ENVIRONMENT AGENCY.    Welcome to 2019

In December we released 143,000 coarse fish into 71 English waters. We bred and reared them at our Calverton Fish Farm in Nottinghamshire. This is just one small part of the work we do on your behalf to improve fish stocks and develop angling.

Now it’s the New Year, it’s the perfect time to encourage children to give angling a go and junior fishing licences for under 17s are free! Why not share your knowledge and together we can all help protect the future of this fantastic sport.

River coarse fishing close season consultation

We are now consulting on the future of the statutory river coarse fishing close season in England, which currently runs from 15 March to 15 June.

This is your chance to give us your opinion or submit evidence to support the case to retain, change or remove this close season. We would like to hear from as many people as possible.

We want to better understand the risks and benefits associated with any change and the potential impacts on fish stocks, angling and other wildlife.

The consultation is open now and the closing date for responses is 11 March.

Restoring fish passage

This is Sheep’s Green on the River Cam in Cambridge. Working with the City Council we removed an old sluice gate and restored 200m of river channel to improve fish passage along the river and encourage new habitat.

This work has greatly enhanced the local environment, and is now enjoyed by residents as well as the angling community. It is one of many projects we were involved in to enhance rivers for fish and other wildlife.


Pure crucian carp

The native crucian carp (Carassius carassius), is widely considered to be under threat, particularly from hybridisation (breeding with other carp species). To help protect this beautiful fish, we have led a programme of producing genetically pure crucian carp and releasing them into lakes across the country.

We worked closely with the Angling Trust and other enthusiastic partners to preserve this endangered species.


Year of the salmon

2019 has been declared the International Year Of The Salmon. This means that a lot of international organisations are coming together to understand, “what humans can do to better ensure salmon and their varied habitats are conserved and restored against the backdrop of increasing environmental variability.”

It’s a bold initiative, we’re supporting it and we hope you will too. Find out more and get involved.

In other salmon news; we have announced important updates to our salmon byelaws.



Partner profile: Rivers Trust

The Rivers Trust is a body of over 60 local Trusts that work together to enhance river environments for the benefit of people, fish and wildlife. They have particular focus on the restoration of natural habitats, invasive non-native species and water quality issues.

You can get involved with your local trust and help with a wide range of monitoring and restoration projects.