Be Alert When Walking or Driving around Lancashire. May 2007

Bio-diesel, these words should set alarm bells ringing in those of us who care about our sport, our fish, the bird and wildlife and of course our rivers. Bio-diesel first came to anglers notice after the three incidents last summer, incidents that wiped out miles of fishing leaving carcasses of dead and dying fish floating or gasping for breath. We don’t ever want to see this again! This news item is to bring you all up to date with how things have progressed since last summer’s incidents and to remind everyone to be vigilant at all times to protect our rivers.

The RFC is working very closely with both the E.A. Pollution Teams and also their Environmental Crime Team and through this working relationship have learned more of how things are progressing. Some of what we have learnt must remain confidential as it is still ongoing with possible important leads being followed.

What came out of a recent meeting was just how vulnerable we are in Lancashire area which is called the M65 Corridor. In this area there are 159 licensed producers of bio-diesel, who work within the strict guidelines of the law and Customs, but, at least double those numbers are thought to be producing illegally. These are the people who are more likely to pollute our watercourses and these are the ones we want to catch.

Bio - diesel can be produced on farms, small haulage yards or backstreet garages. If it goes wrong, rather than pay to have it correctly disposed of, they dump it anywhere out of sight, namely surface water drains which feed into out watercourses.

Over the past two weeks we have had one confirmed incident at Paythorne where one hundred gallons was dumped off the Settle road. Luckily for Bowland Anglers it missed going in the surface drain, which fed into their waters but was left on the grass verges of the road. Another incident was thought at first to have caused a malfunction at Clitheroe’s Sewage Treatment plant, which shut down due to large deposit of fatty globules in the system. This incident is still under investigation, but it did cause a problem on the Edisford Hall waters but thankfully no fish loss.

None of us are safe, not even the river Hodder with its fragile and important spawning becks. Remember this pollutant can be manufactured anywhere and has to be disposed of somewhere, usually in a quiet place.

Please be vigilant as you travel around the valley. Take the registration number of any large vans, tankers, or any other vehicle parked suspiciously. It does not matter if it leads nowhere since it is better to be safe than sorry. Ring the E.A’s emergency number 0800 80 70 60 and ring Fred Higham on 01200 423314 who has a direct line to their crime officers. They need to be informed as soon as possible to collect any forensic evidence, which could be traceable.

We do not want to see any other angling association members have their waters polluted as did Clitheroe A.A. and Ribblesadale A.A. last year and if we have another dry summer we are all vulnerable. Let us try to catch these people and make an example of them in the courts to let others know that if they pollute our rivers they will face the consequences.