Yorkshire Fisheries Newsletter

Local News

• Neil Longden is on assignment as the new Team Leader for South & West Yorkshire’s Fisheries and Biodiversity Team. Former Team Leader, Pat O’Brien has taken on a new role as Fisheries Technical Specialist for North & East Yorkshire.
• If you witness a fisheries offence, please report as much detail as you can to our incident hotline 0800 80 70 60. You will also need to tell us who you are – we do not respond to anonymous reports. We use your information to target places where out-of-season fishing regularly takes place, or where people often fish without a licence.
• If you see evidence of netting which you think is illegal, call 0800 80 70 60 and we will investigate. Please do not remove the nets yourselves. If you do, we will not be able to take action against any offender.

• Money raised through rod licence sales is invested in fisheries work to benefit all anglers. Fishing without a rod licence cheats other anglers, and is illegal. Between 1 April 2010 and 31 March 2011, we questioned 17,271 anglers, resulting in 818 offence reports being issued. During the same period, over 450 people were prosecuted for fisheries offences. The total costs to people committing fisheries offences came in at over £108,000.
• We are working with Yorkshire Water and British Waterways to ensure manage any impacts, should this spring’s dry weather continue.
• The Humber River Basin Management Plan is a plan for protecting and improving the water environment. It is the way we deliver the Water Framework Directive. It describes the issues, and the actions we all need to take to deal with them. An update on progress is on our website here
• Last year, we funded the Angling Development Board’s County Angling Action Groups (CAAGs) to introduce over 1,000 people to angling. We will continue supporting the CAAGs as they oversee angling participation events this year. The Angling Trust’s website has more information on CAAGs.

For help funding coaching, contact
daniel.ramm@anglingdevelopmentboard.org.uk.

• We have been supporting ‘Education Through Angling’ at Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, Sheffield. This course uses angling as a ‘hook’ to improve literacy and numeracy skills in young people excluded from school. This year’s graduates were recently presented with certificates by Councillor Alan Law, Mayor of Sheffield. Two of last year’s graduates have now been employed by the project and will soon be qualified angling coaches themselves. http://educationthroughangling.com
• The River Dearne Access Steering Group will be surveying the river in May to identify potential spawning sites. This is part of their work to manage sustainable access on the Dearne.
• We are setting traps for killer shrimp around Yorkshire. We haven’t found any yet, but trapping will help prevent them moving in without us knowing. You can help prevent the spread of the shrimp by cleaning and drying nets and equipment between uses, and by checking nets / waders / wellies for any signs of the shrimp. Killer shrimp are one cm to three cm long, much bigger than natives. If you find one, please let us know as soon as possible. For more information go to www.direct.gov and search for Check Clean Dry.
• Guidance on disinfecting fishing tackle is on our website here.
• The East Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust and East Riding of Yorkshire Council are working with us to hold the River Hull Angling Championship on Sunday 16 October. There is a £500 top prize. Angler’s catches will give us valuable data about the fish in the river. Tickets will be available from 1 July. For more information email michael.lee@environment-agency.gov.uk
• Our Operations Delivery teams have begun routine summer maintenance of embankments, cutting back unwanted plant growth and making sure they can withstand floods. Maintenance also stops animals from burrowing into and weakening banks, and is also needed to keep our workforce safe, and. Over the summer, outfalls and sluices will also be inspected, to make sure they are not blocked with debris or silt.

Fisheries Projects
Our fisheries work is funded by Government, and from rod licence sales. We also use rod licence money to pay for projects which will improve fisheries. Most of our projects are also part-funded by other organisations.

Please contact us if you would like our help with a project – we want to work with you. We will need to know:

• What you want to do
• Why you want to do it
• How much it will cost
• How much money you need from us and how much you are getting from elsewhere
• Your contact details

Last year, we helped pay for otter fencing at three Yorkshire fisheries. We still have funds to help fence public access stillwaters. Please get in touch to find out more.

Yorkshire and North-East region has received £236,000 of rod licence income to spend on partnership projects this year. These include working with:

• Yorkshire Water, building a fish pass at Rodley (River Aire).
• A landowner to provide stock-proof fencing (Upper Aire).
• Sheffield City Council and community groups to provide angling on the Manor Estate
• Doncaster and District Angling Association to install angling platforms beside the Don at Crimpsall.

• Rod licence income is also being used to part-fund a small fish pass at Knostrop (River Aire), as part of a hydropower scheme. We could not condition a fish pass here – the hydropower scheme will not reduce the ability of fish to get over this impassable barrier. However, we are working with the Carbon Free Power Company to include a small fish pass in their plans.
• An eel pass has been built to fit alongside our new fish pass at Boston Spa (River Wharfe).
• We have worked with the Don Catchment River Trust to commission a study to select the best option for a fish pass at Meadowhall weir, Sheffield.
• We have helped fund the Yorkshire Dales Rivers Trust’s fencing and tree planting work on the River Cover, Wensleydale. Bank reinforcement using willow spiling has also been completed. Further work is planned later this year. yorkshiredalesriverstrust.org.uk
• ‘Sticklebacks in Tanks’ is a two-part publication that describes how keeping these fish can help people learn about the environment. The booklets include teaching materials for children aged from five to 11. To download, type ‘sticklebacks’ into the keyword search of our Publications Catalogue.

We have improved habitat at Goldenhill  (West Beck) by removing a weir and moving two stone groynes, in partnership with the East Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust and Natural England eastyorkshirechalkriverstrust.org

What’s happening nationally?

• Details of a £110 million funding boost to improve the condition of England’s lakes, rivers and streams. are on Defra’s news website. £92 million will be provided over the next four years to remove non-native invasive weeds and animals, clear up pollution, and remove redundant dams, weirs, landings and other artificial structures so that wildlife can thrive in water catchments across England. This will be shared between the Environment Agency, Natural England and charities such as the Association of Rivers Trusts. A further £18 million will be provided this year to help to farmers protect water courses and prevent agricultural pollution, under the Catchment Sensitive Farming programme.
• Defra’s Angling and Fisheries Summit in March highlighted fisheries’ contribution to society and economy. Workshops studied how the local and national groups represented, could increase their involvement in fisheries management.
• The England & Wales Fisheries Group has recently been set up. This will provide anglers and people with fisheries interests the opportunity to work with the Environment Agency on a national level. The Group includes the Angling Trust, Salmon & Trout Association and Atlantic Salmon Trust.
• Read about Defra’s proposal to create a New Waterways Charity to take over management of the canal network from British Waterways, and submit your views on their website
• New types of permits for fish movements will be introduced this year. Fisheries’ site permits will list species that can be kept, stocked or removed. Fish suppliers will need permits to stock or remove fish. In most cases, once a fishery has a site permit, a supplier will be able to work there without involving us further. We’ll tell you more when details become available.
• Sea anglers may like to know that profiles for bathing water beaches are available on our website. These give information about beaches, including improvements made to provide better water quality.
• Guidelines for anglers on how to protect fish and wildlife are available on our website. Free booklets about fisheries management, covering subjects such as habitat improvement, stocking and de-oxygenation are also available here.

For more information please contact:

National Customer Contact Centre
PO Box 544
Rotherham
South Yorkshire
S60 1BY

We can send you paper copies of the web links in this newsletter, if you do not have internet access.