News / Animals
Fish to be killed in lake to deter angling
All of the fish in the lake at St George Park are to be killed in January in order to discourage angling.
St George Neighbourhood Partnership, who banned fishing in the lake last year, have now approved an option proposed by Bristol City Council to kill the fish with an overdose of anaesthetic rather than relocate them elsewhere.
Neighbourhood Partnership chairman Rob Acton-Campbell told BBC Bristol: “We’ve tried over the last two years to have a permit scheme to try and manage the fishing, but unfortunately there’s still been injuries to the swans and the cygnets.
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“We were hoping we’d be able to move them somewhere else but the council have had a health check done on the fish and they are very unhealthy.
“And there’s nowhere really local that we can move them too that would cope with the number of fish that we’ve got.”
The former boating lake was stocked with fish about 20 years ago and has been used as a fishing lake for many years.
Friends of St George Park do not support the killing of the fish, but admit that the lake has “become very run down and there are far too many fish in there to support any kind of ecosystem”.
Maggie Waldon said: “We would really like to reduce the number of fish but we don’t support the outright killing of the fish.
“There are some fish that are very unwell in which case that’s fair enough but our policy would be to relocate them and find them new homes.”
A Bristol City Council spokesperson said: “Having looked at the options, and recognising that the fish could not be relocated into other host waters, St George Neighborhood Partnership agreed to remove all the fish from St George Park lake.
“It is not an uncommon practice, as part of good management of still waters, particularly small ones, for fish stocks to be regulated by removal.
“The fish will be humanely euthanised using an overdose of anaesthetic. If opportunities arise to relocate some or all of them we will of course explore and consider them.”
Following the removal of the fish, it is hoped that plant life can be introduced to the lake in order to improve its quality and ecology.
A petition opposing the killing of the fish had reached more than 300 signatures by Saturday evening.
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