Displaying items by tag: fish legal

Staff witnessed significant sediment pollution coming into the river from a small tributary of the Lugg at one point. Recent rains had washed huge quantities of soil from nearby farmland. The incident was reported to the Environment Agency.

The Angling Trust is also working with its members and the Environment Agency to promote a Tidy Anglers project. This will see volunteers from angling clubs throughout the country helping to clean up rivers, lakes, canals and beaches throughout England. The Litter Buggy – a pocket-sized device that can safely store line and other small items for disposal at home - is available from www.litterbuggy.co.uk. This ingenious device works very well and prevent unwanted line and hooks falling out of pockets. Angling Trust members get two for the price of one.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said:

“Anglers are often criticised for leaving litter and the best defence to this criticism is to show that anglers are part of the solution, not the problem. Of course there are a minority of anglers, as in all walks of life, who don’t respect the environment around them, but we need to demonstrate that they are the exception and not the rule. Hopefully litter clean ups like this will make them, and everyone else who drops litter in or around water, understand that it is not acceptable. Litter is hazardous to people and wildlife, it encourages more anti-social behaviour and spoils the beauty of our country’s waterside environments. Large items such as shopping trolleys can cause flooding.”

Will Smith, Membership Manager at the Angling Trust said:

“This was a great opportunity for us all to get out of the office and to find out more about our local river, while making a contribution to the quality of its environment. We were all proud of what we had achieved and we got positive comments from passers-by.”

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

The Angling Trust’s legal arm – Fish Legal – has welcomed the recent order from the Information Commissioner for the Environment Agency (EA) to release pollution records and monitoring data for the River Test. The EA had repeatedly refused to provide the information on the grounds that supplying it would be ‘manifestly unreasonable’.

Fish Legal – whose lawyers provide free legal support to more than 900 member clubs, riparian owners and syndicates throughout the UK – regularly asks the EA for its monitoring data, fisheries records and details of investigations into pollution incidents using the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
In the 2008 season, stretches of the river Test became discoloured. Losing confidence in the EA’s investigation into the potential sources of the pollution, members called on Fish Legal for help.

Fish Legal then asked the EA for reports and data in order to gain a better understanding of the threats facing this section of one of the most well-known chalk streams for fishing in the UK, if not the world.

The EA’s web site indicates that this information should have been readily available:
“The Environment Agency is an open and transparent organisation. We have always recognised the vital role that access to information plays in helping us achieve our goals. Such access is essential to the credibility of our regulatory functions. As we rely on your power and influence to help us achieve sustained environmental improvements, we will ensure that you have up-to-date environmental information available. We therefore encourage you to seek information from us.”

In any case, a public authority would be obliged to provide environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations. However, there are certain ‘exemptions’ which an authority can use to avoid its statutory obligation to release documents. The EA refused to provide the information as it argued it would take too much time and place a ‘manifestly unreasonable’ burden on their employees. The EA also said that a cost of up to £2,000 would be incurred when responding, but this charge was soon retracted when challenged.
Believing that the EA was cynically using exemptions under the Regulations to avoid scrutiny of their work, and fearing that the EA could use the same arguments in the future, Fish Legal referred the refusal to the Information Commissioner’s Office in June 2009.

In its formal Decision Notice, the Information Commissioner agreed with Fish Legal that the EA had behaved unlawfully.

The Commission‘s damning Decision:
• Referring to the claim by the EA that it would take between 60 and 90 hours to respond to the request, the Information Commissioner found that the Agency had “failed to provide convincing evidence that its estimates are reliable or reasonable under the circumstances”.
• For example, records which the EA had claimed would take 10 minutes each to read through would, in the Information Commissioner’s view, take “at most 1 minute to read through, and in some cases only seconds”. The estimate given by the EA, that simply extracting the information would consume 26 hours of Agency staff time, was, in fact, a gross exaggeration.
• Commenting on arguments put forward by the EA that field staff would have to be taken away from their normal duties to search for the information, the Commissioner found no evidence for such a claim. Furthermore, the Commissioner felt that with a staff of over 13,000 the EA was “best placed to deal with requests of this size”.
• The Commissioner found that the volume and complexity of a single request was not an applicable ground on its own to apply the “manifestly unreasonable” exemption, as there were already provisions allowing an extension of time to respond to large and complicated requests. This undermined the entire basis for the EA’s arguments for avoiding disclosure, notwithstanding its failure to assess the time for responding accurately.
• The Commissioner considered that attempts by an angling club to access existing monitoring and fisheries data in order to take “proactive steps to ascertain risks and dangers to the river prior to further incidents occurring” was “an example of the environmental information regulations being used to ‘best effect’”. The Commissioner stressed that the regulations were provided precisely to allow members of the public to have a say in how well their environment was being protected.
• The Information Commissioner highlighted the importance of the River Test not only for fishermen but also for the many businesses – including hotels, fishing guides, restaurants and associated services – which rely on its reputation to attract visiting anglers.

Justin Neal, Head Solicitor at Fish Legal, said:
“We were amazed at the EA’s use of the ‘manifestly unreasonable’ exemption, which is usually reserved for the vexatious litigant or serial complainer, not the legal arm of the national representative and governing body for angling. Due to the importance of accessing environmental information for our work on behalf of our members, we pushed for a formal Decision Notice to ensure that this exemption could not be misused by other regional EA teams in the future.”

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal, said:
“With the support of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal, angling clubs and riparian owners play a vital role reporting, investigating and tackling pollution problems at a local level, to protect the rivers they treasure. These roles look set to be formalised as part of the Government’s Big Society agenda and the Environment Agency’s unwarranted secrecy was standing in the way of this. We are pleased that the Commissioner has highlighted the importance of allowing angling clubs and riparian owners access to monitoring data so that they can play their part in improving our rivers for fish and other wildlife. We look forward to receiving promptly the information we requested nearly a year and a half ago which will allow us to understand better some of the potential threats facing the River Test.”

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Fish Legal’s lawyers have written to the Director General for the Environment in Brussels to request that the European Commission considers infraction proceedings against the UK government in Northern Ireland for breaches of environmental legislation under plans to reopen the River Lagan for canal navigation which would have a devastating effect on recovering salmon and trout populations.

The Lagan Canal Restoration Trust – set up to oversee the ‘restoration’ of the Lagan corridor – counts among its partners both the Government Department for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA).

The Trust intends to introduce a series of weirs and locks, straighten banks and dredge the river bed to enable tourists to travel the from Lough Neagh to Belfast, all of which would impede the passage of wild salmon returning to spawn in the upper sections of the river and could ultimately lead to their extinction on this particular river.

Whilst the work is being carried out in a piecemeal fashion, each development is regarded by Fish Legal as a step in a much larger planned project, and should require an environmental impact assessment (EIA) because of the cumulative impact on the river.

In July, Fish Legal – an environmental NGO set up to protect fisheries in the UK - informed the Government Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) that they faced legal action should the Northern Ireland Executive decide to proceed with the development without the benefit of a full EIA into the effect such work would have on the wild salmon, as well as other migratory fish in the Lagan system. Salmon angling is very important to Northern Ireland for tourism and for the many angling clubs that fish the river.

Fish Legal has now made an official complaint to the European Commission.

Justin Neal, solicitor at Fish Legal, said:
“Whilst the Government may feel the Lagan is under-exploited by daytrippers and holiday makers, it is a habitat for wild salmon – one of the most precious and threatened species found in UK rivers. At a time in history when wild salmon numbers are at their lowest levels we feel that the plans to recreate a navigable waterway in a series of small projects is not only unlawful – but also a sly move by the authorities to avoid the need to fulfil their obligations under EU law. The Trust agreement also goes to the heart of the contradiction inherent in DCAL’s responsibilities in Northern Ireland which on the one hand include protection of inland fisheries and on the other promoting such projects. We wait to see what the European Commission thinks.”

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Yorkshire Water has paid over £20,000 in compensation to two Yorkshire fishing clubs following a series of sewage pollutions in 2006.

Poorly-treated trade effluent was released from the Tadcaster sewage treatment works into the River Wharfe near Ulleskelf causing the death of thousands of fish including eels, roach, perch, chub, dace, pike, barbel, bream, carp and flounder.

The river at this point is tidal and usually holds a wide variety of species but has for years suffered from discharges from the works.
Fish Legal, the legal arm of the Angling Trust in England, made a claim on behalf of the Tadcaster Angling & Preservation Association and the Leeds & District Amalgamated Society of Anglers, whose fishing was severely affected by the pollution.

Justin Neal, Head Solicitor at Fish Legal, commented, “Yorkshire Water was finally prosecuted several years after the pollution, and we had to wait to see the case file from the Environment Agency to begin our civil action against the polluter. I am pleased to see that, despite the wait, the fishing clubs have now been compensated for the damage which was caused to their fishery. Whereas the prosecution by the Environment Agency might have been important on a punitive level, it was only through civil action that the clubs were able to recoup the cost of returning this fishery to its pre-pollution state. It highlights the importance of the ability of Fish Legal to act on behalf of fishing clubs to restore and improve the aquatic environment.”

Chris Burton, the Honorary Secretary of the Tadcaster Angling & Preservation Association, welcomed the settlement. “I have lived in Tadcaster all my life and fished the River Wharfe for 56 years. I have fished all the sections of water from Tadcaster Weir to Ulleskelf and have seen many changes on the river. But, in this 56 year period, I have never seen a fish-kill on the scale that I witnessed in 2006. This has been devastating for the club but we hope now that we will be able to put the compensation money towards habitat work in conjunction with Leeds & District Amalgamated Society of Anglers and the Environment Agency to enable the river to recover naturally. We would like to thank the staff at Fish Legal for all their help and guidance throughout the claims procedure. I’m sure that without their representation, we would not have had a successful outcome to the case.”

Graham Park, the General Secretary of the Leeds & District Amalgamated Society of Anglers added, “the pollution in 2006 was devastating and the catches became non-existent afterwards. I think the river was hit harder because it was tidal – which means the plug of sewage kept moving up and down the river with the tide when the flows were low. The money we get from the claim will be really important for us to put into improving the habitat. We can work with the Tadcasters and the Environment Agency to create ways of encouraging the fish populations to recover. However, we believe that there has been another recent pollution from the sewage works and until extensive work is carried out by Yorkshire Water, the threat to the river remains. We convey our thanks and support to Fish Legal and the Angling Trust for their efforts in securing this compensation.”

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Fears of a back-room deal have mounted as Severn Trent Water and British Waterways have engaged in negotiations over the sewage pollution of the Shropshire Union and Staffordshire & Worcestershire canals which killed thousands of fish in April 2009

Several tonnes of sewage poured from the Barnhurst Sewage Treatment Works, wiping out what is so far reported to be tens of thousands of fish along a 30 mile stretch of canal, part of which is leased to Bilston Angling Club and Wolverhampton Angling Association, both of which are members of Fish Legal and the Angling Trust.

The pollution is thought to have wiped out entire generations of different species and the effects will be felt for many years to come.
The Sewage Treatment Works, owned by Severn Trent Water, was thought to have been affected by a chemical which knocked out the bacteria which clean the sewage before it is released into the canal.

It is not yet clear who will ultimately be held responsible for the damage, because the Environment Agency (EA) is still investigating the incident well over a year after it occurred. Anglers are rightly concerned at this delay and the EA has not yet indicated when it will be able to release the details.

British Waterways has admitted to discussions with Severn Trent Water and anglers fear they are being frozen-out of the negotiations due to previous attempts to engage both organisations having been rebuffed.

Fears have been raised that the current stonewalling will lead to an unsatisfactory result for local fishing clubs which lease the waters from British Waterways, and who have found that the quality of fishing has been severely diminished since the pollution.

William Rundle, Fish Legal Solicitor, said, “Whilst it is understandable that the EA cannot provide us with full details because their investigation is ongoing, the delay and lack of consultation are very frustrating. It is difficult to understand how they could have made so little progress over such a long time, or how they can properly understand the impact of the pollution without discussing it with those who have been directly affected.”

“Of much greater concern is the total disregard Severn Trent Water is showing towards the victims of the pollution, which was discharged from their sewage treatment works. Their initial concern has not been followed up with any creditable action or engagement. We have had no communication from them since last year.”

“It is a great shame that despite being publicly funded, British Waterways does not appear to act in the best interests of the public. The lack of transparency to their discussions with Severn Trent over the pollution is worrying. Little progress has been made by an organisation set up to care for our rivers and canals, and no attempt has been made to include or consult those anglers who have been affected, and who know these areas best. British Waterways knows Fish Legal represents some of the clubs affected. We should be included in these discussions.”

John Hall of Bilston Angling Club added, “local canal anglers are absolutely disgusted with how this has been dealt with and match angling has been completely disrupted. British Waterways has previously refused to speak to us about the pollution”

Peter Gough of Wolverhampton Angling Association is similarly frustrated: “British Waterways and Severn Trent seem to have come to some sort of agreement which we have not been involved with. Some promised restocking was not done, and I am not confident that it will now go ahead at all.”

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After a long campaign, Fish Legal has welcomed the Environment Agency's announcement that anglers will be involved before deals are done with polluters.

Fish Legal believes that "Enforcement Undertakings" (EUs) - one of a raft of measures introduced under the Environmental Civil Sanctions Order 2010 - could lead to secretive agreements with polluters without angler involvement where rivers have been damaged by pollution.
"Civil Sanctions" provide an alternative to prosecution. Instead of paying a fine to the Treasury, polluters can put right the damage which they have caused - for instance - by restocking.

Most anglers would be supportive of such measures if they were drafted properly in the legislation by DEFRA and implemented fairly. However, Fish Legal has argued that the way EUs are described in the legislation could lead to agreements between polluters and regulators reached behind closed doors - without full angler involvement or publicity.

The Environment Agency announced at the United Kingdom Environmental Law Association conference on 27th June 2010 that it had now taken on-board the concerns of Fish Legal .

It has been confirmed that the Agency will require evidence from the polluter that it has consulted third parties affected by pollution, including angling clubs, before signing-off an undertaking by issuing a Certificate of Completion. It will also be made clear to polluters that the sanctions are not an alternative to civil claims made by those affected by environmental damage. Importantly, the content of all EUs will be actively published and the sanction will be subject to the Freedom of Information legislation.

"After over a year of letters and consultations, we felt as though we were up against a relentless DEFRA legislative steam-train." said Justin Neal, Head Solicitor at Fish Legal.

"However, the Agency now appears to have understood our well-founded objections at the way in which Enforcement Undertakings might be implemented. At first, DEFRA completely ignored our warnings and pushed on without making some very simple amendments to the Environmental Civil Sanctions Order. We then pressed the Agency to produce guidance on implementation to recognise our concerns. It appears that the Agency now agrees with us in confirming that it will require full participation of third parties which have been affected by pollutions - including affected angling interests.This is not just a positive outcome for angling but also for the members of the public who want to keep all deals with polluters out in the open and available for scrutiny."

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Fish Legal, the legal arm of the Angling Trust, has reacted with dismay to the news that six water companies have won their appeal against the decision of Environment Agency (EA) to provide proper regulation for the thousands of unregulated Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) in England and Wales.

Over twenty years ago, in 1989, at the time of water privatisation, the water companies were granted temporary consents for many thousands of discharges carrying storm sewage into English and Welsh rivers. This followed the discovery, immediately pre-privatisation, that vast numbers of these discharges had no legal consent.

At the time, it was quite clear that the granting of temporary consents was a quick fix designed to enable the Government of the day to sell the companies into private hands with no potential criminal liabilities. Under pressure from Fish Legal, the EA eventually decided, in April 2009, to impose a set of standard conditions on all those discharges in order to bring them into proper regulation.

However, the companies – which include United Utilities Water PLC, Severn Trent Water Ltd, Anglian Water Services Ltd, Yorkshire Water Services Ltd, Thames Water Utilities Ltd and Dwr Cymru Welsh Water – appealed the decision by the EA.

They argued at the appeal hearing that the new discharge consents were unlawful and would require expensive works to be carried out, putting them in a position where they might be prosecuted if there were any future breaches.

The arguments between the companies and the EA centred on a set of conditions which would make it an offence, for instance, to cause a deterioration in the quality of water in rivers and lakes. Such conditions have now been omitted, leaving a consent which permits the lawful use of the CSOs except in the narrowest of circumstances.

Fish Legal – which had been invited to take part as an interested party at the hearing in support of the EA – argued that it had investigated pollutions in England caused by discharging CSOs and that the very basic terms of deemed consents had meant that the Agency had been unable to regulate or enforce despite the scale of the damage caused to the environment.

However, the Inspector has now decided in favour of the water companies, and has re-written the conditions to addresses the companies’ concerns. In the view of Fish Legal, the new wording allows the companies to pollute without fear of enforcement except in the most limited of circumstances.
Justin Neal, Head Solicitor at Fish Legal, commented:

“After several years of campaigning, the Fish Legal team were jubilant that the Agency had decided to do something about the thousands of deemed consents in England and Wales. Our view is that reasonable conditions in carefully worded consents could provide a solution. However, the water companies seem to see this as an issue where the environment takes second place. The consents resulting from the appeal make little difference to the present situation and it may be that we will be facing devastating pollutions in the future where the Agency will not be able to enforce.”

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal, said:

“Anglers are fed up with fishing in rivers where the trees are festooned with sanitary products and invertebrates and fish are killed or weakened by sewage pollution. This decision delays the restoration of rivers to good condition for the benefit of all wildlife and fisheries unacceptably. The appeal by the water companies is an outrageous dodge of their responsibilities to take care of our rivers and an unacceptable failure to honour the spirit of these consents, which were only intended as a temporary measure. We will continue to fight for clean waters.”

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In a ground-breaking Decision, over three years in the making, the Information Commissioner has overwhelmingly endorsed Fish Legal’s case that hitherto secret and redacted Environmental Risk Assessments of pyrethroid sheep dip must be disclosed in full.

Although currently suspended from the market, pyrethroid sheep dips have been responsible for huge damage to invertebrate and fisheries in upland streams and rivers across the UK.

In his Decision (FER0137609), the Commissioner has ruled that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate, part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA):

- did not deal with Fish Legal’s request for information according to the law;
- did not deal with Fish Legal’s request within legal time limits;
- unlawfully withheld information relating to emissions to the environment;
- unlawfully refused to disclose information in order to protect the commercial confidentiality of sheep dip manufacturers;
- was not entitled to refuse to disclose information to protect manufacturers’ intellectual property rights;
- was not entitled to refuse to disclose information on grounds that it was the subject of internal communications

Guy Linley-Adams, Head of Legal at Fish Legal said:
“We believe this decision now drives a coach and horses straight through the cosy licensing procedure for all veterinary medicines and pesticides in the UK.

If residues of these or any other pesticides can find their way into the wider environment, they are to be considered as ‘emissions’ under European law. This has the effect of lifting the cloak of commercial confidentiality that has for so long shrouded the licensing of pesticides in the UK.

Public authorities cannot by law keep secret environmental information relating to emissions to protect manufacturers’ commercial confidentiality.

Over the three years this has taken, we have always believed that this would be the Commissioner’s decision.”

Fish Legal, acting on behalf of anglers across the UK, believes that the risk to the aquatic environment of the use of synthetic pyrethroid dips in real farm situations is just too great and now calls on the Government to make the current temporary suspension permanent.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of Fish Legal and the Angling Trust said:
“Fish Legal, and the Anglers’ Conservation Association before it, has battled for years on behalf of our members to win access to this information, which is vitally important to the investigation and assessment of environmental damage from these pesticides.”

A full copy of the Decision is available from guy.linleyadams@fishlegal.net

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The Angling Trust and Fish Legal have reacted with dismay to news that the Government has decided that “implementation of the Free Passage of Fish Order should be postponed until at least May 2011”

This Order would have enabled the UK to meet the requirements of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC, establishing a framework for the Community action in the field of water policy) and Council Regulation (EC) No 1100/2007, of 18 September 2007, establishing measures for the recovery of the stock of European eel.

The decision has apparently been taken in light of the current economic climate; the Better Regulation Executive felt that the Order would have a significant impact on businesses. Angling’s representative body believes that the Executive has failed to take into account the long term economic benefits that such an order would have by protecting and improving fish stocks which are essential for the multi-billion pound angling industry.
It’s not just salmon, sea trout and eels which migrate up and down rivers; most coarse fish travel many miles from spawning to feeding habitats. By kicking this order into the long grass, the Government has prevented action being taken to protect all fish stocks, and has shown that it is not committed to delivering the ambitious and visionary aims of the Water Framework Directive.

Salmon and sea trout are the only fish that are currently protected by legislation. Yet even these are prevented from re-colonising rivers and river reaches in which they were formerly present because of the inadequacy of the current legislation.
Important threatened conservation species, such as lampreys and shad, which move from the sea to our rivers have no protection, and neither have the many indigenous fish, including many important to angling such as trout, grayling, barbel, dace and chub. These all may need to access different stretches of river for spawning, feeding or over-wintering but are prevented from doing so by impassable obstructions. Many millions of young fish are lost from our rivers every year by being drawn into inadequately screened abstractions.

The delay will also allow hydropower schemes which damage fisheries greater chance of being implemented. Thousands of these schemes, most of which have a questionable cost benefit ratio, are proposed across the UK.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust and Fish Legal, said:
“these regulations were proposed by the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review which was submitted to the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in June 2000, nearly a decade ago. The delay in implementation is a shocking example of the Government’s failure to commit to real action to protect fish stocks. We need urgent action now, not a further delay.”

The Environment Agency’s Statement of Intent, published in January 2009, stated: “We must improve the natural passage of fish in order to meet the needs of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), implement the European Eel Regulations and protect our fisheries. The measures proposed in the Passage of Fish Regulations are crucial to our ability to improve fish passage.”

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Fish Legal has secured a swift settlement of £3,000 on behalf of its member, the Egremont & District Anglers Association, from contractors for Cumbria County Council after poorly-secured scaffolding assembled under a bridge on the River Ehen collapsed and lodged in one of the club’s prime salmon and sea trout holding pools.

Following rainfall in Egremont on the 3rd October 2008 the Ehen rose rapidly and tore down the steel girders and wooden boards which had been put in place as part of a bridge strengthening scheme at Braystones. The falling scaffold ripped out sections of the river bank and continued downstream before collecting in a tangled mass in what is known to local anglers as the Dark Corner Pool.

Tonnes of river debris gathered behind the scaffolding until the pool – which was once about 16ft in depth – shallowed to only a foot in places.

Justin Neal, the Fish Legal solicitor handling the case, said:
“The contractors set about erecting the scaffolding without giving any thought to the characteristics of the river which flowed beneath. The most basic enquiries would have revealed that the Ehen was a spate river and that both the strength and volume of water passing under the bridge following a downpour could easily dislodge any lean-to temporary structure. In fact, a similar incident occurred back in September 2007 when the river was in spate so there is absolutely no excuse for the lack of care taken by the Council’s contractors on this occasion”

The scaffolding stayed in the river for some 9 months following the incident before the contractors returned with heavy equipment to remove the structure.

Surprisingly, the Environment Agency regarded the presence of tonnes of scaffolding and debris as being of “no significant detriment to the ecology of the river”.

Roy Adams, Chairman of the Egremont & District Anglers Association, said:
“The complexity and variety of fishing in the Dark Corner Pool changes with the flow of the river and it is one of the most sought after spots by anglers on the club’s waters”.

He added:
“All manner of rubbish got caught up on the scaffolding whilst it was in the river – from old tyres to shopping trolleys to huge tree branches. Now that the scaffold has finally been removed and the depth and profile of Dark Corner Pool has returned to how it was before this debacle we hope that salmon and sea trout will collect, once again, in this stretch, during their passage upstream”.

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