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Barbel stocked in the Somerset Levels

Steve Lewis

Senior Member
First (small) barbel starting to be caught from the river Brue in Somerset apparently, having been stocked by the EA just under a year ago in association with several clubs. Still only babies at this point, but apparently in tip-top condition according to Brue anglers I spoke to at the weekend whilst on a recce down there.

Until now, the only Somerset river to have produced barbel was the river Axe, but these have been fish that are likely to have got into the river when nearby lakes (many of which had barbel introduced years ago, due to the complete lack of them in the region's rivers) have flooded, and catches have been very few and far between, and by accident. Unlikely that there are enough of these "escapees" to promote a significant barbel population in the Axe.

The Brue, however, is the first proper Somerset river (that I'm aware of, at least) to have benefited from an official stocking, after years of the EA refusing to introduce barbel to rivers where it has never been an indigenous species. Presumably the apparent success of stocking the river Chew in nearby North East Somerset annually since 2009/10, as well as the struggle of existing stocks in other rivers across the country, has made the EA review their stance.

Hopefully this will mean similar stockings in other South West rivers - many of which are more than suitable for barbel - will take place in the near future.

Naturally it's very very early days - and, despite being 7 or 8 years into their introduction, it's still very early days for the Chew barbel as well - but I know the Brue well, and it's a healthy river with a plentiful enough ecosystem to support them. I think this is a good bit of progress.

Now if only the Bathampton and Amalgamated clubs organised themselves and got the EA to re-stock the Avon below Chippenham...
 
I was fishing the Blue last Friday, well, more like watching as it was so low and clear nothing wanted to know.
I saw some nice Chub & Bream as usual but swear there was a Barbel amongst them.
Do you know whereabouts the stocking(s) took place Chris?
 
All I know is that the stocking had the involvement of "several" clubs. There are 4 that I know of that have control of stretches along much of the whole length and, I think I'm right in saying, there are no weirs or passes for the entirety of its length. So in theory they should now be present in, or at least have access to, the whole river.

Of course, it's entirely possible that there were already barbel in there from surrounding lake floodings, like the Axe, but as far as I know no one has ever reported a barbel capture from the Brue, unlike the Axe.

As I said, very early days, but they're still in there and now being caught a year later.
 
Barbel in the Brue

Having spent some time looking into this I thought I should advise.
None of the local tackle shops were aware of any stocking into these rivers.
Also contacted Glastonbury Manor club who were also unaware of any species being stocked. They contacted the EA and were informed that it is a typo on the web page. So no barbel stocked into the river Brue but the other species were released. I.e. Chub, etc I thought it was too good to be true.
 
Having spent some time looking into this I thought I should advise.
None of the local tackle shops were aware of any stocking into these rivers.
Also contacted Glastonbury Manor club who were also unaware of any species being stocked. They contacted the EA and were informed that it is a typo on the web page. So no barbel stocked into the river Brue but the other species were released. I.e. Chub, etc I thought it was too good to be true.

And yet Steve reports that Barbel have been caught. Why would the EA not stock Barbel along with the other species? I had a look at the EA report and the Somerset Levels stocking was the largest at that time, plus why did the EA not correct the 'typo' it still reads that Barbel were released.
 
Some years ago Glastonbury manor wanted to stock Barbel but were refused on the basis of none indigenous species. Something that makes no sense to me but that what they said. The secretary has only very recently spoke to an EA rep so I doubt that it has filtered through.
What I do find odd it why they would stock so many fish without any club contact. And then report it on the web page. Everyone I spoke to knew nothing about the stocking.
One thing which many have prompted things was I heard that the Sheppy had a bad pollution incident not that long ago.
 
Just a two pence worth.

I understand from a reliable source that at least one river (not Somerset way) may have had some unofficial stockings of barbel by some naughty EA people.

Just to add.
 
Barbel in the Brue

Just to add.
A couple of weeks ago I contacted the EA via their equiries page to get clarification for myself. So far heard nothing but I was never going to hold my breath on that.
 
Barbel in the Brue

Well spoke too soon.
The answer has come back to my enquiry with the EA and was this:

I have spoken to our press team who said the document you are referring to is correct. In 2016 we released almost 2 million fish into English rivers however that information is out of date.

!!!!!!!!!
 
Well after pressing for a yes or no answer this is the reply from the EA:

I have spoken to a local fisheries officer for the area who has said that the information on the the press release is incorrect and no barbel were released into the river Brue or Sheppy.

They are going to feed the info back to GOV.UK to make them aware.

So sadly it was incorrect.
 
Well that's all kinds of sucky isn't it ! And for a brief wonderful moment there I thought my options had opened up a little...

Good detective work, Christopher.


And yet Steve reports that Barbel have been caught. Why would the EA not stock Barbel along with the other species? I had a look at the EA report and the Somerset Levels stocking was the largest at that time, plus why did the EA not correct the 'typo' it still reads that Barbel were released.

Neil

Most likely, then, that the Brue captures are, like those present in the Axe, escapees (possibly "kidnapped" and put into the Brue illegally) from nearby lakes and just coincidentally caught at the same time as the "news" appearing on the EA website erroneously. Quite a few lakes around those parts are stocked with barbel and during extended periods of rain a large area of the levels floods, so it's not too much of an effort for fish of all species from those surrounding lakes to find themselves in the drains and rivers - the Brue and South Drain "corridors" have a particularly high number of fishing lakes, some of which contain barbel, and are situated right next to the Brue and South Drain.

I have no doubt that barbel HAVE been caught in the Brue (if only one angler had mentioned it I would've had my doubts as well, but several confirmed it during that visit last September, and I've since heard it talked about in Veals as well), but it would seem now that these were just flukey captures of non-native fish, as occasionally happens in the Axe and, further South, the Exe.

As Christopher says, the EA have long held a stance that non-native species should NOT be stocked in any rivers. I thought the Brue barbel stocking news and recent captures meant that they had changed their stance, especially when you look at the success of the barbel stockings in the Bristol Avon (a river that did not originally have an indigenous barbel population) in the 50s/60s (possibly later?) and the more recent stockings in the Chew. But, alas...

It's a totally bizarre stance to have, given that several rivers down there (especially the Brue) are more than suitable for barbel and incredibly rich, and the barbel in the lakes seem to have all settled in nicely as well. But since when were the EA sensible? (rhetorical)

Colour me hugely disappointed.
 
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I totally understand, wouldn't it have been marvellous if the EA did something we all want. Barbel in the Brue, would have been great. The stance of none indigenous species is utterly bizarre.
 
Why would you put barbel in a lake? I like the idea of them taking the first opportunity to get out of a Stillwater and into river
 
Is it worth applying for the details of the stocking from Calverton fish farm under the freedom of information act.You might find the bods in charge know nothing of what is done at ground level.The Computer says NO but maybe the fisheries staff said go.Just do not mention Barbel otherwise they might smell a rat.
 
Dave - loads of lakes hold barbel these days, and they are sold by a lot of aquatics places as pond fish as well. As long as the water is sufficiently oxygenated, they seem to make themselves quite at home (and note that these will all be fish reared in stock ponds/tanks and not in moving water pens). The first time I became aware of barbel being stocked into lakes was a segment of one of Matt Hayes' shows in the late 90s/early 00s, where some club lakes in either a river or barbel (I forget which) deprived area decided to put some in their lakes to give their members a taste of catching barbel. I suspect that's why a lot of lakes in Somerset have done the same (some of them have had barbel stocks for a good 15 years now). Unlike stillwater chub, though, which tend to grow a lot bigger than their river counterparts in most situations, I think stillwater barbel tend to not get as big as their moving water cousins. I know there are a few lakes around the country which hold low double figure fish, but I think the general stillwater specimen size is 4-6lb, 6lb being the absolute upper limit in most.

Mark - good idea, but the FOI process is such a ballache and you invariably get a woolly answer back that it might just be a bit of a waste of time and effort.

Thinking more about it, does the EA actually have a final say, or can clubs just say to them "do one" and stock away themselves? I'm assuming the latter, given Keynsham AA have been stocking the Chew (which never previously had indigenous barbel).
 
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Steve,
I think they stocked them in the Chew and Frome (Bristol) because these streams are tributaries of the Bristol Avon which was originally stocked with 52 river Kennet Barbel at Limpley Stoke in 1955. Both the frome and Avon numbers crashed years ago and since then the EA re-stocked via these streams. But in all instances they are none indigenous. There is no consistency at all.
 
Our club controls some Barbel stretches of the Western Rother in West Sussex, and have wanted to top up stocks with 4 or 500 barbel, but we have been told by the E.A. that this will not happen, because it is E.A. policy that in waters where barbel are not indigenous no further stockings are allowed for 150 years. From all the articles in the Angling Times and reports of Claverton stockings on this site it would appear that the E.A. in Sussex are the only ones in the country who abide by this policy, if it exists. This rule has been broken on the Dorset Stour, Hampshire Avon (originally stocked in 1899), Severn, Suffolk Stour, and many others. They will not even allow us to purchase some.
 
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