal paths and to some degree cleaning popular angling venues. But, if any of the money was used to enhance the commercial sector, then recreational anglers would find it very hard to stomach.