Why I'd Like To Ban Fishing At Ferry Meadows

Before I begin my post, I'd like to state the obvious:

 I realise that fishing will never be banned at the park.

But I would like to offer you a different view of angling, the side that people rarely see, and hope that I can change your mind about this 'sport' and give you a different perspective on it.

Before I took up photography, I never thought about angling and it never bothered me in the slightest. Fishing to me was a harmless pastime, a man(usually)sitting peacefully on a river bank with a rod in his hand, watching the world go by. There's nothing wrong with that. 

But this isn't the case anymore. Angling has turned into an industrial 'sport' and is a multi-million pound business. Take a stroll around the park now and you're likely to see numerous anglers camped out in front of horrible big tents, with multiple rods all lined up in neat rows. 

Leaving aside for a moment the rights and wrongs of angling, seeing them all cluttered up along the lakes edge completely ruins the view and is just plain ugly.

I've spent thousands of hours walking around the park and witnessed first hand the dubious practices of angling. And I'm telling you this in context to this quote from PETA which, I regret to say, is exactly what I've witnessed as well:

'Pierced through the mouth with a sharp metal hook; dragged out of the water, convulsing and struggling, into an environment where they can’t breathe; and killed outright, left to suffocate or flung back into the water, traumatised and sometimes fatally injured – fish suffer horribly at the hands of anglers.

People who fish would have you believe that their pastime is all about contemplating the tranquillity of nature. In reality, it’s a violent, callous blood sport. If people were doing to dogs and cats what anglers do to fish, they would rightly be put in prison.

When they are yanked from the water, fish begin to suffocate. Their gills often collapse, and their swim bladders can rupture because of the sudden change in pressure. It’s a truly horrific experience for the animals – who feel pain, just as we do.

Dr Donald Broom, a former scientific adviser to the British government, explains, “The scientific literature is quite clear. Anatomically, physiologically and biologically, the pain system in fish is virtually the same as in birds and mammals”.

As well as the cruelty element, there's also the issue of environmental damage. Anglers will arrogantly tell you about the damage that seals do to the Ecosystem but what about the damage that anglers do to it? 

I was sitting on the bench in front of Bluebell Bridge with a photographer friend, just watching for Otters, Kingfishers, etc when a man walked up and started fishing right in front of us, completely blocking our view.  He cast his line across the river and the hook snagged on something on the riverbed and was lost. Not too bothered, he did this again. But just five minutes later, the same thing happened. He laughed it off, said it was annoying that the sport cost him so much money in lost tackle and just reached for another one. At the time I was more peeved about the rudeness of him blocking our view, but later I thought about all the anglers - thousands of them - all doing the same thing and wondered how much tackle was actually in our waters? 

A lot I'm guessing.

The Seal Problem

A seal's natural habitat is in the sea, the saltwater helps to keep their eyes clear of infection and it's where they belong. But the sea is only thirty miles away from Ferry Meadows and seals have been making their way up and down the Nene for years, they'll never be stopped.

The RSPCA at East Winch rescue orphan seal pups and nurture and care for them until they're fit enough to be released. The soft release site at Sutton Bridge was used because it's close to the sea, but far enough away from the main seal colonies that would frighten and intimidate the young, inexperienced seals. 

The first seal I photographed in the park was in 2022, a female called 'Trifle'. I found out her name through the RSPCA tag number on her flippers and was captivated by her inquisitive nature and chilled persona.

Over the next couple of years, two more seals appeared on the Thorpe Meadows Rowing Lake, but didn't stay long. Trifle, however, had made the lake her home and was a park attraction. She caught fish in a lake that anglers are banned from and wasn't hurting anybody, but unfortunately she disappeared, suddenly, a couple of months ago. 

Two other female seals had also taken up residence on the Rowing Lake by that time. They were very young, both barely a year old, and were named by the RSPCA as 'Primrose' and ' Tiramasi'. 

They have now also disappeared.

At least two seals were also seen in and around the river between Castor and Wansford.

Only one of those is now active, to my knowledge.

Early this year, the Peterborough & District Angling Association began a campaign to get the seals removed and managed to temporarily prevent the RSPCA from releasing any more orphaned seals at Sutton Bridge. Over the next few months, I was getting unsubstantiated reports from members of the public saying that 'men in uniforms' were trying to catch seals and that men had been seen darting and capturing seals on the rowing lake. 

To be clear, I wasn't there, I can't confirm that that's true, but all the seals that I identified have now vanished. 

From reports I've had from the park, the public and information from the P&DAA we had at best, just six seals at any one time over a 50 mile stretch of the river and lakes. This part of the river system holds thousands and thousands of fish who also have numerous other predators such as Otters, Cormorants, etc. The Ecosystem on this stretch of river has coped with seals for a very long time and still manages to thrive. 

Seals aren't a new problem here on the Nene, anglers are. Why? 

Because the seals tend to eat the big fish that anglers would prefer to catch. Fish that can win them big cash prizes in competitions.
And remember, these big fish aren't just caught once, the bigger they are, the more likelihood is of them being caught and damaged, over and over again. For sport.

Video Of A Pike Having A Hook Removed

I took this video a couple of years ago. The angler was competing in a competition to win a huge cash prize and it graphically shows what happens after an angler has caught his 'prize' and has to return the fish to the river. It's a shocking video, but this is what's happening, everyday, in our rivers and lakes.

Fish Hook Being Removed From A Pike

After this Pike was released back into the water, with blood pouring from its gills, it didn't move. This is what PETA has to say on the subject:

'Just because an angler tosses a fish back into the water doesn’t mean that the animal hasn’t been harmed.
Studies show that fish who are caught and then returned to the water suffer such severe physiological stress that they often die of shock. Fish often swallow hooks, and anglers may try to retrieve a hook by shoving their fingers or pliers down the fish’s throat, ripping out not just the hook but also some of the fish’s throat and guts as well. When fish are handled, the protective coating on their bodies is disturbed. These and other injuries make fish easy targets for predators once they are returned to the water.

Competitions

Angling competitions for big cash prizes (some up to £3000) work on the principle of weight.

The highest weight in total of fish caught wins the prize. But the reality of this is that when the fish are caught, they're all kept tightly huddled together in a net for hours at a time. And when the competition is over, the anglers proudly remove their fish out of the water to be photographed, completely oblivious to the fact that these poor fish must be in terrible distress. 

I would love to see angling banned at Ferry Meadows, and I'm not the only person who thinks so either. If anglers want to fish, let them stay on the rivers, away from the lakes and inlets that have precious wildlife in them that should be protected from vicious hooks, lines and floats hanging from trees. 

I realize I'm in the minority, but I'll leave you with this thought:

Scientists have now concluded that Lobsters, Crabs, etc really DO feel pain when they're boiled alive. 

So if scientists also concluded that fish do actually feel pain, when they're impaled on a sharp hook,

would you still feel the same about angling then?