I had an enjoyable summer both at work and on the river bank. Lately I seem to be spending more time than usual in Wye Valley -either meeting with angling and environmental groups opposed to the Severn Barrage proposals or fishing for barbel in some of the stunning beats between Hereford and Ross-on-Wye.

It is about time that the angling world woke up to the consequences of the Severn Barrage to both migratory fish runs in the Wye, Usk and Severn catchments as well as to the impact on sea fishing in the Bristol Channel.

Various schemes for the production of tidal power from a Severn estuary barrage have been around for decades, certainly since the seventies. In the past the project has been deemed as unviable economically but recent developments have caused the government to look again at the potentially immense resource the Severn estuary represents.

However the importance of the Cardiff/Weston barrage scheme and its ability to generate vast quantities of dependable, carbon free, green energy have been vastly overstated while the true costs to the environment and the economy have not been sufficiently taken into account nor the alternatives fully explored.

Even as plans for the proposed barrage have been developed, wildlife legislation has been significantly tightened up and the Severn Estuary is a designated Special Protection Area (SPA) under the EC Birds Directive. It is also a candidate for Special Area of Conservation status (SAC) under the EU Habitats Directive. Two rivers, the Wye and the Usk, which feed into the estuary are both SPAs.

Any proposal to generate electricity from the estuary would have to be assessed for compliance under the Birds and Habitats Directives.

The proposals for a Severn Barrage are clearly of a major magnitude and will have a wide range of implications for wildlife. The area is also of massive importance to a range of migratory fish including Shads, Sea Lampreys, River Lampreys, Salmon and sea trout that are also listed as protected species under Annex 2 of the Habitats Directive.

The barrage is now opposed by a wide collection of environmental and conservation groups, including the National Trust, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Salmon and Trout Association, the Wildlife Trusts, the United Usk Fisherman’s Association, the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, WWF UK, Wye Salmon Fishery Owners Association and the Wye and Usk Foundation.

On July 8^th I raised this issue in a parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall saying:

“The value of salmon [to the UK economy] is some £350 million a year. Bearing in mind that 25% of the spawning habitat for salmon-that is, 25 per cent. of the spawning habitat in England and Wales-is upstream of the proposed Severn barrage, and given that its construction would effectively destroy migratory fish runs, the simple conclusion is that the construction of the Severn barrage would be cataclysmic for migratory fish in the Severn, Wye and Usk catchment … [and] would also destroy wild bird habitats formed naturally by the Severn’s huge tidal range and protected by European law.”.

In the next few months I will be devoting a lot of time and effort in building up what could be a powerful coalition of anglers, environmentalists and bird-lovers to campaign against the Severn Barrage. The support of the tackle trade for our campaign would be most welcome.

First publiched in ‘Tackle and Guns’ as Commons Man