East Anglia (East) Area Fisheries Newsletter October 2019 – March 2020
A major improvement in communications by the Environment Agency has been achieved through the efforts of Kelvin Allen Chair of BASG in the creation and publication of an East Anglia (East) fisheries newsletter. This is something that is produced by existing fisheries teams in Brampton and Kettering across the region and provides anglers with a clear insight on the work of EA fisheries.
The Environment Agency has a duty to maintain, improve and develop fisheries. We provide advice to fishery owners, managers, angling clubs and the public.
This newsletter has been produced to inform our customers of what the Fisheries team have been working on over the last few months and a forward look at areas of work which we will be concentrating on this quarter.
Fisheries Monitoring Program
We do routine and targeted fish surveys on many of our rivers and, in the winter months, club still-waters. This monitoring provides the evidence for a range of decisions which could result in improvements to habitats or fisheries.
The survey teams have been really busy over the last few months. The survey season is nearly at an end and the team are getting started on writing up the reports which will be available over the next few months.
One of the highlights include a sea trout (pictured) being caught alongside large roach on the River Wensum at Hellesdon. These are fish that we know are in the area but they struggle to get upstream due to the large sluices at New Mills. This is the second sea trout that we’ve caught at this point over the last two years so we know that a small number can get through the sluices. We are investigating how we can make this structure more passable for all species.
We’ve also completed a range of hydro-acoustic surveys on the Bure, Thurne and Yare. These surveys help us understand the distribution and density of fish on these Broadland rivers.
The full report is available here.
