In a recent four-page interview with Angling Times (available to read in full at our members section) carp fishing legend Terry Hearn weighed in on the state of rivers in the UK, here's what he had to say...
“The semi-tidal Thames from Teddington down to Richmond saw a huge change over the decade or so that I had my boat moored there. In 2008 the stretch was alive with all species of fish, but since then sewage pollutions from downriver on the ‘big tidal’ wiped out lots of fry, which in turn had a negative effect on the predatory fish like perch that the stretch was once famous for. The crustaceans also took a big hit, which in turn meant less food for larger species like carp.
“I’ve had the odd trip on the big tidal, but my friend Dave has fished that stretch far more, and he’s witnessed some of the pollution. There were times when whole turds – bog roll, the lot – was released straight into the river. It’s completely staggering that the water companies have been allowed to get away with it.
“More recently I’ve been concerned with one of my local Thames tributaries, the River Mole, which this summer dried up in some places. It’s not just the low levels though, pollution is becoming more of a concern there too. In my local stretch they found ‘very high levels’ of E.Coli, which made sense after what I’d been experiencing over the past couple of winters. Great fishing one evening, and then, despite good conditions, dead as a doornail the next, with frothy brown scum appearing against the bank and mid-river snags. To think that I was sat there eating my sandwiches after they’ve pumped that lot in!
“As I write this we’ve just had the first decent amount of rainfall in probably three months. The river needed it, badly. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that the local sewage works hasn’t used it to empty all the effluent from their overfill ponds that has built up over the summer.
“It’s going to happen. Slowly, they’re poisoning our waterways, just a bit at a time in the hope that nobody notices, but we anglers do notice.”
