The appalling state of our rivers

[Andy Stafford]

I'd like to highlight a really important issue, not just for barbel fishing, but the overall quality of our environment and ultimately our own health and wellbeing.
Despite attempts by the government and the water industry to dodge the issue, it has become increasingly clear in recent times that while 86% of our rivers fail to meet basic environmental quality standards, the powers that be continue to fail to properly address the issues. Worse they talk themselves up, but continue to do nothing that is going to change things for the better.
As anglers please make a start to push for change by supporting the Angling Trust.
The article below highlights some of the issues.

River pollution

 

[Joe Winstanley]

I can't see things changing until the public begin to properly hold Government to account on the state of our environment. Sadly it isn't a big enough issue for many generations to influence the decisions they make at the ballot box, hence successive Governments treat the environment with contempt. I think this reached a nadir under the coalition Govt in 2010 when the spending cuts went levied on Defra went into overdrive.

You would think that the role as SoS for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs would be a post revered by politicians, one of great importance for which they aspire to. But for far to many of the senior politicians in Govt, Defra is regarded as a department that simply generates bad news, and Prime Minister's frequently use it as a punishment post for cabinet colleagues that step out of line. It is also regarded as a very short-term job, few stay in post for longer than 2 years. 7 ministers in post in the last 10 years which has included some utter dross (Patterson, Truss, Villiers), however Michael Gove was surprisingly good in his short stint and kickstarted some important reforms to the agricultural subsidy regime, but then you have to go back all the way to John Gummer in 93-97 to find anybody else that did a decent job. If any job in Govt needed the post-holder to take a longer term view then it's at Defra.

Nothing will change until this becomes an issue at the ballot box, this is why anglers need to put differences to one side and work with the likes of the RSPB, Wildlife Trusts, canoeists, surfers etc to campaign against pollution and water quality. Supporting the Angling Trust under Jamie Cook is a great place to start.

 

[Simon Kitcher]

It's never ending - and now the threats are coming from development of green - field sites for housing. If you sat down and thought how best to completely destroy as many habits and their associated ecosystems and food webs you couldn't do a better job than the present situation.

Between sewage, agricultural pollution and now housing development, when will it actually sink in as to the irreparable destruction of our rivers and riparian landscapes.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.th...ges-land-sale-sparks-fears-of-river-pollution