Angling: Welfare of fish stocks remains a top priority

The blunt reply of “No”, and fish are not included, from West Yorkshire Police hit a nerve and I just couldn’t leave it unchallenged.

Our lakes, surrounded by farmers busy lambing, stables still being mucked out and local grain and pet food shops continually working, it seemed that, if it’s under water and you can’t see it, then it just didn’t count.

Unfortunately, under the Animal Welfare Act, fish being cold blooded are not protected. Not a good start when trying to convince the police that your journey is a necessity.

Putting river systems to one side, my thoughts are simple: if we are prepared to buy fish and stock to unnatural levels, then we have a duty of care to look after them.

I’m not sure how many people realise how many fish are dependant on anglers baits and, in all but the richest water, supplementary feeding is an absolute must.

Our own lake, with a moderate turnover of anglers, is a perfect example. On its worst week, just 20 overnight anglers, feeding 5kg each, provide our fish with 100 kilos of the finest high protein available per week.

Taking this amount of food away from any other animal would see you in front of a judge but, if it’s fish, it’s acceptable.

I don’t think so.

I absolutely agree with the closures of all fisheries and have not needed convincing to stay at home but, for all those needing legal clarity, the statement from the Institute of Fisheries Management couldn’t have come at a better time.

In response to the many concerns expressed by fisheries managers about the viability of their businesses and the welfare of their fish stocks as a result of restrictions caused by the Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak, the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) is offering some important advice for fisheries that have closed their doors during the pandemic.

Many freshwater fisheries had, quite rightly, already decided to close their doors to anglers to reduce the spread of the virus before the tighter restrictions were put in place.

This could lead to some difficulties for the fish in those fisheries, some of which rely on bait from anglers as their main source of nutrition and also as spring is the time of year most associated with mortalities in still waters.

In order to manage this, fisheries managers also perform important tasks, for example weed management and water quality checks. The IFM’s advice is: Firstly, where essential fisheries management work needs to be undertaken to ensure the welfare of fish, it should only be done alone or, if this is not possible for safety reasons, the two metre distancing rule must apply.

From an essential animal welfare perspective and to prevent mortalities, it is important that fishery managers take steps to safeguard the health of their stocks.

To finish, a nice touch from the Leeds Anglers Club who, being just yards away from St James’s Hospital, have offered free safe parking to all NHS workers. They’re looking forward to having you.

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