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Unfortunately George Monbiot does more damage to the environmental movement than good by his polemical approach that he earns his quite considerable income from. He constantly slants everything to the complete negative whereas it is a fact that rivers have substantially improved over the last 40 years (and I'm not saying that much more improvement can be made).
He seems to have a pathological hatred of those that feed this country whilst conveniently overlooking worse farming standards all over the world, only ever fear mongering about Trump and America instead of ever giving examples of genuinely achievable alternatives.
Why is it that we give so much time to unqualified politically motivated columnists as opposed to peer reviewed science?
Very very depressing - don't suppose we'll see any of these issues covered anytime soon on BBC Countryfile - too many vested interests eh Matt, Adam, Gov't, uncle Tom Cobley and all.
Sort 'em out GB!
Really depressing reading Sloppy, speaking as another angler but as has been stated, an opportunity for SKIN if there was a commitment to change for the better.
Perfect weather to be sitting by the lake-river, cold beer, waiting in anticipation for more news from SKIN ! TL indeed. All the best.
Our landowner is also very responsible mattynix7 in how his tenant farms manage the land - a rarity in these days. Tight lines my friend.
Always a pleasure to meet fellow angler Stu ! Nice to read about good clubs caring for their fish - waters. Agreed, lots of exciting avenues for SKIN and MWG to explore ! All the best.
I am a member of Harrogate Angling and regularly fish the River Nidd. The club is very protective of it's water quality and work with many agencies to report pollutants and transgressions. Even with this localised commitment, a lot goes unreported. Something else for #MWG #SKIN to put on their radar.
In the west of Britain, the main issue is livestock farming. As dairy and poultry units have consolidated, the manure they produce is greater than the land’s capacity to absorb it. As an agricultural contractor explained to the Welsh government, some farmers are deliberately spreading muck before high rainfall, so that it washes off their fields and into the rivers. A farm adviser told the same inquiry that only 1% of farm slurry stores in Wales meet the regulations. When the stores inevitably leak, rivers become sewers. The collapse of sea trout populations in Wales maps almost precisely on to the distribution of dairy farms.
A reader in Cumbria writes to tell me that the neighbouring farmer drives his slurry tank down to the river at night to pump slurry straight into the water. A rare investigation by the Environment Agency found that 95% of farmers in the catchment of the River Axe in south-west England have failed to invest in proper slurry containment. As a result, 49% of these farms are polluting the river. The reason the agency’s internal report gave for this systemic crisis is that the government has been using a “voluntary approach”. Farms in the south-west have their slurry stores inspected, on average, once every 200 years. Why upgrade your store if there’s little chance of getting caught?
What we are seeing across Britain is complete regulatory collapse. Even after the extreme and sudden pollution of the Llynfi, the “emergency” team at Natural Resources Wales failed to arrive for 13 hours, and refused to accept a water sample taken by a local person at the peak of the incident. In the Wye catchment, Powys county council is licensing new chicken farms behind closed doors. In England, the Environment Agency turns a blind eye: of 76,000 pollution and fly-tipping cases reported last year, just one resulted in a fixed penalty notice. Yes, one. As the ENDS Report documents, the agency’s own officers see its monitoring methods as completely useless.
In 2016, the government revealed that only 14% of England’s rivers are in good ecological condition. But instead of taking action, the government has followed Donald Trump’s coronavirus policy: if you want the issue to go away, test less. After 2016, it ceased annual monitoring and reporting. It told us to expect the next report in 2019. Then it said spring 2020. Now it says autumn 2020. Perhaps it means never.
The economic power of the water companies and the cultural power of the farmers both translate into political power. Special interests rule. The public and the living world come last. Peer into your local river, and you’ll see the political filth flow past.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/12/government-britains-rivers-uk-waterways-farming-water-companies
You can judge the state of a nation by the state of its rivers. Pollution is the physical expression of corruption. So what should we conclude about a country whose rivers are systematically exploited, dumped on and bled dry?
I’m writing from the Welsh borders, where I’m supposed to be on holiday. It’s among the most beautiful regions of Britain, but the rivers here are dying before my eyes. When I last saw it, four years ago, the Monnow, a lovely tributary of the River Wye, had a mostly clean, stony bed. Now the bottom is smothered in slime and filamentous algae. In the back eddies, the rotting weed floats to the surface, carrying the stench of cow slurry.
A few days ago, part of another tributary of the Wye, the Llynfi, was wiped out by a pollution surge, for the third time in five years. Hundreds of trout, grayling and bullheads floated to the surface, while rare white-clawed crayfish crawled out of the water. In the Ewyas valley, I discovered, out of sight of any vantage point, that part of the Honddu, another beautiful little river, is being illegally quarried for loose stone. Ancient alders and ashes on its banks have been ripped out to make way for the digger.
The Wye itself is dying at astonishing, heartbreaking speed. When I canoed it 10 years ago, the stones were clean. Now they are so slimy that you can scarcely stand up. In hot weather, the entire river stinks of chicken ****, from the 10 million birds being reared in the catchment. We made the mistake of swimming in it: I almost gagged when I smelled the water. The free-range farms are the worst: the birds carpet the fields with their highly reactive dung, which is then washed into the catchment by rain. Several times a year, algal blooms now turn the clear river cloudy. The fish gasp for breath. Aquatic insects suffocate.
Similar disasters are happening across Britain. In the east of the country, the main issues are human sewage and water extraction. The privatised water companies, granted local monopolies on supply, extract vast dividends and salaries while not investing enough in pipes, sewage systems, reservoirs and pollution control. Instead of stopping leaks or discouraging overconsumption, they draw down the groundwater that feeds our rivers. Many now run dry for part of the year. There are only 225 chalk streams in the world, and 85% are in England. Yet several of these rare and precious ecosystems could disappear altogether.
Critics argue that the water companies blatantly abuse the “exceptional circumstances” rule, which allows them to discharge raw sewage into our rivers during extreme storms and floods. Official records show that the companies dump untreated sewage into many of our rivers and chalk streams for thousands of hours a year.
‘Responsibility Lies With The Department Of Agriculture’
Dr. Elaine McGoff, natural environment officer with An Taisce, said that while the vast majority of farmers are doing everything by the book, the “problem is that regulations themselves aren’t fit for purpose”.
“It’s the worst possible time for this to happen, when Irish people are trying to salvage the summer as best they can – now they find they can’t even swim in the local waters and businesses can’t operate as they need to.
“The economic and social impacts from this sort of an event are considerable, not to mention the ecological impacts on our already beleaguered marine wildlife.”
https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/agricultural-regulations-not-doing-enough-to-protect-national-water-quality/
An Taisce has said that agricultural regulations are “not doing enough to protect national water quality” and has called on the Department of Agriculture to “acknowledge the role that regulation plays and review it in light of shifting weather patterns”.
This comes after E. coli from animal slurry was determined to be the predominant cause of increased bacterial levels in water across Co. Clare, leading to a swimming ban being put in place recently.
‘The Source Would Appear To Be Diffuse Agricultural Pollution’
This was the second such ban in the space of two weeks for some Co. Clare beaches and according to An Taisce, the intensity of recent rainfall has led to run-off from farmland and malfunctioning septic tanks entering local rivers, with rivers then discharging their pollution load into the affected coastal water.
The four affected beaches are: Lahinch; White Strand Miltown Malbay; Spanish Point; and Kilkee. They are all Blue Flag beaches as a result of their “excellent bathing water quality”.
Controls On Slurry Spreading ‘Clearly Not Functioning’
An Taisce said that the agricultural regulations that are in place for the protection of water quality are “clearly not functioning in this case”.
“The reason for this is likely twofold: they are not sufficient to prevent this type of pollution; and they are not being enforced rigorously enough,” the statement said.
“This problem has not arisen at these beaches in recent years, with a general trend of excellent water quality. The Department of Agriculture should be looking to see how they can better protect the water quality with these intense rainfall events.
The agricultural regulations are not doing enough to protect national water quality, with approximately 50% of our rivers being polluted and 62% of our estuaries, often as a result of agricultural run-off.
“This pollution event clearly shows that more needs to be done to improve that, particularly when it poses a public health risk and has such major impacts on local tourism.
“This is a widespread issue with no quick fix, but it is vital that the Department of Agriculture acknowledges the role that agricultural regulation plays in this, and reviews its regulations and enforcement in light of shifting weather patterns.
“2020 has been a challenging year for everyone and this may be the final straw for many struggling businesses.”
Cheers Chesh - and understood ! Appreciate the explanation; wasn't having a dig ! :-) Another theory - MM's probing to find hidden limit orders? Sells predominately - would that make sense ?
Sure matty......................... :(
I have a theory that PEEL the Market Maker (MM) supply the quick fix mobile phone spread betters with stock at full Bid/Ask, and even though they think that without costs, they're getting a bargain, they're actually not due to the low volume trades........... :)
All the best (I could be wrong though ...............! ;()
Chesh, I'd say - reading between the lines - Merlin is a new investor, doubtful he'll understand a word you've just typed !! PEEL ? + Mobile phones = CFD's ? !! Laymans mate for the uneducated among us ! :-)
Sure Merl..............!
PEEL + mobile phones......... = CFD's......
All the best (IMO :)
Could somebody explain why there seems to be quite a number of tiny trades i.e. 50 shares , 100 shares etc