Gwent Angling Society

A fly fishing club with beats on the Usk, Wye, Monnow, Llynfi and Sirhowy. Committed to the environment.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

@huw4ogmore (Cabinet Secretary Climate Change & Rural Affairs Wales): “I have asked my officials to review the broader regulatory regimes governing the spreading of all types of organic material... We will also be looking closely at implementation of anaerobic digestion in Wales"

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

And there we have it folks.

It’s good news for all those groups and campaigners who have been raising agricultural pollution on the #Wye up the political agenda.

The message has certainly got through in Wales.

[Gwent Angling Society @AnglingGwent]

Thank you for your support FiW!

[Fishing In Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @WalesFishing]

NEW VIDEO: Gwent Angling Society

We join Lee Evans, Chair of Gwent Angling Society, on the river Usk at Gilwern. Lee shares information about the club & then enjoys some dry fly fishing, during a hatch of Yellow May.

https://t.co/iSkDiNtQzJ

#fishinginwales @AnglingGwent

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

Fast forward to 2023 and they’re changing their tune.
In November, @NatResWales confirmed to us that 7 out of 43 Wye waterbodies in Wales have DETERIORATED on key measures of river health – such as levels of phosphate pollution - linked to... you guessed it… agriculture.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

No evidence of environmental damage they said, relying on their own data from 2009 to 2015.

@WWFCymru @RiverActionUK @AnglingTrust @angling_times @GlassJet @MartinSBowler

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

In June 2020, we first notified @NatResWales that environmental damage was being caused to the river Wye by intensive poultry units in Wales.

We notified them again in 2021, following successive years of algal blooms starting high up in the Wye catchment.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

Natural Resources Wales - and @PowysCC planners for that matter - are responsible for making sure that polluting activities in Wales do not damage #RiverWye protected wildlife.

They are the Competent Authorities, apparently.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

💥NEW | We started 2024 by referring Natural Resources Wales to the environmental assessor in Wales for failing in its practical delivery of the law to protect the RIVER WYE.

It’s a key step for us in a long campaign to force @NatResWales to do its job.

A thread...⬇️🧵

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

It was a legal case that exposed why - in England - the Government has little hope of meeting its legal targets for river health by 2027.

We’re now doing the same in Wales.

Want to keep up-to-date with our legal actions? You can sign-up for news here: https://t.co/j9fqYKzwpY

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

We have told the interim assessor that #NaturalResourcesWales is failing to deliver on the law to protect and restore the #RiverWye.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, Wales has an Interim Environmental Protection Assessor to provide oversight of the workings of environmental law in Wales.

There isn’t a fully functioning office for environmental protection in Wales yet, but that’s for another day.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

All along we have said that @NatResWales should have been properly monitoring, investigating and then acting to tackle agricultural pollution affecting the River Wye.

Worse than that, we say they’ve applied the wrong standards in law and in practice.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

It’s clear to us that @NatResWales STILL don’t have a handle on how poultry manure and digestate being produced and spread in the Wye catchment in Wales is affecting the river.

[Fish Legal @FishLegal_]

We’ve marked the waterbodies on a map because you‘ll struggle to find this information published elsewhere.

There was no big announcement.

[Afonydd Cymru: The Rivers Trust of Wales @AfonyddCymru]

3/3 The evidence is there. Welsh rivers need protection from the AD industry.

If commitments to better water quality are to be taken seriously, we need more than silence from @WelshGovernment on this issue.

More here: https://t.co/twjrvMtpNJ

[Afonydd Cymru: The Rivers Trust of Wales @AfonyddCymru]

2/3 The very same day the letter was sent, there were reports of another AD-related pollution from the #Teifi.

And @NatResWales assessments are now showing possible downgrades in 4 waterbodies in the upper Wye catchment where digestate spreading takes place.

[Afonydd Cymru: The Rivers Trust of Wales @AfonyddCymru]

1/3 The anaerobic digestion (AD) industry has a long record of river pollution in Wales and elsewhere in the UK.

On March 9th we and @FishLegal_ called on @WelshGovernment to review the weak regulation that allows AD to damage rivers. We have heard nothing since.

[Nicola Cutcher @NicolaCutcher]

The Welsh Government has now paused 12 planning applications for poultry farms/factories in Powys.

All eyes on Minister Julie James and what she decides to do.

Important story here from @ElganHearnLDR

https://t.co/s5eDpzeSsu

[Dave Throup @DaveThroup]

Herefordshire Wye already above 20°C.

Looks like the storms & slightly increased flows have knocked back the algae. Probably temporarily given dry and sunny outlook.

[Gwent Angling Society @AnglingGwent]

We are hosting our annual open day on Saturday 10th June (this Saturday). For details please click below. All welcome. https://t.co/sMAs6yg9Je