From the archive: The preservation of river fish

From The Times: August 23, 1924
The report of the capture of a sturgeon at Windsor, which we reprinted a few days ago from The Times in 1824, will have caused many modern anglers envious searchings of heart. Their feelings will be due not to the high rank which sturgeon-fishing takes among the coveted forms of the sport, but to the way in which the appearance of the royal fish at the very gates of Windsor Castle 100 years ago emphasises the deterioration of Thames fishing in the past century.
The doom of Thames migratory fish was sealed when gasworks first poured their poisonous effluent into the river at London. Since the middle of the last century when odours from the river enforced themselves on the attention of legislators at Westminster a good deal has been done to cleanse it but although river trout have lately been reported as far down as Shadwell, the salmon which once passed through London to the upper waters have never returned, no doubt because the zone of deoxygenated water below Barking forms an impassable barrier.
Many other rivers have been polluted almost from source to mouth, and in recent years the destruction of fish life has been extended to country districts by the tarring of main roads. The evidence incriminating the washings from tar-treated highways is very strong, but the case against this method of road-facing will not be complete until the Government Committee investigating this question publishes its report.
The protection of inland fisheries is of importance to the recreation of all classes, but the value of these fisheries as an economic asset is too apt to be overlooked. Apart from their contribution to the food supply, which in salmon is very substantial, the rateable value of fisheries has risen, as many fishermen know to their cost, until it forms an important item in the budgets of local authorities.
The notorious increase of poaching is another threat. Netting raids by town poachers with motor-cars have been common. The subject of preservation is beclouded by political and social antagonisms, but there are facts of Nature which must be recognized by sportsmen of all classes if their sport is to survive. No stock of fish will last long if it is over-fished, or if protection now granted by the law is not enforced.
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