 | An 'open letter' has been penned to the angling community by the Barbel Society, calling for anglers to apply pressure to ‘the powers that be’ to save our ailing rivers. Their Chairman, Steve Pope, says the |
situation with pollution is the worst he’s ever known and that, without the angling community fighting as one, we risk it being ‘too late’ for anything to be done.
Other members of the Society, Ray Walton and Laurence Breakspear, took aim at the Angling Trust and Environment Agency for their lack of action, as well as the continued decline of our waterways under their watch.
Their letter reads:
“The current situation with regard to pollution is the worst I’ve ever known and whilst acknowledging the difficulties in getting the problem solved, I wish the angling community could be fully mobilised and in tandem with others who have an interest in our riverine environment and apply continuous and massive pressure on the powers that be to help bring about change.
“My angling colleagues speak from the heart, and they need to be heard before it’s too late.”
Steve Pope
“The EA authorise, permit and have legalized the vast majority of untreated raw sewage/chemical discharges that have contaminated, poisoned or killed off our riverine and sea protected habitats. They have legalized the serial pollution of our UK Rivers.
“I don’t hold much faith in the Angling Trust regarding river pollution. They are contracted partners with the EA, who has legalized untreated raw sewage/chemical pollution. How can the Angling Trust be partner to that? The EA pays the Angling Trust over £1.4 Million per year. They are no longer as independent or transparent as they make out to be, so there is a significant conflict of interestregarding exposing and publicising pollution incidents, fish kills etc. to anglers and the public.”
Ray Walton
“I consider the Angling Trust and the Environmental Agency to have failed all anglers and ultimately all river users. To be told that the river you intend to fish or use is a carrier of bacteria and viruses that include life threatening disease such as E. coli, Polio, HIV, and other water born bacterial infections is an absolute disgrace.
“When raw sewage or effluent is discharged into the river with chemical additives so powerful that the river dies before your very eyes, a stench so pungent that all riverine life stands still, chemical additives that sickens fish so much they don’t feed, fly life so effected it disappears from view, the Angling Trust and the EA offer no safety guidance. In my view, they are not fit for purpose. On their watch, pollution is much worse. We have been failed and we continue to be failed.
Other members of the Society, Ray Walton and Laurence Breakspear, took aim at the Angling Trust and Environment Agency for their lack of action, as well as the continued decline of our waterways under their watch.
Their letter reads:
“The current situation with regard to pollution is the worst I’ve ever known and whilst acknowledging the difficulties in getting the problem solved, I wish the angling community could be fully mobilised and in tandem with others who have an interest in our riverine environment and apply continuous and massive pressure on the powers that be to help bring about change.
“My angling colleagues speak from the heart, and they need to be heard before it’s too late.”
Steve Pope
“The EA authorise, permit and have legalized the vast majority of untreated raw sewage/chemical discharges that have contaminated, poisoned or killed off our riverine and sea protected habitats. They have legalized the serial pollution of our UK Rivers.
“I don’t hold much faith in the Angling Trust regarding river pollution. They are contracted partners with the EA, who has legalized untreated raw sewage/chemical pollution. How can the Angling Trust be partner to that? The EA pays the Angling Trust over £1.4 Million per year. They are no longer as independent or transparent as they make out to be, so there is a significant conflict of interestregarding exposing and publicising pollution incidents, fish kills etc. to anglers and the public.”
Ray Walton
“I consider the Angling Trust and the Environmental Agency to have failed all anglers and ultimately all river users. To be told that the river you intend to fish or use is a carrier of bacteria and viruses that include life threatening disease such as E. coli, Polio, HIV, and other water born bacterial infections is an absolute disgrace.
“When raw sewage or effluent is discharged into the river with chemical additives so powerful that the river dies before your very eyes, a stench so pungent that all riverine life stands still, chemical additives that sickens fish so much they don’t feed, fly life so effected it disappears from view, the Angling Trust and the EA offer no safety guidance. In my view, they are not fit for purpose. On their watch, pollution is much worse. We have been failed and we continue to be failed.
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