Call to save bream stocks on the broads
ANGLERS are being urged to sign a petition against a proposal to build fish barriers on two integral parts of the Norfolk Broads river system.
The call comes after Natural England was granted a permit to block off spawning sites for fish at Hoveton Great Broad and Hudson’s Bay in order to improve water clarity and promote weed growth.
Despite formal objections against the development by EA fisheries staff, who’ve proven through fish surveys and tagging programmes that bream use both water bodies to spawn, the work is likely to go ahead if the proposal is left unchallenged.
The Angling Trust is supporting the Broads Angling Service Group’s decision to launch a petition calling for the plan to be reversed.
Martin Salter, the Trust’s Head of Policy, says:
“We’re urging anglers to get behind the campaign to protect the Norfolk Broads which is one of our most iconic angling locations.
“If this development goes ahead, it will be at the cost of wiping out a large proportion of the bream population that have happily lived in these waters since the Middle Ages.”
Hoveton Great Broad is one of the areas under threat. Picture credit: Broadsman101