Returning zander does "nil" damage

Zander anglers can sleep easy in their bivvies. Because e-mails between officials at Natural England reveal why you won't be prosecuted for returning them - despite recent claims to the contrary.

More here.

Time to put an end to zandercide..?

Today's Eastern Daily Press features a lengthy opinion piece, setting out a compelling case for why zander should be protected just like any other coarse fish.

"More lies have been told about pike than any other fish, Queen Victoria's inspector of fisheries Frank Buckland once famously observed. If zander had been swimming in our rivers when the phrase was first coined, he might just as easily have said it about them."

Zander have been excluded from new national fishery by-laws, which forbid anglers from removing any fish apart from a limited number for bait. And Natural England wants anglers to kill all the zander they catch.

"But those who target them in Fenland's sprawling maze of rivers and drains, and pike anglers who catch them from time to time, have more respect for their quarry than they do for officialdom," the piece observes.

"Most will do what they've always done, return the fish unharmed after a picture or two regardless of what anyone says to the contrary."

Environment Agency officials have already gone on record stating they will not prosecute anyone who does so, because zander were lawfully stocked by one of its predecessors two decades before the Wildlife and Countyside Act classified them an unwelcome alien species.

"Activists see zander as a watershed for angling, because officialdom is widely feared to have bigger fish to fry when it comes to what species do and do not belong in our rivers."

Zander aren't the only so-called alien fish swimming in some of our rivers, the article concludes. But no-ones advocating killing barbel and carp, yet.

It advocates a simple solution: "A ground zero approach, which draws a line under waters where
zander existed prior to the Wildlife and Countryside Act and where they should be allowed to remain because they have become naturalised.

"That doesn't mean anyone's calling for them to b stocked anywhere else - including the Broads.

"It just means where they're already present and valued as a sporting fish, with a role to play in our rivers, they should be returned."

Watto weighs in on zander debate

John Watson's added his view to the ongoing zander debate in the Eastern Daily Press.

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MP lobbied in zander killing row

Officials from King's Lynn Angling Association are set to lobby their MP over claims sections of the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act require anglers to kill all zander they catch.

It comes as EA officials say they won't enforce the law, because zander were lawfully stocked by their predecessors.

In today's Eastern Daily Press, journalist and predator angler Chris Bishop writes:

"Anglers in the Fens and further afield are unanimous about one thing. Zander need the same protection as any other species of predatory fish swimming in our waters.

"There's been no new ruling saying anyone's got to kill them. Natural England have recited a 21-year-old law no angler has ever taken a blind bit of notice of.

"No-one's ever been prosecuted for returning zander. And the Environment Agency says it has no plans to do so, because they were lawfully introduced by its predecessor.

"More worrying is the exception being made under the provisions of new national fisheries by-laws, governing fish removal. Zander are classed as an alien species.

"That doesn't mean there's a legal requirement to kill them, under this new legislation. But no limit's been placed on how many you can kill should you be so inclined. Club bailiffs fear this will undermine their efforts to police their waters.

"How we define alien is an important question. Peel this one back to its logical conclusion and we'd have to include carp - an alien species first brought to our shores by Medieval monks.

"Hundreds of years later, carp are part of the furniture, where fishing's concerned. Imagine Natural England saying you've got to bonk them on the head because their parentage gets a bit dubious if you go back far enough.

"Zander too have undoubtedly found their own niche and settled in alongside both their prey and fellow predators without upsetting the ecology of our rivers."

More here and here.