A stretch of the River Churnet at Consall Forge in Staffordshire that had been badly affected by pollution has received a Christmas present of 500 fish.

The 500 cub released into the river by the Environment Agency fisheries team completes the re-stocking programme for the River Churnet following a pollution incident caused by agricultural waste five years ago.

They were also the final consignment in the biggest re-stocking exercise that our Calverton Fish Farm, near Nottingham, has ever undertaken. During December, an amazing 85,000 fish have been released into the Rivers Trent and Tame and their tributaries.

Fisheries Officer, Mick Buxton, says “This release of the 500 chub marks the end of our re-stocking programme for the River Churnet. This stretch of river is now doing really well again, thanks to re-stockings by both the Environment Agency and Potteries Angling Club.

“The money that allows us to re-stock rivers that have been affected by pollution comes from anglers who buy rod licences but we do try to recoup the cost from polluters in the long term wherever we can.

“Anglers and members of the public are vital to us in responding swiftly to pollution incidents to minimise the damage done to the environment and help us trace the offenders. We urge them to report any instances of pollution to us straight away by calling our free 24-hour Incident Hotline on 0800 80 70 60.”

The fish were specially bred for stocking rivers at our Calverton Fish Farm, near Nottingham, where at any one time about a million fish are waiting to be found new homes in rivers across England and Wales.

The chub were transported in their tanks to the release site. These are mature fish which are already one to two years old, ready to spawn next spring. Male fish become sexually mature at two years and females at three years.