Sparsholt College Fisheries Management courses.
A few years ago there were lots of discussions about youngsters getting into carping and it being such a big thing in their young lives that they decided to go into fishery management via Sparsholt College when leaving school, much against current advice from the older and wiser.
Most of them seemed to find that on completion that the job opportunities weren't that good and those that gained a paid position told of cold wet working conditions for low pay. Above them were people with various zoological Degrees so advancement was difficult and even the zoologists weren't paid that much.
Nowadays you never hear of the College, the qualifications or the people that did them.
Does Sparsholt still do them?
Are young carpers still doing them?
Is anyone out there who is still in the industry a few years after qualifying, and was it an upwards career with tangible goals and rewards or was it fraught with disappointment?
Interested to hear.
A few years ago there were lots of discussions about youngsters getting into carping and it being such a big thing in their young lives that they decided to go into fishery management via Sparsholt College when leaving school, much against current advice from the older and wiser.
Most of them seemed to find that on completion that the job opportunities weren't that good and those that gained a paid position told of cold wet working conditions for low pay. Above them were people with various zoological Degrees so advancement was difficult and even the zoologists weren't paid that much.
Nowadays you never hear of the College, the qualifications or the people that did them.
Does Sparsholt still do them?
Are young carpers still doing them?
Is anyone out there who is still in the industry a few years after qualifying, and was it an upwards career with tangible goals and rewards or was it fraught with disappointment?
Interested to hear.
In reply to Post #1
I did the degree course as a mature student back in the 90's. Changed my life massively for the better and don't regret a minute of it. Only 3 years of my 64 that I have known exactly what I wanted.
The course was interspersed with work placements and I was very proactive in finding interesting placements and desperately avoiding being sent up to a salmon farm in the back end of nowhere. The contacts made on the work placements were vital. I had 2 job offers before graduating.
After graduating I worked for the EA for a bit, but decided that earning the square root of sod all wasn't the way forward and the management back then were staggeringly rubbish. Ended up working in a university running a lab for 20+ years. Took early retirement last year, and never worked more than 4 days a week in the preceding 17 years.
I was a fish health consultant for a couple of years, which was lucrative but deeply depressing. That was my last formal fishery management but one of my best friends runs a complex.
Paid off for me. I went into it wanting a better quality of life, not wads of cash. That would be silly.
I did the degree course as a mature student back in the 90's. Changed my life massively for the better and don't regret a minute of it. Only 3 years of my 64 that I have known exactly what I wanted.
The course was interspersed with work placements and I was very proactive in finding interesting placements and desperately avoiding being sent up to a salmon farm in the back end of nowhere. The contacts made on the work placements were vital. I had 2 job offers before graduating.
After graduating I worked for the EA for a bit, but decided that earning the square root of sod all wasn't the way forward and the management back then were staggeringly rubbish. Ended up working in a university running a lab for 20+ years. Took early retirement last year, and never worked more than 4 days a week in the preceding 17 years.
I was a fish health consultant for a couple of years, which was lucrative but deeply depressing. That was my last formal fishery management but one of my best friends runs a complex.
Paid off for me. I went into it wanting a better quality of life, not wads of cash. That would be silly.
In reply to Post #1
I know a young fella (40s) that did it early 2000's that runs a lucrative Aquacultue business and works all over the country including Royal Parks, he is the only one I have ever come across in all my years of Angling.
I know a young fella (40s) that did it early 2000's that runs a lucrative Aquacultue business and works all over the country including Royal Parks, he is the only one I have ever come across in all my years of Angling.
In reply to Post #1
Ben at BP Milling started at Sparsholt and seems to be doing very well.
(If he reads this..) Strangely I've never met the guy, but my parents were friends with his family, and one of his mates is a good friend of mine.
Ben at BP Milling started at Sparsholt and seems to be doing very well.
(If he reads this..) Strangely I've never met the guy, but my parents were friends with his family, and one of his mates is a good friend of mine.
So it would seem that some of the early reports were a bit doom and gloom and it can be a worthwhile career.
Odd you don't hear much about it any more.
Nice to hear all is well. Thanks for the replies 👍
Odd you don't hear much about it any more.
Nice to hear all is well. Thanks for the replies 👍
In reply to Post #1
I think Lee Simmonds, who is fishery manager for DDAPS, was a Sparsholt student.
I think Lee Simmonds, who is fishery manager for DDAPS, was a Sparsholt student.
In reply to Post #5
I graduated in 2013 and went pretty much straight in to river restoration work with what is now a rivers trust. Unfortunately lack of funding meant I left last year and now work in the water industry.
Of my fellow graduates I would say over half of them went in to some form of the fisheries industry and a lot of them are still in the industry.
The course is very much alive and kicking, it's changed a lot since my time there though with more marine aspects to it I believe.
I graduated in 2013 and went pretty much straight in to river restoration work with what is now a rivers trust. Unfortunately lack of funding meant I left last year and now work in the water industry.
Of my fellow graduates I would say over half of them went in to some form of the fisheries industry and a lot of them are still in the industry.
The course is very much alive and kicking, it's changed a lot since my time there though with more marine aspects to it I believe.
In reply to Post #1
interesting to read this, I've actually been looking into these sort of courses recently as a 42 year old looking for a career change and escaping full time office work even if that's only 1-2 days a week. Annoyingly Sparsholt don't seem to offer it on a part time basis.
interesting to read this, I've actually been looking into these sort of courses recently as a 42 year old looking for a career change and escaping full time office work even if that's only 1-2 days a week. Annoyingly Sparsholt don't seem to offer it on a part time basis.
In reply to Post #3
Not called Jonathan is he?
Not called Jonathan is he?
In reply to Post #9
No, Matt.
No, Matt.