An article and a video from the Angling Trust highlight the scale of the problem. Whilst the Environment Agency, to their credit, are still highlighting individual prosecutions the sheer scale of the problem has been highlighted by this recent work. The Grenfell effect is probably at work, a combination of a push for quick profit, lack of investment, Government sending the wrong messages whilst cutting red tape and deregulating.
Guardian ‘Environment Agency figures show severe incidents are weekly occurrence as farms struggle with cost of pollution prevention despite subsidies.
Serious pollution incidents in the UK from livestock farms are now a weekly occurrence, leading to damage to wildlife, fish, farm livestock and air and water pollution.
The Environment Agency in England and its devolved counterparts in Wales and Scotland recorded 536 of the most severe incidents between 2010 and 2016, the worst instances among more than 5,300 cases of agricultural pollution in the period across Britain. In England and Wales the figures relate to pig, poultry and dairy farms whereas in Scotland they refer to all livestock farms.
An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Guardian, uncovering the unpublished figures, also reveals that even serious pollution incidents may not be prosecuted, and farms that have caused pollution continue to receive subsidies.
There is no official estimate of the cost of the damage caused, or the cost of cleanups, but many farmers appear to be struggling with the price of preventing pollution, a situation that may deteriorate as farm incomes are threatened by the turmoil of Brexit. In many cases the breaches are likely to be the result of underinvestment in equipment such as slurry stores.
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Angling Trust – new video illustrates the damage done by farming on river ecology
The Angling Trust has released a 3-minute video to highlight the impacts of agriculture on the ecology of rivers, in particular on fish and the invertebrates on which they feed. The video has been released to coincide with publication of a major investigation into the problem of agricultural pollution by the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, published in The Guardian yesterday (21st August). Agricultural practices pollute rivers by causing excessive water to run off the surface of the land into brooks, streams and rivers, taking with it soil, pesticides, fertilisers and slurry. This kills fish, invertebrates and plant life – reducing fish populations for anglers to target and consequently destroying the economic benefits that angling brings to rural areas in particular. Furthermore, agricultural pollution leads to pollution of public water supplies, higher bills for water customers and council tax-payers, flooding of homes and businesses, damage to the shellfish industry and even road traffic accidents from increased mud and debris on rural roads.
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