Yorkshire Fisheries
Come and meet us
We will be holding the first of this year’s Fish Chat events, in the evening on 20th April in Leeds. Further Fish Chats will be held in North Yorkshire in June, East Yorkshire in September and South Yorkshire in December. Priority will be given to attendees from each area, to give a local focus.
We have been busy contacting West Yorkshire angling organisations. Nearly all places have now been filled for the 20th but a few may still be available. If you would like to come, please contact Peter Mischenko on 0113 2134848 (peter.mischenko@environment-agency .gov.uk)
Follow us online
- Read our recent web chat where we answered your questions through the forums on www.yorkshirefishing.net
- Share a week in the life of the South and West Yorkshire Fisheries, Recreation and Biodiversity team by following our daily blogs from Monday 28 March. http://twitter.com/EnvAgencyYNE
Local News
- Despite the weather conditions between 1st December 2010 and 28th February 2011 we questioned 1,869 anglers resulting in 44 offence reports being issued. This makes 16,090 anglers questioned for the year to date and 701 offence reports issued. Between December and February 79 people were prosecuted for fisheries offences. Total fines came to £8,464. Several anglers were fined £350 for fishing without a licence and ordered to pay £127 in costs.
- Kevin Sunderland and Jerry Whaley invite you to a public meeting in Shipley Library, Bradford on Wednesday 27 April at 19:30. We will be discussing our partnership work with Rivers Trusts.
- The first meeting of the Dearne Access Agreement Steering Group took place in February. The group includes anglers, canoeists, wildlife enthusiasts and ramblers as well as representatives from the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, the RSPB, Manvers Waterfront Boat Club, Local Authorities and the Environment Agency. The group will meet quarterly to build trust between user groups and provide sustainable recreation along the Dearne.
- We removed and re-homed 900lb of roach and perch from Wilton Park Lake, Batley. Cottingley Manor in Bradford received 200lb of these fish. We refurbished the Manor lake three years ago. It is now used by Bradford Fostering and Adoption Agency to take children in their care fishing. The remaining 700lb of fish went to Yeadon Tarn, which suffered a major fish kill in early 2010 after icing over.
- Our Operations Delivery team carry out routine maintenance of river channels, to control flood risk. Tree works on the upper Aire, Calder and Dearne will be completed by the end of the month, as will similar works in central Sheffield and Chesterfield. Work will soon be starting to clear large debris from the banks of the tidal Aire, between Brotherton and Airmyn.
- We carry out regular fisheries surveys throughout Yorkshire as part of our National Fisheries Core Monitoring Program and our Water Framework Directive (WFD) work. We need to make sure our rivers support the plants and animals expected to be there. We will be doing increasing amounts of work to find out which of our water bodies are doing well, and which will need our help to improve.
Our electric fishing team surveying the River Colne
- We’re looking at the return of salmon and sea trout to West and South Yorkshire rivers. If you catch a fish in the Don, Aire, Rother, Dearne, Calder or Colne, that you think might be a salmon or sea trout, please let Neil Trudgill know its length and weight, along with where and when you caught it. Close-up photos (especially of the head, tail and fins) and three or four scales will help him to identify your fish. Scales should be carefully taken from the area shown below using tweezers if possible. neil.trudgill@environment-agency.gov.uk .
Neil Trudgill with a salmon caught at Knottingley in 2010, showing the area to take a few scales from
What’s happening nationally?
- ‘Where Your Money Goes’ – how we spent income received from rod and net license duties in 2009/10: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/106684.aspx.
- It’s vital for us to keep getting information from you: If you suspect a fisheries offence or want to report a pollution incident call 0800 80 70 60. We can report back to you once our investigation is complete.
- New live fish movement regulations will be introduced later this year.
- The first Angling and Fisheries Summit was held in January. The meeting was the start of a new process to improve collaboration between the Government and different angling and fisheries groups. The next summit is on March 21. More information can be found here http://anglingtrust.net/news.asp?section=29&itemid=717
- At the summit, Richard Benyon announced that the current licensing regime for cormorants is to be reviewed. Licensing is currently managed by Natural England
www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/species/fisheatingbirds.aspx#Cormorants1 - From April, inshore fisheries will be regulated by Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities (IFCAs).IFCAs will be able to make byelaws to protect fisheries.
www.marinemanagement.org.uk
www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/fisheries/documents/fisheries/ifca-fatsheet.pdf - Net Limitation Orders (NLOs) set limits on how many nets can be used in any one fishery. The law around NLOs has changed – we can now make NLOs for any target species and can also use them to protect the environment. We may now pay compensation if existing licensees are affected by an NLO. Ministers can hold a public enquiry if they receive an objection to an NLO, but do not have to do so. Despite these changes, for the foreseeable future, net and trap fisheries for species other than salmon and sea trout will be regulated by authorisations rather than licenses.
- Authorisations provide a more flexible control than NLOs. We will use authorisations to manage fisheries for eel and elver, lamprey, smelt, crayfish and mitten crab. Authorisations allow us to condition the design and size of fishing gear, as well as how, when and where it will be used. We can refuse to issue authorisations where they may put fish stocks or the environment at risk. We can also change or withdraw authorisations once granted, if they are found to have harmful effects. www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/planning/33104.aspx
- Anyone wishing to catch eel or elver in nets or traps must now obtain an authorisation from us. Catch returns will need to be submitted, to help us manage the fishery. http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/sectors/125683.aspx
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.
- We have submitted bids for funding for rod licence projects to run in 2011/12 and expect to hear the outcome early next financial year (April). Please contact us if you have a project you would like us to work with you on, or if you would like our help with funding.
- We have worked with a farmer near Skipton (River Aire) to erect 400m of fencing and carry out planting along the river. The fencing now protects a three metre wide buffer strip which provides cover and food for fish as well as reducing bankside erosion and stopping silt run-off. This will improve the fishery, as well as helping to bring the upper Aire to the condition it needs to be in to meet the Water Framework Directive.
- In partnership with Leeds City Council, Allerton Bywater Parish Council and the local community, we have improved access onto our land at Allerton Bywater. We have also helped Wakefield Angling Club provide six wheelchair accessible angling platforms at Kettlethorpe Hall Lake. The new platforms add to five similar platforms installed in 2009 by Wakefield Council, to provide excellent inclusive facilities at this popular fishery. www.wakefieldac.co.uk
Kettlethorpe Hall Lake now has excellent accessible facilities
In East Yorkshire we’ve worked on projects with:
- The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust : creating almost three kilometres of buffer strips
- The Internal Drainage Board: changing the way they look after parts of their ditch network to reduce silt input into the main river,
- The East Yorkshire Chalk Rivers Trust and Natural England to restore the river channel at Lowthorpe Beck.
Work has begun on an angling lake at ABLE 2 in Heckmondwike. The lake will be used for coaching eventsand provide a range of further services to young people.
www.greenbusinessnetwork.org.uk/projects/able-kirklees
The Upper Don Flyfishers have built instream structures to improve the river habitat upstream of Penistone, using funding from ourselves and the Wild Trout Trust. The structures will create habitat for young and adult trout and grayling.
Looking Ahead
Rising water temperatures in spring can trigger outbreaks of disease in fish, particularly carp. Signs of disease include lesions, large numbers of leeches or lice, erratic/slow or sluggish swimming. If you think fish are dying of disease at your fishery report it – 0800 80 70 60. Information on fishery management and fish diseases are at www.environment-agency.gov.uk/research/commercial/40101.aspx and www.efishbusiness.co.uk/formsandguides/default.asp
- We will be working with the Brite Partnership to improve fish passage over Ickles Weir (River Don) as part of their development of a Biomass Energy plant on adjoining land. We will also be working with Yorkshire Water to build a bypass channel around Rodley weir (River Aire).
- We had raised funding for a fish pass at Sprotbrough Weir (River Don). However, a fish pass will now be delivered as part of a hydropower development there. We are looking to transfer our partnership funding to support the Don Catchment Rivers Trust’s project to build a fish pass at Meadowhall weir, Sheffield.
- Work to create a one acre lake and a wetland at Fishlake (tidal Don) is expected to begin in April. Channels will connect to the river during high tides, providing important habitat in an area much modified for land drainage and flood defence.
- Applications for Planning Permission have been submitted to Sheffield City Council for hydropower developments at Kelham Island weir and Jordan’s Dam. We have received an application for a Water Resources licence for a hydropower scheme at Linton Lock (River Ouse).
