Former Newbury MP, Richard Benyon, opens new fish hatchery on Englefield Estate
A new coarse fish hatchery has been opened to support local anglers.
It is hoped the hatchery will help to replenish stocks of coarse fish in the River Kennet, which have been decimated by non-native predatory signal crayfish.
It was officially opened by Richard Benyon on behalf of the Englefield Estate on Friday (February 16) at a ceremony attended by angling clubs, fisheries and conservationists situated along the Kennet Valley.
Englefield Estate’s head of rural property and land, James Meade, said: “Anglers play such an important part in protecting and improving our rivers.
“I am so pleased the estate has been able to support this project, led by the Reading and District Angling Association (RDAA), to open a fish hatchery to help improve fish stocks on the Kennet.”
The hatchery — located on Englefield Estate land at Lambdens Farm, Beenham — will be run as a not-for-profit enterprise by the association’s fisheries manager, Del Shackleford, acting on advice and support from the Environment Agency and the Institute of Fisheries Management.
Local volunteers will assist with the day-to-day running.
Over the past decade, a signal crayfish trapper, working for the RDAA, removed around 2.5 million crayfish from the River Kennet — weighing an estimated 100 tonnes.
Signal crayfish eat their way through fish spawn and prey on the invertebrates which are vital to supporting young fish.
The hatchery will begin operating from March and will mimic the breeding cycles of coarse fish in the wild, starting with dace, followed by roach, chub and barbel.
Only brood fish from the Kennet will be used.
Brood fish will be temporarily removed from the river at the point of spawning and their eggs harvested and mixed with milt from the males, with the resulting fry nurtured in the hatchery until they are big enough to survive in the wild.
Around 70 per cent will be reintroduced to the river.
The remaining 30 per cent will be kept at the hatchery for longer, to be released later as mature fish.
