Save Chasewater fish

The private contractors were willing to carry out the works for a considerable charge, but would sell the fish as part of the process. British Waterways on the other hand are happy to rehome the fish in local waterways, but once rehomed, the fish will be owned by British Waterways and will not be returned to Chasewater.

Once the water levels and the ecology of the reservoir are back to acceptable levels, we could theoretically consider restocking the pools with new fish, but as we only make less than £500 from angling licenses a year, we won’t have available monies to do this. The lake’s SSSI status would also restrict how we could restock the reservoir, and no alien species or trout would be allowed back.

Stowe Pool – it’s an SSSI and Chasewater is considered to have a moderate risk of crayfish plague, so we aren’t allowed to put the fish into Stowe.

The Swag (or Jeffrey’s Pool and Jeffrey’s Swag) - it already holds a healthy population of fish, and when we are doing the works to the causeway we will have to lower the level of the water in this pool. If we put fish into the Swag now we would have to catch them again when we begin the works.

Slurry Pool - LDC doesn’t own it and its water quality is not certain. It does not have a water link with Chasewater so the fish won’t transfer from one to the other.

Anglesey Branch Canal – Many fish will have been washed through the valves to get into the canal so this area will already be heavily populated with fish. But when we close the valves to allow the reservoir to refill there will be no water feeding this part of the canal, and so its water levels are likely to fall.