All the feedback from south of the border appears to suggest that the rod licence system has not been a great success there
Mike, I actually think it depends where abouts you live and what you fish for to tell the truth, and this is where it all falls down in my opinion.
In theory England and Wales pays into a big pot of money. This funds research in fishery management, supplies advice to clubs, stocking of waters, pollution monitoring and resolution and bailiffs to patrol. All very good stuff that should cover the waters fairly.
Take the Thames as an example of what many feel as being the misuse of funds. The river supports a HUGE population of coarse anglers and very very few Salmon anglers, yet the amount of salmon stocked into the Thames far outweighs the contribution made by the salmon anglers via the license system. This is seen as totally unfair by the clubs and private individuals that run the fishing on the Thames.
In the "old days" each water authority had its own license system and the money generated went straight back into local regions...great idea, but if you lived as i did on the border of a county or two, you had to buy several licenses to fish local waters. In my case Thames, Essex and Hertfordshire waters.
There are good points to the system. The EA have stepped up patrols on the Fens to try and stop the fish poaching thats going on by migrant workers, stocked the river Wandle in London after it was polluted by Thames Water
, and stock and advise many waters all over England and Wales and have several fish farms supplying quality health checked fish. All very worth while!
A license in Scotland? I doubt it would work to tell the truth. I think in principle its a great idea, a pooling of resources to help protect and nurture the fishing, but, there are two many old duffers in positions of "power" who would be paranoid about "someone else" possibly having a say on what they can and cannot do. I also think an unfair emphasis is put on Salmon stocks to the detriment of Brown Trout, Grayling and other fish species and i think a national license would have to address this, much to the distaste of some riperian owners.