Europe's long-running fight over lead fishing tackle is close to settled, and the result has split the angling world in a way few would have predicted: the conservation groups are claiming victory, and the tackle industry is complaining the rules do not go far enough.
The European Commission's restriction on lead in fishing tackle cleared its final major hurdle after MEPs rejected an objection to the measure by a substantial majority. BirdLife International, which has campaigned on lead poisoning for years, called the decision "a significant milestone for wildlife, public health and aquatic ecosystems."
Marion Bessol, Nature Conservation Policy Officer at BirdLife Europe, framed the vote as a rejection of a lobbying push.
"MEPs saw through a baseless attempt to derail this restriction and listened to the facts. That matters, because we're talking about 4,800 tonnes of lead entering our environment every year, a well-documented poison that is toxic for humans and wildlife alike."
Waterbirds are the most visible casualties. Many species swallow lost sinkers and split shot while feeding, mistaking the pellets for the grit they use to grind food in the gizzard.
What survived that process is a sales ban, not a use ban - for recreational anglers, at least. The compromise text keeps an EU-wide prohibition on using lead tackle in commercial fishing, but the proposed restriction on recreational use was stripped out.
The phase-out runs on a staggered clock. Lead fishing wire and drop-in sinkers come off the shelves six months after the rules enter force. Sinkers and lures of 50g or less get three years. Anything heavier, up to 1kg, gets five. Products containing up to 1% lead stay legal, and retailers must display warning labels through the transition.
As Angling International summarised it: "For now, anglers can continue using their existing lead tackle without restriction."
That is precisely what the trade objects to. The European Fishing Tackle Trade Association and the European Anglers Alliance - the industry body and the anglers' body - both wanted the tougher version, and have described the sales-only measure as "window dressing."
"EFTTA wants a use ban to make the sales ban effective, enforceable and to protect the EU tackle businesses and consumers from illegal imports, counterfeits and homemade lead products," the association said.
EFTTA has been careful to say it is not trying to kill the regulation outright.
"We do not want the legislation off the table, but the legislation improved for reason of environmental and human health protection and to avoid further fragmentation of the EU's single market."
The commercial logic behind that position is straightforward. A tackle shop in Germany that can no longer stock lead sinkers finds itself competing with an overseas website that still can, selling to a customer who remains perfectly entitled to fish with lead.
Nigel May, Managing Director of British shot maker Dinsmores, put the retailer's case bluntly: "Without a ban on use, genuine retailers will lose out to illegal online sales."
EFTTA argues enforcement would not be onerous. Lead checks could ride along with existing fishing licence inspections, and handheld scanners of the type already used in Danish tackle shops could handle the rest without hiring additional staff.
Both organisations have indicated they are prepared to reject the current draft regulation unless a use ban is reinstated. With the measure expected to enter into force within weeks, that window is narrowing fast.