Ramsbottom Angling Association (RAA) is a small club that has made a big impact upon the local community and has a number of well-organised and environmentally friendly fisheries dotted around the Lancashire town of Bury. The club, under the guidance of Secretary Arthur Metcalfe, is currently in dispute with the local authority over the management of a local fishery, Clarence Lido.
More than ten years ago RAA was approached to take control of the Lido and manage it as a fishery in conjunction with Bury Model Boat Club. The water was of the very highest quality and full of oxygenating weed and invertebrate life. It sustained thousands of pike, perch, bream, roach and crucian carp. All the ingredients required for a good fishery.
Weedkiller
Then the water supply into the Lido was stopped. Weed increased and the Model Boat Club complained. Grass carp were introduced in an attempt to deal with the problem but then the local council took a hand and pumped in a weedkiller – Clarisan – at a cost of thousands of pounds and against the advice of both the Environment Agency’s fisheries officer and RAA officials.
All the weed died and so did thousands of small fish! The rotting vegetation resulted in an infestation of blue-green algae, a fearsome smell and millions of flies. A further bacteriological agent was introduced but the water had to be closed because of its toxicity and the algae bloom exploded. Thousands more fish died and the toxicity level became so high last year that the Lido had to been fenced off to protect the public.
The pipework to reconnect the water inlet supply has been completed and permission granted to draw water in but, six months on, RAA report that not a drop has come through and the algae gets worse. The Lido is unfishable at present, an eye-sore and a danger to public health.
Remedial Action Proposed
RAA have already spent in excess of 6000 unpaid man hours managing the water and are convinced they have the solution to the problem. Their proposals have been made public for several years and they would improve the whole area around the Lido, build an island in the lake, put in reed beds, water lilies and marginal trees and get the water supply back into the fishery. They have requested that the council give the Lido to RAA in trust so that they can take advantage of grant funding to help with improvements.
I am not a member of RAA nor even a coarse fisherman nowadays but I have seen some of the sites that RAA have taken over and transformed them from scenes of dereliction to amenities that benefit the community, are pleasing to the eye and give endless hours of enjoyment to anglers of all ages. Let’s hope the council sees sense and gives RAA permission to make the improvements and repairs to this notable fishery.
Eddie Caldwell
