11/04/2005 - A Bath angling
club is displaying its environmental credentials
by committing to an extensive new programme
of conservation.
The Wellow Brook Fly Fishing Syndicate enjoys
a healthy population of brown trout at the
watercourse near Monkton Combe.
Now it has secured £4,000 of Environment
Agency funding to carry out work on the surrounding
habitat over the spring and summer
The work will include fencing and tree surgery.
This will have the added security benefits
of preventing cattle and sheep coming down
to the water to drink and ‘poaching’ the river
bank with their hooves.
This damage sometimes causes it to collapse,
and the debris and silt ends up in the watercourse
and is washed downstream. This also prevents
trout and other fish spawning, as they rely
on having clean gravel and on the riverbed
on which to lay their eggs and clear oxygenated
water to help them hatch.
The fencing allows cattle and sheep access
to the river only at certain points. In other
Environment Agency projects this has resulted
in the natural vegetation growing back within
a year.
Iain Turner from the Environment Agency said:
"The club is enormously committed to
managing the environment of the area they
enjoy, and has been carrying out conservation
work for a number of years. This has undoubtedly
helped maintain the healthy population of
brown trout - the group also sought advice
from the Wild Trout Trust as well as the Environment
Agency on how best to ensure the fish population
remained high without having to restock every
year.
"We always welcome approaches from committed
fishing groups who want our help in maintaining
the environment that they enjoy."
