Important to all Anglers

I may be putting my head on the block but.........
If a water course has become infected, causing the deaths of fish, is there any way those fish ?strains? can be traced to other waters where they may have come from in the first place? i.e transferred illegally.

Would you think that all waters connected to the main watercourse should be closed down until a thorough investigation has taken place?

Do you think that some fishery owners would keep quite, so they would not lose income/members? Bearing in mind that the E.A. can not force a water to close but only advise.

Would the next step up be DEFRA? Because somebody needs to take control, if the E.A can?t.

If there was a silence in the angling press on fish deaths, would you begin to wonder why? Or do they have to be invited to do some kind of a search on to what is happening? I would have thought not.
Any ideas/views on the above questions would be appreciated.

I'm not a boffin on these things but I would doubt if they could trace them back to another water.

They can enforce closure of a water by the way, they can also drain a lake if certain diseases are found to be in the dead fish. These are the diseases that affect salmon I believe, leastwise thats what the EA told us when we had a large fish kill, but as I said I'm not a boffin.

Are we taking about Nene carp dying here?

No Bob, I am not talking of the fish kill on the Nene, is that Peterborough? Although I have heard of it, I can?t say if there is any connection or not, but I would have doubted it.
I am talking of the massive carp kill in the Cheshire area.
No information has been forthcoming as yet from either the E.A. or the CEFAS boffins. Neither has there been any published advice to clubs etc.
I have always supported the E.A. as short staffed as they are.
I would have thought that the E.A. by now would have published something in the angling press. I am not asking for test results, as they are still being undertaken.
What I am asking is, why is there this cloak of silence on these carp deaths?
The E.A. were originally informed on May 18th, but no warnings have been given out.
I know for certain that there are a number of E.A. staff who visit this forum, so I would ask one of them to show this letter to there man at the top, and please ask for some kind of statement or advice to be published in the angling weeklies.
Anglers are travelling from further afield to fish in Cheshire, and they know nothing of the current situation. If it is a virus or disease, they could be spreading it countrywide.

The questions I asked in my first post, were not asked blindly, I asked them for a very good reason, as certain fishery owners are burying their heads in the sand hopeing that it will go away. Nothing to do with loseing revenue of course, if they had to close their waters.

I have had recent information of 198 dead carp on one stretch of canal., that equates to a 12 mile or so section completely wiped out. My club is doing it?s best, but there are waters out of our control which are infected.
This is where I believe the E.A. should make some form of announcement in the angling press, to at least try to make sure as many people as possible know about it.

Why has it been kept quite for this length of time. It simply is not good enough.
The damage that has been caused by this cloak of silence is unforgiveable.

At the end of the day, course angling is the only sport that wholly funds a government departmen, namely the E.A. function concerning course fish.

We deserve better than this.

I sympathise with your concerns Baz and have posted on this issue just before reading yours. I've been all over the EA this afternoon asking just these questions. The situation seems to be spiralling out of control!
The EA are writing to clubs today. Advice is the usual - be aware, disinfect, etc.
My take on it so far is that they haven't got a clue what the cause is and are even now running more tests and taking more samples. However, there is no denying they have been slow to react and advise anglers.
They thought it was the usual early season, post-spawning deaths that you always see up and down the country. They seemed to have hoped that it would go away. Now that it hasn't they're working on it but drawing a blank.
There's a case for closing all fisheries whilst it's ongoing in my opinion. But the EA and local clubs will be loath to take such steps.

Greg.
These deaths were hapening well before the E.A. were informed.
It started in the Weaver and Trent and Mersey, and has now spread onto the Bridgewater, which in turn feeds other waters.

Any chance of you getting involved Greg and asking the E.A. for some kind of statement to be published in the Angling Times?

I realize that clubs have to find a ballance, but surely under the cicumstances a complete shutdown would be safer.

All carp anglers that have contacted me over these deaths would prefer a shut down to preserve or safeguard the remaining stocks.
I for one applaud them for their cooperation and understanding even in the early days of them loseing their fishing, before it got so serious.

I agree entirely in your above post Greg.
But it goes even deeper if you dig deep enough.
Why for instance are these fish being left in the water? who is responsible for getting them out and burning/disposeing of them?
Or has nobody thought that fish eating birds could carry the infection to other waters?
Their is a heronry of about twenty birds adjacent to where these 198 carp were found.
These 198 carp are only a small portion of this fish kill by the way, on a small section of the canal.
The buck is being passed already, as to aportion the blame for any slow reaction.

Gulp, that ffing noose is getting tighter.

letes all hope that someone in authority gets their arse of their chair and investigates just what is going on.you could bet your backside that if the fish were salmon,sea trout,whitefish and such like,waters would be closed and the places would be crowded with scientists testing the water and fish etc.

Has anybody stopped to think where these people are that are always banging on about the welfare of fish, and how cruel us anglers are?
Well the shit has well and truly hit the fan, so where are they with their help to preserve the remaining fish now?
Who am I talking of? The anti's of course.
If they are so concerned about the future of fish like they proclaim, where are they?

probably still trying to get back from edinburgh baz!!

Thanks Andy.
This weeks Angling Times lists the waters that have been closed by various clubs as a precautionary measure. But even though a cause has not been found as to the carp deaths, anglers themselves are still being allowed to fish the Weaver its self. Surely, this water should have been closed in the first instance as a precautionary measure. Who is responsible for making that decision? Let us all hope that it is not a disease or infection. Match results for the Weaver can be seen on page 32.