Last week, EAA members were convened for a General Assembly which, for the first time, took place online. Earlier in August, two meetings gathering members of the Freshwaters Subgroup and the Communication Subgroup were also organised remotely. The Sea Subgroup had also met in July.
These internal meetings allowed EAA members to deal with a wide range of topics, exchanging good practices and summarizing progress on various projects of common interest, at a time where angling is experiencing, as the rest of Europe, an unprecedented pandemic bringing new challenges but also some opportunities.
The General Assembly was the occasion to report on the latest developments of EAA subgroups and public affairs activities in Brussels, and to give a small glimpse into the future. Financial and statutory matters were also on the menu.
The
Freshwaters Subgroup reported on the finalisation of two position papers (on hydropower and cormorants) and s
uccesses as part of the Living Rivers Europe NGO coalition, while the
Sea Subgroup underlined the active involvement of EAA and its members in various CFP Advisory Councils and in the
seabass logbook pilot project. The
Communication Subgroup reported on the ongoing work in order to increase communication between and towards EAA members.
It is highly likely that next meetings will also take place in an online format with which EAA members are now very familiar. In this very peculiar context,
EAA President Fred Bloot acknowledged that online meetings cannot fully replace in person meetings and encouraged EAA members to stay in touch regularly and cooperate.