Angling Trust is the new, single organisation to represent all game, coarse and sea anglers and angling in England. The formation of Angling Trust brings with it a positive new future for angling. For the first time ever, there is a single body to take cohesive action to solve all the problems that affect our sport. Please take a look around this section of the website to read more about the work we do and in what ways becoming a member of Angling Trust can benefit you.

T: 0844 7700616
E: 0844 7700616
W: www.anglingtrust.net/default.asp

RETA Secretary Tom LeQuesne and ACA Director Mark LLoyd concocted this over a pint or two. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

With the Blueprint for Water, a coalition of leading environmental organisations, including the Salmon & Trout Association and representing more than six million people in total, are calling on the Government to act now to give the water of England and Wales a future.

How you can help! Write to your MP and encourage him/her to sign the Early Day Motion no. 306
W: www.blueprintforwater.org.uk/takeaction.html

Looking after Exmoor’s environment for all to enjoy, in partnership with a thriving community.
W: www.exmoor-nationalpark.gov.uk

The Salmon and Trout Association are the anglers voice in politics and the world at large

T: Tel: 020 7283 5838
E: hq@salmon-trout.org
W: http://www.salmon-trout.org/

South West Lakes Trust manages over 50 inland waters in the South West region, many of which are coarse and game fisheries. The Trust has three premier trout fisheries which are also Troutmaster waters; Siblyback Lake near Liskeard, Kennick Reservoir near Bovey Tracey and Wimbleball Lake near Dulverton. In addition to these sites there is also a wide choice of brown, natural and wilderness fisheries across the region. Our coarse fisheries range from 3 to 81 acres offering a choice of carp, pike and mixed coarse waters in both Devon and Cornwall.

T: 01566 771930
W: www.swlakestrust.org.uk

Patron: Orri Vigfusson
President: LORD CLINTON
Chairman: Humphrey Wood
Secretary: Roger Furniss
Springfield, Huxham, Exeter, Devon EX5 4EW

SWRA is the voice of riparian owners and game angling in the South West. It is the umbrella of the individual river associations in the South West and a powerful lobbying body regularly consulted by the Environment Agency and Government. Its Council of representatives from every river is supported by a Secretary, Roger Furniss, a former Fisheries Officer and Environmental Protection Manager whose whole career has been in the South West – he is also a RETA Committee member.

As with many aspects of modern life angling and our freedom to enjoy it are affected by an ever-growing bureaucracy. By enabling individual rivers to work together to speak with one voice SWRA continues to influence the political and environmental agenda in a number of key areas. Just some of the issues we are engaged in are:-

• Salmon Stock Assessment – to manage salmon stocks effectively it is essential to know more about their status, ie adult runs, juvenile production, vulnerable life stages. SWRA is working hard to influence the Environment Agency to adopt the best possible methods to ensure the long-term improvement of our sport.



• Salmon Stocking Policy – there are some situations where stocks are so threatened that artificial stocking is necessary to kick start recovery or overcome specific local problems. SWRA actively supports voluntary efforts by individual rivers to carry out scientifically based stocking and to ensure that Agency policies are not too restrictive.



• National Salmon Strategy – the Environment Agency is producing a new strategy to replace the1996 version. We are determined that the new strategy aims at abundant stocks rather than the old strategy’s targets of only enough to ensure a self-sustaining population. We are also lobbying for sea trout to be given as much prominence as salmon - for many anglers in the South West they are the major quarry



• Canoeing – the British Canoe Union is campaigning for a change in the law to allow unrestricted access to all rivers. Our position is the same as current Government policy, ie voluntary, negotiated access agreements are the way forward. Any change in the law would severely affect angling and riparian property rights.



• The Threat of Abstraction – SWRA continues to be very active in protecting our rivers and their fish stocks from on managing over-abstraction. This watchdog role is vital against a background of ever growing demand for water and changing flow patterns as a result of climate change.



• European Water Framework Directive – this directive, which requires all rivers to achieve ‘Good Ecological Status’ by 2015, presents a major opportunity for fisheries interests to make an input into water abstraction, habitat protection and pollution prevention policy. We are heavily involved in the technical aspects and in lobbying for proper fisheries representation on stakeholder consultation groups.

If you would like to know more about the work of South West Rivers Association by joining the mailing list for its Newsletter, or wish to become an individual member, please contact the Secretary, Roger Furniss at

T: 01392 841235
E: email@furniss2733.fsnet.co.uk

A joint initiative of The River Exe and Tributaries Association (RETA) and The Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT), The River Exe Project has embarked on an exciting venture to protect, restore and enhance salmon habitat throughout the whole of the River Exe catchment. Focus initially has been on The Little Exe; like other rivers in the South West, it has seen a decline in Atlantic salmon numbers due to a number of factors that have degraded habitats and caused diffuse water pollution. The River Exe Project, in partnership with statutory and voluntary organisations, the water industry and local angling associations, is addressing these issues and hopes to bring about improvements in salmon stocks. This project will also help other important wildlife whilst providing sustainable environmental and economic benefits to local communities in the Exe catchment.

Background

The rivers Barle and Little Exe are the two main tributaries of the river Exe which rise within Exmoor National Park. Historical electrofishing data, from surveys carried out by the Environment Agency, indicate that Atlantic salmon numbers in the Little Exe are considerably lower than that of the Barle despite many similar characteristics between the two tributaries.

Concerned by these apparent impacts to river Exe salmon stocks, RETA assembled a consortium of first year funders: The Cave Foundation, the Exe Foundation and the Exe Mitigation Group*, to start the Project. This enabled the employment of a dedicated Project officer within WRT.

The role of the Project Officer has been to action the project in practical terms in order to improve river water quality and restore the instream and riparian habitats of the Little Exe.

Habitat Restoration

The Exe Survey Project (Phase 1), was initiated to assess whether habitat quality and availability were responsible for the existing anomaly in salmon production between the two tributaries. A detailed walkover survey, undertaken by WRT with help from members of the Dulverton Angling Association, suggested that factors such as overshading, bank erosion and other water quality issues may be responsible for limiting salmon production in the Little Exe. The survey also identified a lack of suitable spawning gravels in some areas of the system.

The project received a further significant boost in 2006 when the Exmoor National Park Authority awarded WRT a grant of £57,500 through the Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund. The Exmoor Sustainable Development Fund, which has contributed towards the creation of this website, is provided by DEFRA and SWeRDA.

The River Exe Project (Phase 2) broadly aims to address the issues which have lead to the degradation of salmon habitat within the Little Exe catchment. The Project has been working closely with farmers and landowners to raise awareness about the impacts of diffuse water pollution whilst identifying solutions to improve water management on farms. Advice has also been given on ways to protect streams and rivers through improved grazing and nutrient management. Grants have been offered to encourage farmers and landowners to fence along riverbanks, which reduces bank erosion through the growth of bankside plants and grasses. Designated stock drinking and crossing points have been used to limit livestock access to the river.

The project has initiated an extensive programme of coppicing bankside trees to introduce more light into shallow riffle zones. This will allow instream plants to grow, providing food for invertebrates, which are an essential part of the diet of juvenile salmon and trout. This work complements the coppicing undertaken by the Dulverton Angling Association and which has now seen many kilometres of salmon habitat improved.

WRT has carried out further walkover surveys of the catchment, including important salmon spawning and nursery areas. This has helped prioritise other areas for work and helped highlight the need to protect river gravels in the system. In order to create new opportunities for spawning and juvenile recruitment, WRT intends to trial the use of a vortex weir on the river. These instream enhancements create holding pools for returning adult salmon and scour out river gravels to create suitable spawning habitat. The Trust has also been using semi-quantitative electrofishing surveys to examine fish numbers and distribution within the river as well as helping to target on-the-ground restoration work.

The first years work in this second stage also discovered other factors, such as gravel extraction and possible water quality issues which also need addressing.

Increasing environmental awareness and public participation are important elements of the project and WRT has delivered several river walks and schools visits which have introduced local students to the lifecycle and requirements of fish, invertebrates and other wildlife within Exmoor’s streams and rivers. During National Fishing Week 2006, over 50 people joined the Trust and volunteers for ‘angling taster sessions’ at Exe Valley Fishery and on the banks of the Exe in Tiverton. To keep up to date angling events, river walks, redd counting days and other events planned during 2007 please go to: www.wrt.org.uk

RETA and The Westcountry Rivers Trust would like to thank the project partners, farmers, landowners and anglers for their time and dedication to the project and hope additional funding can be secured to sustain the River Exe Project for several more years, in which time it is hoped it will include wider parts of the total Exe catchment. As a start to this wider area focus, in 2007 the Exe Mitigation Group is funding an additional programme of semi-quantitative electrofishing in the River Barle and other main river Exe tributaries If you would like any further information on the project please call the Westcountry Rivers Trust on 08707 740704 or email info@wrt.org.uk

If you would like to donate and become a sponsor please subscribe to our newsletter by email and you will receive a sponsor pack in the next issue. Thank you. * (made up of South West Water, The Environment Agency and the River Exe and Tributaries Association)


T: 08707 740704
E: info@wrt.org.uk
W: www.wrt.org.uk

The Westcountry Rivers Trust is an environmental charity (Charity No: 1045806) established in 1995 to secure the preservation, protection, development and improvement of the rivers, streams, watercourses and water impoundments in the Westcountry and to advance the education of the public in the management of water.
A cornerstone of our philosophy is working in partnership with external individuals and organisations to share expertise and facilitate better information transfer. By collaborating with a whole range of stakeholders - ranging from individual businesses through to academic institutions, NGOs and government departments - the Trust aims to circumvent sectoral interests and encourages joint solutions to the complex environmental problems our society currently faces.

T: 08707 740704
W: www.wrt.org.uk