Today (12 January), the United Kingdom Environment Agency has published its Annual Fisheries Report revealing that over 1 million licence sales in 2020/21 funded improvements to the environment and fish habitats.
Over 1 million (1,090,068) fishing licences were sold to anglers between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021, generating £24,583,342 in income which has been reinvested into incident response, enforcement action and habitat improvements to support fisheries.
This income was further boosted by government funding and partner contributions, allowing the EA to deliver a major investment of £33 million through the Water Environment Improvement Fund (WEIF) to enhance the environment which fish stocks rely on to survive.
The report outlines how licence income supported fish restocking across the country which helps fish populations to recover following environmental incidents. Almost 500,000 coarse fish were stocked into rivers and still waters around the country, including over 130,000 barbel and almost 82,000 roach.
Read more:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/environment-agency-delivers-major-fisheries-improvements-funded-by-rod-licence-income