Early Christmas Stocking for the River Trent

Over 10,000 chub, dace, barbel and roach will be on their way tomorrow morning from our fish farm at Calverton near Nottingham. They will be transported in their tanks by lorry from Calverton to the release sites.

On the River Trent in Staffordshire, 3,500 fish will be released at three different locations - Weston Bridge, Shugborough and Wolseley Bridge. These fish will help to re-populate a stretch of the river that was affected by October's pollution incident.

The fish are mature fish which have been specially bred for stocking rivers. They are already one to two years old, ready to spawn next spring. Male fish become sexually mature at two years and females at three years. 

Further stockings of mature fish will be carried out this year, with a total of 50,000 fish destined for the Rivers Trent and Tame before Christmas.

By early summer next year, we plan to introduce younger fish. Using such a wide range of ages will help fish stocks to recover more quickly. Over the next five years or so, we will continue to build up fish stocks in the affected stretches of river by carrying out more re-stockings.

Fisheries Officer Mick Buxton says "These new fish are the beginning of a new era for the Trent and Tame, where fish populations were badly affected by recent pollution incidents. They and their descendants will bring the rivers to life once more.

"The money that allows us to respond so quickly comes from anglers who buy rod licences but we do try to recoup the cost from polluters in the long term wherever we can.

"This is just the start of a long term programme of fish re-stockings aimed at reversing the damage done by pollution.

"Anglers and members of the public are vital to us in responding swiftly to pollution incidents to minimise the damage done to the environment and trace the offenders. We urge them to report any instances of pollution to us straight away by calling our free 24-hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60."

A further 3,500 fish will be on tomorrow's lorry to be released into the River Tame which was badly affected by a pollution incident in summer 2009, so tomorrow's consignment will contain a total of 14,000 fish.