Richard Holden MP and Dehenna Davison MP were recently welcomed to the River Wear alongside a number of local stakeholders to discuss the various challenges they are facing with illegal fishing and pollution.
After two centuries of serving heavy industry, the River Wear had become one of England's most polluted rivers. In the last decade, due to the hard work of local stakeholders many of whom were in attendance at the meeting, there has been a complete sea change in this. The river has been subject to a massive clean up campaign, leading to the river being one of the country's top success stories in terms of environmental progress.
However, while water quality in the river has improved greatly in recent years, illegal fishing still poses a massive problem. It is a blight on our area. Not only is it highly damaging to the rural economy but it also has a huge environmental impact. As a result it is extremely damaging to our wonderful migratory fish and their beautiful habitat.
Our local River Wear is now regarded as one of the very best rivers in the country for migratory fish, and I want to keep it that way where not so long ago there was no hope. However, there is still a way to go to see the rivers frothing with fish as they once were. It’s brilliant everyone is working together on this issue with this goal in mind.
Commenting, Richard Holden MP said:
“It’s great to be at the beautiful River Wear with my friend, colleague and Parliamentary neighbour Dehenna Davison MP. Thanks for inviting me again to see all the great work going on with such a wide variety of committed local groups looking to clean up the river even more and banish the blight of illegal fishing.
“The Government has being doing so much great work in this area to clean up our water. In addition to huge fines and sentencing for breaches, water monitoring has increased from 6% 10 years ago to 100% by the end of this year. While there is clearly far more to do, pollutant loads have decreased by 70% since 19953.
“It’s great to see that these local groups are building on the fantastic effort in Westminster and making a real difference locally local groups. I can’t wait to see what the next five years has in store for the River’s migratory fish!”
Commenting, Dehenna Davison said:
“The River Wear is so important to our local area. I am delighted to see the enormous progress that has been made in improving the water quality in recent years but, clearly, there is more that can be done.
“I am so glad to see so many different people and organisations attend today. Only if everyone pulls their weight will we see the progress that local residents and wildlife expect.
“Both Richard and myself in Government have been doing loads of work to improve water quality nationally. It’s great to see this translate to the local level and look forward enjoying the fruits of this in the River Wear in the months and years to come.”