The Environment Agency has today released the annual fisheries report detailing how the £21 million in rod licence income was distributed by the agency and its partners to protect and enhance angling and fisheries between April 2015 and March 2016.

In 2015/16, the Environment Agency used rod licence money to restock England’s rivers with 452,220 coarse fish, such as chub and barbel, from its fish farm at Calverton, Nottinghamshire, and opened up 405 kilometres of river for fish with 57 fish passes at locks and weirs.

In Lancashire and Cumbria £49,000 of rod licence money benefited a range of river habitat improvement projects. The projects were joint funded with partners and ranged from educational programmes for children, on the River Loud, showing them how improving habitat is good for fisheries to, improved spawning for coarse fish on Lower River Lune.

The Environment Agency, with the angling clubs of the Upper Ribble, Lancashire won the ‘2016 Contribution to Wild Trout Conservation’ for their ‘Going Wild’ project, which saw angling clubs cease stocking the river with farmed trout in preference to wild trout fishing.

The change to wild trout fishing was based on a wide range of evidence gathered by the Environment Agency and clubs; the evidence was then used by angling clubs, to make informed decisions on, how to provide the best possible angling experience.

With partners including the Angling Trust, the Agency encouraged angling participation with over 35,000 people trying angling for the first time at events throughout the country.

Rod licence money was also spent cracking down on fisheries crime, in 2015 the Environment Agency’s patrols checked 62,076 rod licences and brought 2,043 successful prosecutions for fisheries crime, like poaching. In Lancashire evasion of rod licence is relatively low, sales of rod licences reached 50,336 however, some anglers continue to try evade the cost of a licence. The Environment Agency’s regular patrols resulted in many successful prosecutions for example, whilst carrying out a routine rod licence patrol at the Fir Tree Fishery, Wigan, an angler claimed to hold a valid rod licence but said that ‘it was at home’. Records showed that the angler didn’t have a current rod licence. The case was heard at Ormskirk Court resulting in a fine of £660.

Sarah Chare, Head of Fisheries at the Environment Agency, said:

“Our second annual report shows how £21 million of rod licence money benefits angling, from improving access to fisheries for anglers with disabilities, to rescuing “fish in distress” and enforcing the law against the criminals who harm fisheries.

“The report is a record of how we’ve spent rod licence and other money, but it’s also important to recognise the benefits of angling go way beyond the activities described here. Angling is good for your family’s health and the sport contributes £1 billion to the national economy.”

https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...9/LIT10622.pdf