A Beautiful Thing Dies.

[trent.barbeler]

Dear All,

 

I have some very sad and disturbing news to report concerning a stretch on the River Witham just outside Grantham. Before I comment on this event, I will quote from the local newspaper, The Grantham Journal of Friday April the 12th;

 

"All life in the River Witham between the villages of Barkston and Claypole choked to death when 18,000 litres of nitrates seeped through the ground and into a nearby water course creating ammonia.

 

Brown trout, chub, roach and grayling, some measuring more than a foot long, were pulled out of the river. Nothing survived.

 

It is believed that vandals forced open a valve on a fertiliser tank.

Pollution prevention and control officer John Giles said the Environment Agency arrived on the scene at 8.30am on Thursday, following reports from villagers of seeing dead fish.

 

John said," We believe that the valve was forced open on Wednesday evening. It had a devastating impact. The liquid fertiliser contained nitrates and sulphates but it was the ammonia which had the toxic input".

 

"We traced it as far as Lincoln, (this is nearly thirty miles away!) although by then, it was to diluted to present any problems". John stated, "Our investigation is ongoing".

 

The tank was on isolated farmland at Barkston Gorse Farm, between the Viking Way and the River Witham.

 

Grantham Angling Association secretary Simon Sheilds said, " I'm shocked and devastated. I cant believe any mindless moron could do this. Surely they couldn't realise they have destroyed a whole ecosystem".

 

"Its not just a matter of re-stocking. The nitrate will lead to prolific growth of weeds and take all the oxygen. Ducks, swans, kingfishers, grebes, herons, and invertebrates are all effected".

 

"We have just carried out work with a £32,000 grant for habitat improvements down-stream of Girder bridge. Thats all been wasted now".

 

PC Andy Roberts of Grantham police said, "Its wiped out a very clean stretch of fishing water used by anglers. Someone, deliberately wrenched open the valve. The liquid nitrites alone were worth £1,818, not to mention all the subsequent damage caused. Words just cannot describe the sight of all those dead fish. They were wiped out for 10 miles. It was just terrible".

 

PC Roberts wants witnesses to contact him on Tel No 01400 272470.

 

My Comments;

 

Now I know Simon Shields and the rest of the guys on the Grantham Angling Association committee very well. Their input and involvement to their fishing club for the benefit of their membership is just about as good as it gets.

 

Over the many long years since the club was formed way back in the mid 1800's, their members now enjoy some of the most fantastic fishing on rivers and stillwaters for miles around.

 

They have their own private stock ponds where they rear on fish, their fisheries equipment, nets etc is so good that the EA borrow it from time to time. Indeed, the GAA guys very often help out the EA fisheries guys going to help out at various netting parties where ever they are needed. The partnership between the GAA and the EA is a shining example for all fishing clubs to follow and a remarkable testament of just what can be achieved by fishing clubs and the EA working closely together.

 

Simon, although quite a young man, has been majorly instumental in fighting battles for local anglers going right up to government level in the Houses of Parliament, and winning! Undertaking various environmental studies on GAA waters and is a member of the Institute of Fisheries Management. He also works tirelessly as head bailiff for the GAA.

 

Simon has always been a major campaigner for the ACA locally for years and knows Jane and Bob James of the ACA personally from the days they both lived in Grantham. Even though the GAA are members of ACA, I am unsure how the ACA would proceed in a case like this and exactly who, they would seek compensation from. Let us all hope that the ACA gets a successful result towards compensation for the lost fish stocks as quickly as possible for the GAA.

 

This particular stretch of the River Witham, indeed all the stretches of this lovely river under the control of the GAA, would be at home in the chalk belts in the South because of its similarity to a chalk stream or river. The amount of work that the GAA guys have undertaken for themselves on this particular stretch in partnership with EA is mind blowing. Sadly, all of this hard work undertaken over many years by many caring anglers has now been destroyed in the matter of a few hours.

 

I will be contacting the GAA officially this week to offer help from the RSSG. Although our help will probably only take the form of practical help that may be required in the form of weed clearence etc, I know for certain that a few extra hands at any subsiquent work parties would make all the difference.

 

To end with, this event sad and most terrible as it is, does clearly demonstrate just how vunerable our rivers really are. And it is not until a beautiful thing dies, that we really all start to sit up and take notice.

 

If you have not already done so, please give some serious thought to joining the ACA. And if you are fishing club members who's club is not in ACA membership, please talk to your club about ACA membership. The GAA case certainly highlights the need to be protected against this sort of thing happening to your own local rivers and remember, pollution comes in many forms that are not always as a result arrising from mindless actions of vandalsm.

 

Please also realise, the RSSG is formed to offer practical help to local fishing clubs and their local anglers. The more members we have nationally, the more we can help out in cases like the GAA one. Please think seriously about becoming a member of RSSG. Its only £3 to join. The more members we have, the more we can help.

 

Surely thats got to be worth just three quid.

 

Regards,

 

Lee.

 

[ 14 April 2002, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: trent.barbeler ]

[Alan Roe]

Lee This is indeed terrible news and I can only hpoe that they catch the mindless scum that perpetrated this wicked act and imprison them for a long time.

 

Naturaly our hearts go out to those affected by this awfull deed and if there is any way I can help let me know.

 

Events like this tend to put things in perspective there are many groups all trying to work for the good of angling included in them are the ACA the SAA and the RSSG for those of you who are not members of a group can I ask you to join one and use it as your vehicle to put something back into angling the choice of group is up to you but please be aware that angling faces many threats and incidents like this one and the one that virtually wiped out the River Eden a few years ago are just part of the story.

 

If you have a heart for your sport put something back into it

[anglerusmaximus]

First off I deeply sorry to hear what has happenend.

Well done to alan who wrote a nice passage to everyone who is affected.

I feel sorry for the fish that suffered a very slow death and im sure the police will catch the little bast@rd who caused this cowardly act.

I hope the river quickly becomes free of pollution and so thet fish can smim safely in that stretch again.

[trent.barbeler]

Dear Alan,

 

Sadly, I feel that the only help in this case which is of course, after the event, that can be offered is in practical terms.

 

Perhaps in work parties that might involve netting to re-stock certain species or weed clearance if this becomes a problem. Either way, I will contact Simon to tell him the RSSG is prepared to offer what practical help it can. It might be, that no outside help will be required but knowing angling clubs who like us all, struggle sometimes to get people to help out, our offer to help in practical terms will be appreciated I'm sure. I will place your name on the list Alan of those wanting to help and many thanks.

 

Regards,

 

Lee.

[Gray-Catchpole]

we had an incident like this happen on our local canal brecon and monmouth, last year, devastating, i feel for you all.

[Vagabond]

Terrible news, and my sympathy to the Grantham Angling Club.

 

I'm a bit too far away to offer practical help, but hope my subs as individual member of ACA, SAA and RSSG will be put to good use to help restore this river.

 

I can only echo Alan Roe's request that everyone makes sure they are individual members of one or more of ACA ,SAA, and RSSG.

 

Please don't leave it to the other bloke to put his hand in his pocket, 'cos if he's leaving it to you, then nothing will get done.

[Chris Plumb]

Sad....so sad.

 

 

The Whitham was the first river I fished regularly as a kid. We lived in Grantham at the time my father died and I used to catch sticklebacks with a 3 foot rod and 2¾in centre-pin (I was 6 at the time.) I will always remember my father taking me, despite being very ill, and using my tackle, casting across the river to catch dace. Fond (& distant memories).

 

Chris

[Leon Roskilly]

Things like this make me so desperately sad

 

A similar thing happened down in Kent not so long ago.

 

The sluice protecting a small river from the sea was deliberately jammed open, so that the sea-water flooded in on the high tide, wiping out so much freshwater life.

 

The EA restocked the water but, to a friend who fished it, it will never be the same. The balance that was the living river that he loved, was gone.

 

Mindless vandalism, or the deliberate act of ‘antis’ determined to spoil the anglers’ fun? Many people believed the second option. Whoever did it was deliberately out to kill fish, not cause to damage to property.

 

A water owned by my own club had a lucky escape when the bailiffs, hearing of someone poaching the water during the close season went to investigate. On their way across the field leading to the water, they came across a can of a highly poisonous agricultural chemical (Lindane - I think), abandoned in the field.

 

If the can had leaked, as it was sure to given time, there would have been one hell of a pollution incident!

 

It had been taken from a nearby farm by someone out to cause damage and mayhem for a bit of fun. I doubt that they knew what they had taken, or how deadly it could have been to themselves, or the environment.

 

I guess that the same sort of stories could be told by most anglers of not so many years.

 

Thankfully, for the environment, and for the rivers, anglers watch over the waterways. These things happen.

 

The presence of anglers on the bank deters many incidents, I’m sure.

 

When the worst does happen, it’s often anglers who first sound the alarm, put the wheels in motion, and prevent more serious damage occurring to the environment, and often to the health of people dependent on safe water to drink, and to work with.

 

And when the clean-up and restocking takes place, it’s often anglers involved, and those financed by anglers who do the work and pay the bills.

 

I don’t always see eye to eye with the ACA, or the SAA, I’ll probably have differences of opinion over some issues with the RSSG in time. But I don’t regret a penny of the money I contribute to any of them, when something like this happens, and anglers have someone to turn to for support in such times.

 

Lee, I am very upset over your report and I feel a little of the distress that those closely involved must be feeling.

 

I also feel great distress over the yearly destruction of the spawning bass shoals, and of the dolphins that have always taken the share that nature intended, suffocating in the nets of the pair trawlers.

 

If it wasn’t for the brotherhood of the angle, working to protect our waters and the ecology on which our pastime depends, I’d be feeling a lot, lot worse.

 

I always keep the EA emergency number on my mobile. You’ll find it on the back of your fishing licence - 0800 80 7060.

 

Tight Lines - leon

[pinky]

a terrible horrible loss.

we can only hope if they do catch the culprit that the judge is an angler.

[Guest NickInTheNorth]

Lee

 

As always the report is poetic, the subject matter alas is not.

 

My condolences to the club, and anyone who took pleasure from the environs of the river. A sad loss to all the people that have ever passed by.

 

I wish there were more I could offer to do, but living 400 miles away the best I can do is to continue supporting the ACA. I must however also join the RSSG, it will never be able to help me, but numbers count. Where do I send the cheque?