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Barbel stocked in the Somerset Levels
- Thread starter Steve Lewis
- Start date
Chris Jones
Senior Member
As I said earlier in the thread, the River Swale Preservation Society was refused permission to stock (at their own expense) barbel into the Swale (a west to east river where barbel are genuinely native) for years. The reasoning was that the EA claim that fish stocks are healthy and don't need any assistance. Most regular anglers on the Swale, particularly on the higher reaches, have a totally different opinion, but the EA isn't remotely interested.
Paul Collins
Senior Member
The reason will be that Barbel were never indigenous to the Stour or the Avon.
Joe Winstanley
Senior Member & Supporter
Is the Stour an SSSI? , I know the Avon is. Is there something in the SSSI management plan about non-indigenous species?
Phil Nixon
Senior Member & Supporter
Nothing to do with game fishers, none on Throop or anywhere else on the Dorset Stour.
Phil Nixon
Senior Member & Supporter
Doesn't hold water as far as Dorset Stour is concerned as we stocked 1500 in 2014 and the EA stocked 12000 at Blandford in the 90's.
Richard Barnatt
Senior Member
If so, tell them you are stocking trout. I could possibly get some from the bloke who sold me my Border Collie
Steve Lewis
Senior Member
And yet local-to-me Keynsham Angling Association have been allowed to stock them in the river Chew annually since 2009.
The EA's hypocrisy seemingly knows no limits!
The EA's hypocrisy seemingly knows no limits!
Paul Collins
Senior Member
The EA change the rules as they go along, they're definitely moving to a 'natural stocking only' policy now. A couple of the Game rivers I fish up North are now forbidden to stock any Trout and a Salmon hatchery is a definite no no too.
The Stour was only stocked with Barbel relatively recently, I believe in the 1890s from which the Avon received its population too.
Ludicrously enough one of the Game/coarse rivers has recently been stocked with Barbel and other coarse fish. It is though an East Coast river with as far as I know an indigenous population.
Andy Bebbington
Senior Member
they stocked the Bristol Avon with fish in jan this year.
Steve Lewis
Senior Member
Yeah, a few BA clubs have been allowed to stock in recent years. That I know of - Avon & Trib, Riverside and Somerford. Also sure I read or heard that Bathampton put a load in at Claverton not too long after my disastrous visit a couple of years back.
Graham Elliott
Senior Member & Supporter
Phil.
It may be down to a local decision.
The EA refused me permission recently to weed spray.
However the local Rivers Authority ( Severn/Trent)
Actually gave permission.
If you have a head guy on your Local Authority who is blocking this it might be the reason?
Or alternatively he may not be aware of the request.
Personally I would list all the past few years stockings on various rivers ( 100, 000 on Trent in last 10 years)
And any current ongoing ones and ask for reasons for the disparity.
Have you engaged with the AT at all?
It may be down to a local decision.
The EA refused me permission recently to weed spray.
However the local Rivers Authority ( Severn/Trent)
Actually gave permission.
If you have a head guy on your Local Authority who is blocking this it might be the reason?
Or alternatively he may not be aware of the request.
Personally I would list all the past few years stockings on various rivers ( 100, 000 on Trent in last 10 years)
And any current ongoing ones and ask for reasons for the disparity.
Have you engaged with the AT at all?
To my mind it's a worthless endeavor stocking barbel into smaller lowland southern rivers, the survival rate is extremely low, and on top of predation from otters, the quality of the water has suffered. In recent years the flow in most of these rivers has become a shadow of how they were, say twenty years or so ago. Again this year, we're witnessing desperately low levels, and we're only just into June. Abstraction for irrigating crops and supplying local water companies is at an all time high.
Gone are the days when you'd get to the river on the 16th June and the river would be running at a good pace and level. So now for example my local rivers are getting choked, bank to bank from weed that would have in the past, only grow in the slower paced sections.
Surely the EA aren't about to fess up to their errors/mistakes with all the hundreds of thousands of barbel stocked into our rivers any time soon. All they're saying is that there'd be no further stockings.
Gone are the days when you'd get to the river on the 16th June and the river would be running at a good pace and level. So now for example my local rivers are getting choked, bank to bank from weed that would have in the past, only grow in the slower paced sections.
Surely the EA aren't about to fess up to their errors/mistakes with all the hundreds of thousands of barbel stocked into our rivers any time soon. All they're saying is that there'd be no further stockings.
Phil Nixon
Senior Member & Supporter
NOT a local decision Graham, I have confirmed with them that the stocking policy is national and that is what I am disputing it with. They are having to provide the information regarding all the stocking that have taken place and the reasons they were allowed.
Chris Guy, they aren't saying there will be no further stockings, just not in the Dorset Stour.
They recently stocked barbel into the Severn - unbelievable.
What's the predation like on the Dorset Stour? Are you catching as many barbel as you were 15 years ago?
Phil Nixon
Senior Member & Supporter
Nowhere near as many barbel caught as 15 years ago, cormorants an issue and otters were a major problem but has got better over the last few years.