Mid Sussex fisheries get boost from reinvested rod licence cash

The money has been invested in 12 projects across Sussex and Hampshire, which have been delivered by 12 partners including angling clubs, rivers trusts and land owners.

The Environment Agency brought the Fisheries Improvement Programme (FIP) together by investing more than £1.3 million of rod licence income in projects over the past 12 months.

This funding has helped enhance fisheries, boost fish stocks and improve angling facilities and the environment.

“Anglers often ask us about how we spend the money raised from the sale of fishing licences,” said Arnie Warsop, an Environment Agency local fisheries officer in Sussex.

“The Fisheries Improvement Programme is a prime example of the wide range of activities this income pays for.”

Arnie said that projects being funded must demonstrate benefits for anglers and added that the FIP supports a local and sustainable future for angling.

He also said the programme was ‘a real team effort’ with many projects completed thanks to support from land owners, businesses and fisheries clubs.

“The more people who go fishing, the more we can invest,” he said.

The programme covers rivers and still waters and benefits coarse fish, trout and eels.

At Hassocks Angling Club FIP funding helped create disabled access swims at two of the club’s venues.

It also improved access to the lake for all club members and provided wheelchair users with more swimming options.

FIP funding also helped Horsted Keynes Angling Club restore a pond by desilting and clearing it.

Marginal and submerged vegetation and fish refuges were added and, once the pond was settled, it was stocked with tench and crucian carp from the Environment Agency’s fish farm in Calverton.

There are more improvements planned for 2021/22.