Hello all,

One of my friends fished at Testwood the other day and caught a barbel. Apparently there have been a few caught this past couple of years and also a few on the lower Itchen. The E.A say that they must have been put in, presumably by the people's barbel liberation society.

Are the Hampshire chalkstreams going the same way as the Avon and the Wye? Will barbel kill off any chance of a salmon survival?

Interested to know your thoughts chaps.

Reg Wyatt

This type of behaviour is completely unacceptable and if caught they should have the book thrown at them. Once in a river they are never going to be eradicated without poisoning the whole system. There are other coarse species in the Test at Testwood but the Itchen is (or was) mercifully free of them.

Although barbel are alien to the Wye and Avon (and many other rivers in which they currently exist) I don't believe that they are a significant contributor to the demise of the salmon despite some coincidental evidence to the contrary. Barbel will undoubtedly eat ova and juvenile salmon but I do not believe that the blame for the loss of the salmon on those rivers can be laid at the door of the barbel.

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“There is no more lovely country than Monmouthshire in early spring. Nowhere do the larks sing quite so passionately, as if somehow inspired by the Welsh themselves. There is a blackbird on every thorn and a cock chaffinch, a twink as they call him there, on every bush...... It moved me profoundly. I had been spared to see another spring, and I thank God for it.”

Oliver Kite
“A Spring Day on the Usk”
A Fisherman’s Diary

albeit most fish can be predatory ,if anything was to have a demise which as said i very much doubt then chub would be my choice being more predatious than barbel and very oppertunistic feeders,as to people introducing species to a river whether flora or fauna etc they do need severe punishment ,because the "do gooders" or terrorists(animal rights activists) who release them have no idea or concern to the impact of the enviroment that they release them into

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WHEN YOU LEAVE THE RIVER, TAKE NOTHING, AND LEAVE ONLY FOOTPRINT'S!!!

THA CAN TELL A YORKSHIREMAN ,BUT THA CAN'T TELL HIM MUCH !!

Alas the idiots have also spoiled the itchen

http://www.barbel.co.uk/site/gallery...r=All&img=2493

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Why would having barbel in the Itchen be spoiling it? I realise that they are not naturally there (they should only be in rivers that flow to the East like the Thames).

Then again, there are millions of stocked brownies and rainbows in the Itchen and Test. And coarse fish are part of the original "stock" of both these rivers. Roach, chub, dace and pike should all be present in these rivers (especially in the lower sections).

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Cheers,
Lawrence

Do you really think that it's do-gooders or animal rights activists (or possibly even do-gooding animal rights activists) that have released barbel into the Test? I'd have thought it was more likely to be barbel anglers, or at least anglers who want to catch barbel.

The Itchen has a large head of coarse fish, mainly chub and roach both to specimen sizes. It also supports perch and pike in fairly large numbers. It has a few barbel which, without doubt have been introduced illegally, irresponsibly and wrongly.

I was present, together with a group from another site, when the barbel in the image was landed (12lb+) and, for the avoidance of doubt, the angler in question (Andy Nellist) is one of the most responsible and respected anglers in the country. Amongst many other roles he sits on the BRCFC. He just happens to have hooked and landed a fine fish!