Ogmore Salmon and Sewin Hammered by Inshore Trawling

A sea trout from the Ogmore displaying the tell-tale damage.

Members of the Ogmore Angling Association have been disturbed to find many sewin (sea trout) and salmon displaying considerable damage which has occurred on their migration. This news items comes from their website at www.ogmoreangling.com

Following on from the item "Mystery of the damaged schoolies " from last years News OAA committee member Mark Ryan has submitted five more photographs of damaged fish caught from the River Ogmore last year. Mark's photographs, taken on his mobile phone, show just a fraction of the fish that have been similarly damaged this season, how many have been killed is anyone's guess.

The Environment Agency has circulated the photographs to a number of experts in the field and the damage is not regarded as caused by netting which tends to mark the head and gills.

The damage is probably caused by high speed trawling.

A vessel operating in the area has historic rights, otherwise known as grandfathers rights, to trawl inshore around and between the estuaries of the Ogmore and neighbouring rivers. It is entitled to trawl and does trawl within 100 metres of the beach. The areas where it allowed to operate are areas closed to other fishing vessels, byelaws prevent fishing in these areas as a way of protecting migratory fish stocks. Migratory fish from a number of rivers in England and Wales use the Severn estuary as a migratory route to return to their spawning grounds.

Trawling in these shallow waters catches salmon and sewin , they will be discarded, returned to the sea dead as a by catch which is obviously a phenomenally bad thing. At the same time anglers and conservationists are attempting to improve survival rates for these endangered fish. Anglers on the Rivers Taff, Ely and Wye are being consulted on new byelaws proposed by the Environment Agency Wales which will make it an offence to retain any salmon or sewin caught from these rivers, the River Usk may well have the same legislation imposed on it.

The Envionment Agency has spent literally millions of pounds on the River Taff to reinstate its run of salmon and sewin, habitat projects along adjacent rivers have also received milions of pounds of government funding to protect and augment populations of these species. Angling tourism attracts many visitors to the region bringing in much needed benefits to the local economy, wildlife such as otters kingfishers and herons all depend on the return of thse valuable fish to their rivers historic spawning grounds.

Meanwhile historic fishing rights enable a vessel to destroy and discard the very fish which so much public money has been invested in, it does not make sense.

Ogmore Angling Association has asked the Environment Agency to take measures to prevent this unsustainable and damaging manner of inshore fishing, we'll publish their response but historic fishing rights make it difficult to change the situation.

How You Can Help

Meanwhile you can can make a very big difference by responding to a consultation document which is asking members of the public to express their opinion on the question of whether to allow the owners of historic fishing rights to continue to operate as described above or whether to remove that right.

• The consultation document can be found online HERE,
• The online form on which to respond HERE
• and a statement from the Deputy Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and European Programmes, Alun Davies which explains the reason for the consultation can be read HERE

Please take a little time to make a change which could radically improve your sport and definitely improve the populations of salmon and sewin in the rivers which contribute to the Severn estuary. I'm afraid you'll have to hurry, the consultation ends on 2nd February 2012.