Proposed byelaws to remove the close season for brown trout and salmon in stillwaters

Opening date – 22 June 2009
Closing date – 14 September 2009

Close seasons exist to protect fish during vulnerable spawning times or to limit exploitation. Where brown trout or salmon are stocked into stillwaters, they are usually not expected to spawn. However, the current law does not allow us to remove the close season for these fisheries.

The Marine and Coastal Access Bill will improve our fisheries byelaw powers. In particular, it will allow us to remove the close seasons for salmon and brown trout on stillwaters. We believe that a brown trout close season is an unnecessary restriction on stillwaters that have no wild trout stocks and rely on stocking. Lifting this restriction will benefit fishery owners, clubs and anglers, who will be able to enjoy year-round stillwater brown trout fishing.

The same applies where farmed salmon are stocked into enclosed stillwaters for angling. Salmon do not breed in these waters and, in our opinion, a close season is not needed.

Close seasons for salmon and brown trout in stillwaters - English Version (PDF 96KB)
Close seasons for salmon and brown trout in stillwaters - Bilingal Version (PDF 196KB)

Adrian Taylor

How to respond

We want people to respond online wherever possible.  Your views are important to us.

Respond on line  (Please note: you will need to register - this will only take a moment)

If you do not have internet access or prefer to reply by post, you should complete the form in the consultation document and send it to –

Adrian Taylor, Fisheries Policy Manager
Environment Agency
Rio House
Waterside Drive, Aztec West
Almondsbury
Bristol  BS32 4UD

What happens next

When the consultation closes on 14 September 2009, we will collate and publish a summary of the response on the internet. We will use the responses to inform how we draft the byelaws. Once we have decided to proceed with new byelaws, we will advertise them in the autumn (as we are required to do by law), allowing anyone to comment. We will need to answer each response to the advert, before we apply to government for confirmation. We expect the byelaws to become law in 2010.