Keith Williams: Anglers' concern over dwindling fish stocks is sincere and not for selfish reasons
COLUMN: Northern Lines
Fishing has woven such an important thread through my life that I suspect it is something I will do for as long as I am able. That is not to say, however, that the desire to do so remains at a constant level. So far this year trips to the river have been infrequent and I am yet to meet a fish of any description.
I was jolted from my apathy by a very kind invitation to fish the River Naver in the middle of March – a river which was firmly on my wish list. My day on the river was characterised by savage winds, rain and snow. A rapidly rising river put paid to any chances of success, and yet the opportunity to fish famous pools that I had only read about is not one I would have missed.
We go fishing for a whole host of reasons above and beyond the obvious desire to make contact with, and ultimately land, a fish of one species or another.
Many words have recently been written in the national media regarding the parlous state of water quality in many of our rivers and lakes and the associated declines in our freshwater fish stocks. Utility companies have been implicated in the discharge of large quantities of effluent into our watercourses and numerous campaign groups have been highlighting the issue. Most prominent have been those that utilise the rivers directly, for example anglers, wild swimmers and canoeists.
A recent article in a national newspaper highlighted the decline in the Arctic charr population in Lake Windermere as evidenced by the precipitous fall in catches in what constitutes a very traditional, low impact fishery.
A number of public comments appended to the article decried the fact that anglers were still allowed to fish for the species, suggesting that the fishers quoted in the article were merely wanting stocks to improve so they could catch and eat more. Everyone is entitled to their own views, of course, but in my opinion many of the responses were highly simplistic and failed to understand that the concerns expressed by fishers were sincere.
I suspect that many of the traditional charr fishers would wish to see stocks improve irrespective of whether they continue to fish for them. Certainly, they place a high value on the unique method they utilise, which has been practised for generations, to catch the fish and will wish to see it continue well into the future. Without cool, clean water the fish will simply not be present to argue about.
Dr Keith Williams is the director of Kyle of Sutherland Fisheries.
