Environment Agency East Midlands Fisheries Team

This weekend our enforcement officers teamed up with West Midlands colleagues and Warwickshire Police to patrol across Nuneaton, Rugby and Hinckley area.

Overall, 12 offenders were caught including an offence against the Keeping and Introduction of Fish Regulations 2015 (KIF) for this non-native sturgeon.

Dry, warm weather can negatively impact fisheries by lowering water levels, dissolved oxygen and increasing the risk of disease ☀️🌡️

Being prepared can help protect your fish stocks and fishery. We highly recommend preparing well in advance to reduce the risks of summer weather:

• Think ahead and be prepared. Plan what to do in the event of an incident. Sharing your plans with colleagues, or with angling club members, will ensure they’re aware and prepared to reduce the impacts of incidents at your fishery.

• Be vigilant. Closely monitor water levels and oxygen and look for any signs of fish in distress, e.g. fish gasping at the surface. We recommend visiting the fishery early in the morning when dissolved oxygen levels are at their lowest (this is typically when you’re likely to observe fish in distress) and ideally midday and in the evening.

• There’s a direct relationship between temperature and dissolved oxygen, with higher temperatures resulting in lower dissolved oxygen. This is because oxygen is more soluble in water at lower temperatures. Therefore, recording temperature alongside dissolved oxygen is useful.

• As a rough guide, try to maintain dissolved oxygen levels to at least 50% for coarse fish and 70% for trout. However, it’s important to recognise that all waters are different. To best track the dissolved oxygen 'rhythm' for your fishery, aim to record temperature and dissolved oxygen three times a day and make a note of the readings. Over time, you'll soon recognise what the 'good' and 'bad' levels are for your fishery.

• If you think your fishery may be at risk of low dissolved oxygen (e.g. due to algal growth, low water levels or rising temperatures), be prepared and check that you have access to water pumps, aeration equipment and generators.

• Don’t remove too many plants, as their presence can push up water levels through displacement which can help in drought conditions. Maintaining a balance of aquatic plant growth provides essential dissolved oxygen during the longer, hotter summer months. In some circumstances, maintaining fishable swims may be preferential to clearing vast areas.

• Floating plants such as duckw**d can grow prolifically and if left unmanaged, can prevent oxygen from entering the water. Regularly net-off duckw**d to allow the exchange of gases at the water surface.

• Consider restricting ground-bait, loose fish feed (pellets etc.) and liquid baits to avoid further lowering water quality.

• Maintain fish welfare. Minimise the use of keep-nets. If a match is planned, consider using multiple weigh-ins to avoid unnecessary stress to fish stocks.

• Avoid stocking fish during warm, dry weather. As water temperatures rise, water holds less oxygen. If stocking is necessary, delay until cooler conditions are restored and oxygen levels are higher.

• Consider reducing your stock densities to avoid problems later. Periodically removing prolific-breeding species such as roach will allow improved growth rates in remaining fish, plus increased resilience to disease and improved water quality. You need authorisation from us to remove fish from your water (other than by rod and line).

• Fish may be more vulnerable to disease during warm weather and when stressed. Please report any suspected disease outbreaks to us immediately.

If you see any fish in distress or suspect a fish disease outbreak, please tell us immediately by calling our National Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.

Rivers, locks, weirs and sluices may look like fun places to cool down this , but they can contain hidden dangers.

Would you know what to do if you saw someone struggling? Remember:
📞 Phone
🗣️ Float
🛟 Throw

We're celebrating £10 million of investment from fishing licence income! 🎣

Since 2015, the Fisheries Improvement Programme has helped deliver thousands of improvements that benefit anglers and the communities around them.

From stabilising eroding riverbanks and restoring overgrown ponds to installing accessible fishing platforms and planting thousands of trees.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decade-of-transformation-environment-agency-marks-10-million-milestone-in-fisheries-restoration?fbclid=IwY2xjawSCLBJleHRuA2FlbQIxMABzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeQ50-2L7JjntrDS8DogojlDIPCW0GRsjMD4EZyXoemTvvJULd59cwHHKdqVA_aem_Piw0DJq8dnbGiwmdM721xg

We're celebrating £10million of investment from fishing licence income! 🎣

Since 2015, the Fisheries Improvement Programme has helped deliver thousands of improvements that benefit anglers and the communities around them.

From stabilising eroding riverbanks and restoring overgrown ponds to installing accessible fishing platforms and planting thousands of trees.

Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decade-of-transformation-environment-agency-marks-10-million-milestone-in-fisheries-restoration

One way we help support fisheries in the area is by taking water quality readings, e.g. dissolved oxygen, pH and ammonia.

The information collected allows us to provide valuable management advice to ensure resilience.

For example, water quality readings can tell us about the severity of an algal bloom in a pond and how this may impact fish stock, enabling suitable management action to be taken (e.g. aeration, barley straw extract addition).

This week our fisheries technical officers have been out doing bathymetry surveys ahead of a potential fish population survey at one of our fisheries 🐟

The survey provides important information on depth, w**d growth, silt levels, snags and the locations of fish which helps us decide the best approach for future surveys.

It was a great day, despite the miserable weather… ⛈️

Good news for anglers 🎣

You can now set up automatic renewal for your annual fishing licence.

No more worrying about expiry dates or last-minute renewals - you can relax knowing you’re always ready to fish legally.

Just choose ‘recurring card payment’ when you buy or renew.

Find out more and get your licence: https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/buy-a-fishing-licence?utm_campaign=defishing2026&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_source=FB&utm_content=

Good news for anglers 🎣

You can now set up automatic renewal for your annual fishing licence.

No more worrying about expiry dates or last-minute renewals - you can relax knowing you’re always ready to fish legally.

Just choose ‘recurring card payment’ when you buy or renew.

Find out more and get your licence: https://www.gov.uk/fishing-licences/buy-a-fishing-licence?utm_campaign=defishing2026&utm_medium=organic_social&utm_source=FB&utm_content=