Social Media

An important message from your Committee - February 2021

WACA is now in a position where we, as an Association, find ourselves becoming increasingly concerned about the impacts of social media. Things have escalated in recent years to the point where we really don’t need or want ANY more publicity, waiting lists are actually becoming unmanageably long and still growing, and public attention on our river and lake fisheries is increasing to an uncomfortable level. This has of course been exacerbated by the various coronavirus lockdowns, furloughs, mass let-outs etc. resulting in a huge number of people with extra time on their hands, money in their pockets and no prospect of travel.

We have noticed that following certain posts of big fish photos, regardless of whether weight or venue is disclosed, a huge amount of interest and Facebook “likes”, comments, loose chitchat etc. is generated within hours. Inevitably, even if the venue is not disclosed, there will be those already in the know, also those who can put two and two together, and their numbers will increase as time goes on. Unless photos are extensively cropped or tampered with, there will often still be clues as to the exact venue in the background for those prepared to research and potentially trespass to follow up. (This has gone on to our certain knowledge since Dick Walkers day, pre-Facebook of course, and probably before that, so please do not think we are imagining or exaggerating a problem.)

In recent times we have given guidance to members on how we ask them to use social media and the Angling Press in the context of WACA fisheries. We feel that an outright ban on photos of fish from WACA waters would be unduly heavy handed, but would now ask all members to abide by the following new guidance when posting anything with a connection to our fisheries on OPEN, PUBLIC social media, or submitting material to the Press:

1. Please do not post or provide “trophy” shots of specimen fish from our waters, even if the venue, weight etc. is not disclosed, UNLESS the express permission of the committee has been obtained first.
2. Any other matters, i.e. discussion, reports, stories, photos etc. with a connection to our fisheries should still of course not mention the venue or show any identifiable landmarks AT ALL. For instance, if one were to engage in dialogue on open Facebook regarding something related to one of our river fisheries, please do not be any more specific than say, “the Upper Wensum”. This should give sufficient context to any discussion.
3. Please also be careful what you share via private messages etc., once this has left your device you have no control over it, so only share sensitive info with trustworthy friends.

The above DOES NOT apply to the Wensum ACA Facebook page, as it is private and closed to the public. Therefore, in theory, in that place, anything goes: trophy shots, weights, venue, whatever, bearing in mind that common decency and good taste is expected at all times!

In line with the above, we will be removing some images from the Wensum ACA website. It may be possible at some time to have a members only area on the website, in which case this will be another place where members can share images, info etc. freely.