Moray man to represent Scotland at international fishing tournament in Egypt
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AN Aberlour-based angler will travel over 2500 miles to represent Scotland at an international fishing tournament in Egypt next month.
Pete Hill, who is also a mountaineer and expedition guide, is due to fly out at the start of February to represent his country in the International Game Fish Association's (IGFA) inaugural Red Sea Championship.
The tournament is boat-based and takes place from El Gouna near Hurghada.
It will run for a gruelling two nights and three days with one boat and crew per international team.
But competitors are able to fish as much or as little as they like, with several categories including heaviest fish and longest fish to enter.
The tournament also serves as a qualifier for the world championships to be held in Costa Rica next year and Pete says it is a "great honour" to be selected.
Pete said: "Being invited by the Egyptian organisers to take part in the tournament is a great honour although a solid 48 hours of solo competitive fishing, where large species are concerned, is a bit daunting.
"The main interest is the variety of species and a number will be tracked to provide information as to their preferred habitat, breeding areas and the effect of commercial fishing on stocks."
Pete's interest in fishing goes beyond purely competing.
He has been the IGFA International Committee Representative for Scotland for a number of years and also serves on the association's Mediterranean Council.
He also recently returned from Sardinia where he took part in a spearfish tagging project, part of the IGFA’s quest to track the movements of the rare species.
And his travels won't end after his trip to Egypt either with research of fish stocks set to take place in Saudi Arabia just two weeks later.
He added: "My position as the international committee rep for Scotland has given me the opportunity to have direct input into fish stock conservation and handling across Europe, as well as a role in the education of anglers, particularly young people, starting out on their angling journeys.
"The IGFA support the education of new anglers into sustainable fishing methods and have provided a large amount of educational material and equipment to support this."
The tournament will run from February 15 to February 17 with an awards ceremony to be held at 5pm on the final day.
