First a betrayal of all salmon anglers with news that the WyeUsk Foundation seek to improve coarse fish stocks on what is already a prime coarse fishing river now full of a n invasive fish, the barbel. Lower stocks of coarse and and other species may well be down to the arrival of this non indigenous fish. They don't seek to investigate this possibility but rather to increase it by the below initiative. Set up originally to help preserve stocks of salmon WUF seek to take further steps which will plainly not assist this species and seriously compromise further the salmon angler. How apt the accompanying picture is of a few barbel.
As usual finance is behind this for with decreasing salmon angler activity coarse fishing income for itself and many owners will be on the slide. The last sentence below say's it all really both from the WUF and NRW perspective with money from the latter. I thought NRW were strapped for cash but apparently not and are willing to waste it on a project like this when there are surely more meaningful ways to spend it I would have thought.
As for the salmon fishery owners just where do they stand on this. What has the Wye Fishery owners Association to say. Does it still exist.? Does it have a voice or is it still a WUF puppet having it's strings pulled and doing what its told.
My dealing with WUF over many years have taught me a few things to make me depair but this takes the prize. Shame on them I say.
Wye Coarse Fish Project Underway
While the prime focus of the Foundation’s projects has been Atlantic salmon and brown trout, our work benefits a wide range of fish species in both rivers. This is especially the case in our work to improve water quality and prevent soil erosion.
However, earlier this year we started our first project whose primary beneficiaries are the Wye’s coarse fish.
Surveys & Analysis
Within the Environment Agency Coarse fish Habitat (EACH) project, we have started to analyse Fishing Passport catch returns from the last five years to establish coarse fish species and stocks in the English section of the Wye.
We will then compare the results with physical features in the river such as woody debris, weed beds, willow margins and deep, slow sections. This will help us determine which sections of river have good or bad stocks of coarse fish and why.
This summer we will also carry out habitat and electrofishing surveys to confirm the results and help us further to identify sections of river in need of improvement.
Habitat Improvement
EACH will enable us to improve habitat in three sites with poor coarse fish stocks and identify two further sites to improve in future projects.
Hopefully barbel, chub and pike anglers will be as excited about EACH as we are!
We are very grateful to our partners the Environment Agency for helping to finance the project.
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