The National Rivers Authority (NRA), set up in 1988, inherited a situation in which the coarse fish close season was regulated through regional and local byelaws, some of which dispensed with the coarse fish close season to varying degrees.
Some regions had dispensed with the close season on canals, with the result that nationally only around 60% of the canal network had a close season; others had dispensed with it on stillwaters. This was unacceptable and in 1994 the NRA carried out an extensive public consultation on the coarse fish close season.
As a result a national coarse fish close season byelaw for the whole of England and Wales was confirmed on 13 March 1995. This retained the coarse fish close season on rivers, streams and drains but dispensed with it on most stillwaters, the exceptions being some Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and the Broads, where the close season was retained as a precaution against possible damage to conservation interests. The rationale for dispensing with the close season on stillwaters was twofold:
- Most stillwaters are discrete water bodies in single ownership; this enables the owner to manage the fish stocks and to impose whatever restrictions are felt to be needed, including non-statutory close seasons.
- The fact that the close season had been dispensed with on many stillwaters without any apparent detriment to those fisheries, presented strong evidence in favour of removing it.
