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The river lea restoration program

Jerry Gleeson

Jerry Gleeson

Senior Member
The River Lea once was a prolific barbel and chub river where you would catch dozens of fish through out the day. Unfortunately natural events have dwindled the river of fish stocks which it needs help to recover from. With the spawning grounds being over run by crayfish the spawn is unlikley to survive. The EA have stocked along with the Barbel Society in the last 2 years 1400 small barbel and 1000 chub.Which at 4-5 inches the survival rate is very low.
Andrew's goal and aim is to build a holding/growing on pond for the species in the river to give them a better chance of survival. The pond will be fitted with pumps and a waterfall to try and reflect the natural movement of the river, the fish will be grown on until they are about 2lb in weight giving them a better chance of survival. This isnt a process that will happen over night it will take years for the barbel to reach a good size before release but if successful this will give the River Lea a massive boost for its future. To raise funds for fish stocks we will have fundraiser events and also rely on donations aswell as putting our own money in.

our 1st event will be on 19-21st February

Fish in at kings weir to help raise funds for the project.

Full access to kings weir and private members section.
£50 per person which will include a bbq on the Saturday and breakfast on the sunday.
Access will be allowed from friday for those travelling significant distances.
A raffle will be arranged with some good prizes.
Kings weir has done barbel in access of 16lb and chub of over 8lb so if you fancy a chance at catching one of these incredible leviathans and having a great weekend with like minded anglers then get your name down.
Night fishing is not normally allowed but for the fish in and a 1 time chance night fishing will be allowed to all who take part.
A £10 deposit per person is required for securing place.
deposits can be sent to Kingsweir@hotmail.co.uk
Contact myself or Andrew Tredgett if you are interested.

Jez
 
Good luck with this venture Jerry, would be great to see this lovely fishery brought back to its former glory.
What i don't get is the apparent lack of support its getting from this forum, surely its a worth while project, just a few good lucks wouldn't go a miss.
 
You're right Russell. For my part I wish you well with this venture Jerry. I too have fond memories of fishing the Lea when I lived down south.

Dave
 
Ponds attached to the river Lee are a fantastic idea, being excellent fisheries in their own right, and providing valuable refuges for fry of all sorts and for all fish in times of flood. In the kings weir area Comorants are very numerous along with crayfish and otters. As long as protection from these predators can be assured hopefully Kings weir and other nearby stretches will return to their former glory in time.
I caught my first ever Barbel at kings weir, a little bit bigger than a Gudgeon.
 
River Lea…As i have always said, it isn't only about Crayfish, Otters, Cormorants etc(they were not there when the middle to lower Lea decline started) to why they don't spawn properly and regenerate naturally like on lots of other rivers affected by the same. It's mainly due to the crap low graded water quality and low oxygen levels caused by the sewage discharge input upstream at Rye Meads Sewage works about 4 miles away. The middle lea downstream thru King Weir and Fishers green used to perfect barbel habitat with lush ranunculus, until they built the Crest Weirs which reduced the flow and decreased the silt flushing out of weir pools. That with the downgrading of this part of the river by the NRA allowing the sewage works to discharge higher volumes of sewage effluent (which includes sex changing hormones, toxins, carcinogens etc.) with little river dilution factor, especially in summer, to where it depletes the river of vital essential oxygen and to which some species become seriously stressed and cannot tolerate and lowers or knocks out their immune system...notably barbel. Andrew and others are doing their best to rectify their part of the Lea with a lot of work, time and effort which hopefully will make a difference in the future, but unless Thames Water start co-operating in upgrading and lowering their sewage volume discharges and removing/stripping the raw sewage of endocrine disruptors (sex change hormones and other toxins and chemicals), then the re-stocking will be an ongoing programme that will never end. The NRA/EA have re-stocked the venue a number of times over the past years as well as in river work carried out by members and friends to speed up the flow and create clean spawning grounds and a better viable habitat as it was in the 60' and 70's before the Crest Weirs and river downgrading. It's all well and good work intended, but it needs to be accompanied with essential high water quality and sufficient high oxygen levels to support barbel in living a longer and happier life, spawn and recruit their own naturally. At the top end of the Lea upstream of Rye Meads Sewage Works, the barbel populations in some club stretches are thriving and reproducing naturally, so i am told. So, if that is the case, there is something to take note of as to why that is and why it is not happening downstream of the Rye Meads sewage works.
 
Spot on Ray, 20 plus miles of upper lea is a prolific alive river, yet 10 miles downstream its dying like my beloved river Colne. What surprised me last year was the silver fish being caught at Fishers green,30lb plus bags of roach and dace were being caught,yet the barbel and chub are suffering
 
Some coarse species can tolerate lower water quality and lower oxygen levels as they do further downstream around Hackney Marshes and lower. However, if the water temp becomes hot in summer and low flows, then even they become 'at risk' as the pollutants in the river water become more and more toxic and deplete the oxygen further. If you get a slug of badly treated or raw sewage come down...then it is a complete wipe out of everything...as i have witnessed before down there a long time ago. Pretty sure it still goes on from time to time like your experiencing on the Colne etc, which seem to be declining like the Middle-Lower Lea was and still is i think. Keep on the case Mark your doing a good job in exposing the disgraceful goings on down there...and hopefully someone will pay and be prosecuted and thrown in jail for the damage, and then made to clean it all up.
 
...only read the intro etc to 4 at the mo joe, but this bit says it all considering the EA and others are the ones who mass weed cut here, and on the Kentish Stour and many other UK rivers.

4. ‘To prevent flooding in the river catchment, a number of flood prevention works
Have been regularly completed by authorities, including channel straightening
and removal of in-stream woody debris. Whilst these tend to have negative
consequences for fish production, the cutting of in stream macrophytes (weed growth) during
the summer months to ensure the channel was sufficiently clear to facilitate
flood relief flows was measured as having a significant deleterious impact for
juvenile roach.
COMPARISON OF PRE-AND POST-WEED CUTTING ELECTRIC FISHING POINT SAMPLES REVEALED PRESENCE AND ABUNDANCE OF JUVENILE ROACH DECREASED BY APPROXIMATELY 50 % FOLLOWING WEED CUTTING.’

I suppose that goes for all other riverine coarse species as well who rely on the weed cover as their essential and critical habitat sanctuary for survival.
 
Very true Ray.

Has the level of weed cutting decreased in the last couple of years? I did wonder if that might be a casualty of the EA's budget cut's. Every cloud and all that.
 
The EA/NE ceased weed cutting 'themselves' on the Hampshire Avon in 2009/10 stating a number of reasons including damaging the riverine habitat and cost, but it still goes on by a few others down here and the EA/NE will allow farmers to do it (probably by contractors) if they pay for it themselves. Bournemouth Water still 100% weed cut the on the Avon above the Parlour Pool upstream in summer. That used to be a prime and famous big Roach stretch in the past but now it is left baron with no cover for fish, wildfowl or anything throughout autumn and winter even though it is an SSSI/SAC protected. In the EA SE region which covers the Kentish Stour, they completely destroy that river every year by mechanical weed cutting virtually everywhere in Kent, so i am told.. even though the EA know they kill everything, including CITES listed endangered eels etc. In my opinion Joe, 'NO' it hasn't decreased, as it is carried out as an EA 'Flood Defence' measure whether it needs cutting or not, they will still do it in low levels and flows to eliminate risk. The National Farmers Union(NFU) have been lobbying the EA and government to 'Dredge' every river in the UK for a long time now to help the farmers profits and dry out the natural water meadows and natural flood plains where the excess water should be going and storing naturally on the land to avoid flooding in downstream towns. They don't give a toss about fish, wildlife, wildfowl, birds or any protected species or destroying the natural riverine eco system whatsoever...which they are supposed to protect. Have a watch of this on the Kentish Stour.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DspUXV6WcZc&t=9s
 
Tragic Ray. All that environmental damage, not to mention time and fuel, just to ensure the flood water in peak flows gets downstream as fast as possible, thus increasing the flood risk to those living in the downstream catchment. Will we never learn?

Not being a regular fisher of the southern chalk streams, I had no idea they still went in for mass weed cutting. I was always taught it should be done on a piecemeal 'chequer board' basis, seems not.
 
The cynics among us think that a lot of the bankside snag and weed removal is being done so the crap,visable pollution the sewage works pump out, condoms,sanitry towels etc do not get 'hung up' to show everyone the true facts of what is being dumped in the river.My local rivers Colne and chess started showing these 'flags' back in the summer and surprise surprise suddenly stretches are now being bankside stripped/raped.Its heartbreaking the cover up.
 
The Chess is one of the bits of fantastic river fishing I've enjoyed, that the EA have destroyed. For about 10 years around the 90s ,just after the improvements to Chesham sewage works they 'forgot' to 'maintain' a stretch. In that time it developed from an ankle deep weedless river to a knee deep lush chalk stream , abundant ranunculus weed, fantastic fly hatches, with a thriving, breeding wild Trout population, probably the best chalkstream wild Brown Trout fishing available anywhere in the country. I doubt I'll ever experience anything as good again in my lifetime.
One day the EA descended, ripped out ALL the weed and completely destroyed the whole fishery.
Failure to repair a bank breach, failure to prevent a fish kill and failure to stop their own people doing a 100%weed cut each year and 20 years on we still have the ankle deep river and the lush chalkstream is but a distant memory.
 
They have absolutely decimated the river lea at fishers green ,the fish remaining in the river have almost no where now too feel safe,such a shame .
 
Check out the Chess facebook page Paul, its horrifying ,finally Thames water have admitted that all the hundreds of sanitry towels etc in the river came from their site.I remember you telling me about your trout exploits there,its all gone.
 
...Not directly river Lea but relevant to the EA's habitat destruction on other rivers like the Kentish Stour etc via bankside vegetation removal and 'in river' mass mechanical weed cutting etc. I know the Lea and Colne can be added to the increasing list regarding EA habitat destruction of fish, macro invertebrates(food for fish and every resident creature along the riverine food chain) birds, amphibians, mammals, wildfowl...which seems to be increasing everywhere.
Anyway, ...just got this message from the Angling Trust regarding the EA destructive bankside tree and vegetation clearing and weed cutting etc....after i posted this a while ago on the AT FB page and elsewhere.....Angling Trust "Hi Ray Walton. First of all, our apologies for not getting back to you sooner and thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will be going public with this imminently so keep on the look out for media stories around this. We are also in discussions with contacts at the Environment Agency to find out what has been going on."
 
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