Angry anglers chain themselves to club gates to stop cull

An angry angler has chained himself to the gates of a swimming club to protest about the cull of fish due to take place today.

Henleaze Lake in an old quarry is shared between an exclusive swimming club and the anglers. But the club’s committee proposed the cull saying it would improve the water quality.

This sparked fury among fishermen who use the lake regularly, and protesters arrived this morning to stop contractors from getting in.

As Bristol24-7’s pictures show, 59-year-old David Hodges of Westbury-on-Trym, chained himself to the gates and complained about the lack of consultation with anglers over the plan to reduce the number of carp in the lake by more than half – from 160 to 65.

Mr Hodges added there were other ways to deal with the problem of what managers of the club say is an over-stocked lake, and rejected their claims that there were too many fish.

He was supported by Callum Dicks, a gold-medal-winning England angling international, who said the reasons for the cull were “ridiculous”.

Environmental experts are thought to be being paid £7,000  to exterminate the carp with an electric current – although rumours at the site suggest the lake managers may back down and move them to another site instead.

This would fly in the face of advice given by the Environment Agency which said that, due to a parasite in the gills of the carp, the fish could not be moved for fear of infecting other fish.