Fishing Season Ends

[FlyingFortress]

Angling is the No 1 participation sport in the UK so I must agree that not all are bad, and as you say it's probably wrong for the actions of a few to Tarr the many.

I do find it is a more pleasant time on the Broads during the closed fishing season though 😥

[Vaughan]

10 hours ago, rightsaidfred said:

At your age I would have hoped you would have been aware that it was anglers and their association the ACA that were responsible for bring many rivers back to life in the 50s to 80s from their poluted deaths, allowing wildlife to flourish and people to enjoy them without a visit to the A&E afterwards.

 

8 hours ago, FlyingFortress said:

Sorry Fred was not alive in the 50's and was not anywhere near the Broads in the 80's so cannot comment on those times.

Well I can well remember the 50s and so I think this deserves some discussion.

The water quality on the Broads in the 50s was as good, if not even better, than it is now!  The weed cutter had to come through Thorpe 4 times a year to keep the navigation clear and you could clearly see the bottom at all tides. Old photos of the time show us that the north rivers had lilies growing all down the river banks and I remember them well, especially on Wroxham Broad.

The pollution came in the late 50s and was caused by nitrate and phosphate enrichment, causing the growth of algae in the water, which cut out the sunlight and thus killed off plant growth on the bottom.  It also killed off the reed fringe on the banks, thus exposing them to wash erosion.  Nothing to do with anglers, but naturally, it all got blamed on the hire boats!   So it was Blakes and Hoseasons who developed and installed pumpout toilets, which came in during the late 60s.

This immediately showed that the pollution was no different!  The searchlight then turned onto the real problems, which were cities, towns and villages all over the area, pumping badly treated sewage into the system.  The 2nd problem was the excessive use of nitrate fertiliser on farm fields, which leached into the river system during rainfall.  Another side-effect of "deep dyke" drainage.

I cannot remember the angling fraternity having had anything at all to do with this, so I imagine Fred is talking about other UK waterways.  I also can't remember any serious threat to fish stocks over those years, despite what sensational TV film crews would try to have us believe.

[rightsaidfred]

Yes Vaughan I did say Nationwide and it related to all types of pollution, I think the Broads was probably the least affected at the time as it was mostly Industrial pollution that was killing the rivers although sewerage and farming slurry etc where a big problem as well, it had nothing to do with boating as such as on most of the rivers in question there was no leisure boats only the working barges etc.

At the time there were large stretches of many Rivers and Streams that were devoid of all life not just fish and you could see and smell the toxicity.

Fred