The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

a plan has been put in place to remove the sluice gates on the itchen at woodmill and replace with a white water canoe system with a new fish pass added, the ea are going along with this even though it means a large drop in water levels, the river will then become tidal and brackish,so roach, chub, dace and barbel will no longer be able to survive in this part of the river,representatives of the developers and the ea will be at woodmill on sunday 18 june to answer questions between 9am -4.30 ill be there asking very difficult questions that they will not be able to justify, any help and support i can get would be appreciated

Why do they do things like this

Are the Salmon & Trout Association & Wild Trout Trust aware?

the costs involved,and i quote are £800k this encludes a new fish pass, but the true reason is to open up a white water system for the canoe centre run by southampton city council at £15 a hour to hire a canoe its a cash cow at the expence of the tax payer, shame on you the ea for backing this,you should be ashamed , no thought for the enviroment what so ever, i will fight this all the way

I have no idea what I can do ... other than to support you from afar.

many thanks mel

Good luck sir.

Chubman wrote: ↑Tue Jun 13, 2017 11:04 pm the costs involved,and i quote are £800k this encludes a new fish pass, but the true reason is to open up a white water system for the canoe centre run by southampton city council at £15 a hour to hire a canoe its a cash cow at the expence of the tax payer, shame on you the ea for backing this,you should be ashamed , no thought for the enviroment what so ever, i will fight this all the way

This seems so thoughtless, how can the EA have given the ok to this development? I do hope that something can be done Geoff, it sounds awful!

Utter madness, wonder if there's a online petition we could sign?

It's good planning by the EA to hold a meeting when the minimum amount of anglers are likely to attend with it being the opening week-end of the season and Fathers Day. I suppose it's a slightly better day than Christmas day but not a lot better.

Devil's advocate position: The sluice gates are not a natural feature,you can argue removing them is restoring the river to a more natural state and that a canoe course is opening the river up to other leisure activities and users.