WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

. Too many vested interests but no overview that’s worth serious consideration.

1. Natural Resources Wales (NRW), who are trying to please everybody
2. The proliferation of Otters
3. The introduction of Beavers
4. Polluters.
5. The Welsh Government.
6. Paddlers who want access to all waters but at no cost and without responsibility

The list goes on and on and on

NRW, has dedicated and hard-working staff, but is grossly underfunded and massively understaffed and are failing. Remember the old saying? : “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”. It seems to me that they are succeeding in very limited areas and pleasing very few. It is not good enough that they respond only to political directives. If it was not for the River Wye and wild swimmers pointing out the high levels of sewage pollution and the publicity that has subsequently ensued then little would have been planned to address the issue. This is no way to manage our rivers: they are too important.

Otters: I have nothing against otters, in fact, one of my fishing seasons was “made”, and I will never forget that time an otter stepped on my boot and its reaction when I said “Hello beautiful, what are you doing here?” The otter looked up at me, obviously surprised, before tuning and disappearing, I wished him well and thanked him for the encounter, Why do some anglers anglers curse these charming creatures? Is it because of the lack of fish in the rivers because of the water quality? Anglers feel that otters are feeding on a very limited supply of fish. There should be enough fish in our river to satisfy us both.

Beavers: It may be that beavers once roamed the thickly wooded banks of our then crystal clear rivers, and helped thin out our woodlands, However our rivers are no longer crystal clear, and our woods are now all but diapered. They may be furry, beautiful and fascinating, but our countryside has changed massively since the days when beavers roamed free, the country is no longer massively wooded. it is intensively farmed, and we need land for housing. The current re-wilding initiatives fall far short of providing suitable habitat for a growing population of beavers, their numbers would have to be seriously controlled and how would beaver culling be regarded.

Pollution: It is difficult to justify pouring untreated sewage into our rivers, except in a carefully monitored way and only in exceptional and exceeding limited and controlled circumstances. Why then is there no planning requirement for developers to pay for the expansion required to water treatment plants as a consequence of the increased load imposed on the system. This pollution will include concentrations of the chemicals we ingest as medication and then discharge into the drainage system, which is, for the greater part, unable to separate such pollutants from the waste water Why are farmers allowed to submit planning application for a 4,000 chicken production unit, that is required to comply with few regulation, when another family member submits a similar application for a unit on the same piece of land, thus avoiding the need to comply with the legal obligations imposed on the larger 80,000 bird unit. The waste products from these great numbers of birds are often spread over the land in unmonitored quantities and much ends up in the watercourses and thence to the river

The Welsh Government, is responsible for the quality of the water in our rivers. It must address the problem and discharge its obligations. It has been reported that the Welsh Government want Wales to become second only to Switzerland as the outdoor pursuit centre of Europe, perhaps we should act, regardless of damage to the environment

Pollution: It is difficult to justify pouring untreated sewage into our rivers, except in a carefully monitored way and only in exceptional and exceeding limited and controlled circumstances. Why then is there no planning requirement for developers to pay for the expansion required to water treatment plants because of the increased load imposed on the system. This pollution will include concentrations of the chemicals we ingest as medication and then discharge into the drainage system, which is, for the greater part, unable to separate such pollutants from the waste water Why are farmers allowed to submit planning application for a 4,000 chicken production unit, that is required to comply with few regulation, when another family member submits a similar application for a unit on the same piece of land, thus avoiding the need to comply with the legal obligations imposed on the larger 80,000 bird unit. The waste products from these great numbers of birds are often spread over the land in unmonitored quantities and much ends up in the watercourses and thence to the river

The Welsh Government, is responsible for the quality of the water in our rivers. It must address the problem and discharge its obligations. It has been reported that the Welsh Government want Wales to become second only to Switzerland as the outdoor pursuit centre of Europe, perhaps we should act, regardless of damage to the environment.

Paddlers who want unrestricted access to our rivers. No, I do not believe anglers should have sole access to our rivers, but paddlers should be required to have appropriate permission and pay, just as others have to. They have little awareness of their legal responsibilities about the disturbance of breeding salmonids, a fact that is ignored, for the most part, as enforcement of the requirements is non-existent.

The answer lies in the quality of our waters. Water is a necessity for the development of all life on earth, without it we could not exist, the same goes for the smallest of the invertebrates that inhabit our rivers, and they are the the foundation of all life in our rivers: no invertebrates, no fish, no life that relies on fish for it’s sustenance. We should be putting all our efforts into stopping pollution, all pollution from whatever source. Millions have been spent on the River Wye and still the salmon stocks are only a fraction of those in days past. Why? because the river suffers from pollution from any number of sources. We need to stop squabbling and spend all our available funds on anti pollution measures.