Corporate report

Fisheries annual report 2022 to 2023: how we spend fishing licence income

Updated 11 January 2024

Applies to England

• Publication for Northern Ireland
• Publication for Scotland
• Publication for Wales

This report covers 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. We publish in the following year so we can report on a whole year’s data.

1. What we have done with our resources

During the financial year 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023 we sold 903,216 fishing licences. This generated an income of £20,900,000. We also received £1,400,000 grant in aid from central government.

With this money we were able to:

• check 39,159 fishing licences
• make 265 successful prosecutions
• respond to 407 fisheries incidents involving dead or dying fish
• do 1,200 fish stock surveys
• supply and stock 455,439 coarse fish
• work with over 1,000 different project partners
• complete 14 fish pass solutions and removed 11 weirs and barriers
• improve habitats for fish on 347 kilometres (km) of rivers and protect habitats for fish on 305km of rivers
• enhance 237 hectares (ha) of stillwater fisheries

2. The activities we have spent the money on

Category	Percentage
Areas	28%
Fisheries project portfolio	27.7%
Support services	15%
National services	20.7%
Government support and strategic services	8.6%

Areas

We provided 28% of the income for work in all of our 14 areas. This includes:

• monitoring
• enforcement
• fish stocking
• fish rescues
• responding to incidents
• providing fisheries advice

Fisheries project portfolio

We have contributed 27.7% of our income towards the fisheries project portfolio. This includes funding the partnership work we do with other organisations. Examples of these are:

• the Angling Trust
• the Wild Trout Trust
• local river trusts

It also includes funding for the Angling Improvement Fund and Fisheries Improvement Programme projects.

Support services

We have invested 15% of our income on support services. These include the costs of:

• IT infrastructure
• finance
• corporate services
• human resources

National services

We have spent 20.7% on national services. This expenditure covers the costs of:

• fishing licence sales administration
• prosecutions
• the National Fisheries Laboratory
• contributions to our National Customer Contact Centre, Estates and Fleet Operations

Government support and strategic services

We have used 8.6% to support government and input to the strategic direction for achieving our fisheries priority outcomes. This includes the costs of our national fisheries team.

3. Fishing licence sales and income

Total sales from 2001-02 to 2022-23

Year	Total sales
2001-02	1,081,623
2002-03	1,126,880
2003-04	1,197,160
2004-05	1,202,457
2005-06	1,198,768
2006-07	1,210,869
2007-08	1,265,771
2008-09	1,286,419
2009-10	1,391,201
2010-11	1,368,141
2011-12	1,370,465
2012-13	1,230,936
2013-14	1,243,837
2014-15	1,210,306
2015-16	1,210,201
2016-17	1,191,141
2017-18	1,060,420
2018-19	955,310
2019-20	940,974
2020-21	1,090,068
2021-22	934,760
2022-23	903,216

Total income from 2001-02 to 2022-23

Year	Total income (£)
2001-02	14,010,810
2002-03	15,169,556
2003-04	16,962,549
2004-05	18,291,311
2005-06	18,522,942
2006-07	19,231,519
2007-08	20,119,482
2008-09	21,490,764
2009-10	23,896,662
2010-11	24,116,924
2011-12	23,874,632
2012-13	21,840,128
2013-14	21,583,539
2014-15	21,146,844
2015-16	21,083,273
2016-17	20,661,859
2017-18	23,132,885
2018-19	21,347,795
2019-20	20,898,332
2020-21	24,583,342
2021-22	21,854,093
2022-23	20,900,133

In the previous decade up until the financial year 2019 to 2020, the number of people that went fishing and bought licences had declined each year. This led to:

• a fall in our fishing licence income by approximately 12%
• a drop in licence sales by over a third

As income and sales declined, we have had less money to spend on our fisheries work. However, we have managed to restrict the effects of this through efficiency savings and better partnership working. During that period we increased prices just once in 2017. We deliberately kept prices low to encourage angling and not make it cost prohibitive.

Since 2020, COVID-19 has had wide ranging effects on society. Fishing was one of the first activities to be allowed back on a wider scale when lockdown restrictions were eased on 13 May 2020. Angling then experienced a recovery in participation rates.

In the financial year 2020 to 2021:

• we sold 1,090,068 licences to 958,279 individual anglers
• these sales represented an increase of 17% on fishing licence sales and generated £24,583,342 in income

As society returned to a more normal footing throughout 2021 to 2022, we saw:

• a subsequent decline in participation rates experienced through the first year of COVID-19
• sales levels return to those seen before the pandemic in 2019 to 2020

In 2022 to 2023 this decline has continued.

Efforts continue to reverse the decline in participation rates through the reinvestment of fishing licence income as documented in this report.

Fishing licence income is also invested into marketing to try to:

• recruit new and lapsed anglers
• retain the current customer base

In 2022 to 2023 we spent £250,000 on marketing activities which generated over £5,000,000 in income through 256,076 fishing licence sales.

4. How partnerships help us achieve our objectives

By working in partnership with other like-minded groups and organisations, we can often achieve:

• more with our money
• better fisheries outcomes

We worked with over 1,000 partners in 2022 to 2023. These include the:

• Angling Trust
• Wild Trout Trust
• Institute of Fisheries Management
• Riverfly Partnership
• local river trusts, angling clubs, charities and others

The work we do with partners includes:

• working on projects to improve fish stocks and habitats
• providing new facilities for anglers and making fisheries more accessible
• promoting angling and giving more people the opportunity to try fishing
• joined up enforcement and intelligence sharing

The Angling Trust

We commission the Angling Trust to do certain activities that improve and develop angling under our National Angling Strategic Services contract. The service is worth about £1.35 million per year. The current contract was awarded in 2019 following competitive tender. In 2022 we extended the contract for 12 months to run until 31 March 2024.

One of the main objectives is to increase the number of people fishing and buying a licence. We want more people to fish more often and the contract focuses on recruiting new anglers or to encourage lapsed anglers back into the sport. 

Quality rather than quantity is the objective for ‘Get Fishing’ participation events. This gives attendees great learning time and an enjoyable fishing experience. The Get Fishing award scheme (launched in 2020) continued to prove popular with new anglers attending for 3 days and progressing through bronze, silver and gold levels. At the end, participants get a fishing licence and are hopefully on the path to becoming a lifelong angler.

In 2022 to 2023 the Angling Trust was supported by many partners, most notably the Canal and River Trust and Get Hooked on Fishing, to run 2,611 angling participation events. These events resulted in 38,464 people trying fishing for the first time, of which 24,123 were juniors.

The ‘Take a Friend Fishing’ and ‘National Fishing Month’ initiatives, in association with the Angling Trust and the Angling Trades Association, continued in 2022.

The Angling Trust also trained people who help introduce newcomers to angling. Using Environment Agency bursaries, we saw 225 new Level 1 and 79 Level 2 licenced coaches.

In 2022 to 2023 the Get Fishing Fund issued 113 grants worth £197,939 in total. The angling participation contract work has been possible with an estimated £1,571,931 match funding.

The way the Angling Trust engaged with anglers changed during COVID-19 with the development of online forum events. During 2022 to 2023 there was a mixture of virtual and face to face forums.

10 virtual meetings were held covering a broad range of topics, including invasive species management and how changes to the Reservoirs Act affects fisheries. We also provided targeted advice on preparing fisheries for prolonged dry weather with the focus on resilience. The total number of attendees was 489. All forums were available on catch up and by the end of the year there were 1,406 additional viewings.

Some face to face meetings were held from May 2022 onwards. 14 local forums were organised, attended by 409 people representing 170 angling clubs and fisheries.

The Fishing Buzz website was created to keep anglers engaged with their ‘fishing habit’ during the first COVID-19 lockdown. It has since evolved into a platform providing quality angling content to all types of anglers. In 2022 to 2023 there were:

• 407 items of content published
• 126,490 user sessions

The social media channels (such as Instagram and Twitter) operated by the Angling Trust but containing Environment Agency content continued to be popular through 2022 to 2023. A minimum of 10 Environment Agency related items were posted per quarter on the main Angling Trust Facebook page, giving a:

• total reach of 1.8 million (impressions)
• total engagement of 194,577

8 regional Angling Trust pages that predominantly feature Environment Agency information grew to reach 13,010 by the year end, giving a:

• total reach of 1.3 million (impressions)
• total engagement of 63,891

24 articles were posted on the Lines on the Water blog, which were read over 100,860 times.

As part of the predation control advisory work, the Angling Trust responded to 1,002 requests for help relating to otter or fish-eating bird problems during 2022 to 2023. This included attending meetings, site visits and telephone or email contact.

The Environment Officers employed provided a focus for invasive non-native species and biosecurity advice to anglers. They responded to over 272 requests for help from fisheries, with issues ranging from giant hogweed to signal crayfish. A particular focus in the Thames area was to co-ordinate action against rivers affected by floating pennywort.

The new posts provided a focus for the ‘Anglers Against Litter’ campaign. They continued to support the Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS) by providing recycling bins for fisheries and at tackle shops for the disposal of unwanted fishing line. They also helped provide equipment and support for clubs organising litter picking days. During 2022 to 2023 they:

• responded to 155 requests for advice
• organised 24 litter picks
• gave out 50 litter picking kits (provided by Shimano)

Wild Trout Trust

We continue to enjoy a productive partnership with the Wild Trout Trust. Our joint aim is to involve people and communities in conservation. This includes enhancing the natural environment, especially our rivers, their trout and other wildlife.

We contributed £90,000 to fund advisory work and £30,000 for project costs.

In 2022 to 2023 they completed:

• 89 advisory visits and reports of recommendations for habitat improvement work
• 19 practical river improvement workshops
• 9 fisheries improvement projects
• activities that directly enhanced 168km of rivers across England

They worked with 1,110 volunteers over the year who provided 6,500 hours of support. The Wild Trout Trust generated £1.34 million co-funding (cash and in-kind). This represents a 1:11 gearing for our investment (for every £1 we gave, they brought in another £11 through match funding).

The Riverfly Partnership

The Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (ARMI) is a citizen science initiative. Volunteers are trained to do standardised monitoring of aquatic invertebrates in rivers. They do this monthly and use it to assess water quality.

The ARMI is hosted by the Freshwater Biological Association.

We provided the Riverfly Partnership £49,950 funding.

In 2022 to 2023 Riverfly volunteers:

• uploaded 4,253 survey records to ARMI database
• represented 461 active samplers
• monitored 850 sites across 355 rivers and 103 catchments
• passed on 224 trigger level alerts (indicating a possible pollution impact)
• generated £419,400 in match funding

The reason trigger level alerts rose when compared to the previous year (105 in 2021 to 2022) was probably due to the exceedingly dry summer. Drought conditions resulted in severely reduced flows that would have impacted on taking a valid sample.

5. Improvement projects

There are 2 types of projects funded directly by fishing licence income. They are:

• Angling Improvement Fund projects managed by the Angling Trust through the National Angling Strategic Services contract
• Fisheries Improvements Programme projects managed by local Environment Agency teams

Other Environment Agency projects provide benefits to fisheries. Most notably the Water Environment Improvement Fund that achieves Water Framework Directive outcomes, funded as grant in aid from central government.

In projects to improve fisheries, in total we spent:

• £1.15 million of fishing licence income
• £8.78 million from other Environment Agency sources
• £18.5 million of other funding

Angling Improvement Fund

55 projects were funded during the year. There were 2 themes:

• protection of fisheries from predation by otters and cormorants (37 projects)
• invasive non-native species control and biosecurity measures (18 projects)

The funding for Angling Improvement Fund projects came from:

• licence income – £227,823
• match funding including cash from partners, match funding grants or the ‘in kind’ time of volunteers – £408,845

See the the publication summary page for a map showing the locations of projects.

Fisheries Improvement Programme projects

198 projects were completed during the year. Working with around 187 partners, we:

• improved 52km of river
• protected a further 20km of river
• constructed a fish pass
• enhanced 237ha of stillwater fisheries - many involved the repair or construction of angler access facilities, such as platforms and easy access pathways at venues

The funding of Fisheries Improvement Programme projects came from:

• fishing licence income – £924,568
• match funding – £1,405,127

See the the publication summary page for a map showing the locations of projects.

Water Environment Improvement Fund

Projects are usually organised through catchment partnerships. Habitat improvements can benefit fish and fisheries.

Working with 750 partners, we:

• enhanced 295km of rivers
• protected 285km of rivers
• built 13 fish and eel pass improvements
• removed 11 weirs and barriers

The funding for Water Environment Improvement Fund projects was:

• £8,782,402 from Environment Agency funding (not fishing licence income)
• £16,695,666 from match funding

6. Coarse fish stocking

We run a coarse fish hatchery at Calverton near Nottingham. This is funded by fishing licence income. This rears fish to help:

• replenish stocks after an environmental incident
• kick-start the recovery of fisheries after they have recovered from long term issues, for example pollution

In 2022 to 2023 we have stocked 455,439 fish into rivers and stillwaters around the country. This was made up of the following species:

• barbel – 127,450
• bream – 56,800
• chub – 53,800
• dace – 42,777
• roach – 66,500
• crucian carp – 22,927
• tench – 25,425
• rudd – 19,760
• grayling – 40,000

These were a mixture of 1 and 2 year old fish. In addition to that figure we also stocked more than 2.4 million advanced reared fish larvae.

Although the total number of fish stocked was down from 2021 to 2022 (627,495), the fish that were stocked out in 2022 to 2023 were of a larger size than the previous year. This made them:

• more accessible to anglers
• more likely to survive the challenges faced post stocking

7. National Fisheries Laboratory

We operate a National Fisheries Laboratory, based in Brampton, Cambridgeshire, which is largely funded through fishing licence income.

The laboratory does vital work to identify, monitor and limit the impact of current and future threats to fisheries and the aquatic environment. These threats are from both fish disease and non-native fish species.

The laboratory’s work:

• is pivotal to the ongoing monitoring and surveillance of the health status of fish populations
• informs fishery management actions, advice, and regulation

The laboratory’s work involves:

• detailed mortality investigations
• health checks
• fish ageing analysis
• monitoring and surveillance
• provision of technical advice, training and support to our staff and stakeholders

In 2022 to 2023 the laboratory:

• assessed 112 fish mortality events related to potential fish disease incidents
• did 40 health checks to enable safe stocking of over half a million fish
• did full fish disease diagnostic investigations into fish kills at 34 fisheries
• provided response and expert support for the identification, monitoring, management, risk assessment and regulation of 2 new and emerging pathogens and a range of existing pathogens
• did 15 laboratory investigations to support national projects for high priority species or risks to fisheries, for example critical eel passage and protection, and emerging disease surveillance
• provided response and expert support for the identification, monitoring, management, risk assessment and regulation of 6 priority non-native fish species, 2 new and emerging pathogens and a range of existing pathogens
• analysed 3,367 sets of fish scales to determine the age structure and performance of fish populations, including over 600 scales obtained from stillwaters to inform better fishery management
• did 47 additional age surveys to inform fish disease incidents
• set up a national scale archive, holding over 25,000 migratory salmonid scales dating back to 1973, to protect historic samples for future analyses
• provided advice, training, guidance and support to internal staff and external stakeholders
• developed new and improved diagnostic techniques to detect existing and novel fish and pathogens
• responded to over 1,500 queries in support of national incidents, fishery management advice and guidance

8. National Fish Movements team

The National Fish Movements team is based in Brampton, Cambridgeshire, and is mainly funded through fishing rod licence income.

The team is a national customer-facing team responsible for the administration, processing and issue of fish movement permissions. The service is integral to the regulation of fisheries. It works to protect native fish stocks and the wider aquatic environment from adverse impacts associated with inappropriate fish introductions or removals of fish into or from the wild (excluding fish farms).

The team’s services for internal and external customers include:

• issuing fish movement permissions for the introduction and keeping of fish
• fish removal authorisations (including crayfish)
• authorisations and licences for commercial fisheries (salmon, sea trout, eel, elver, smelt and lamprey)
• supporting fisheries enforcement
• providing technical advice

The team collects fisheries exploitation data (catch returns) and publishes the annual salmonid and freshwater fisheries statistics for England and Wales.

In 2022 to 2023 the team:

• maintained 6,626 issued permits to introduce and or keep fish
• issued 737 new permits to introduce or keep fish
• issued 1,539 Section 27A authorisations to remove fish and crayfish
• issued 737 permits to introduce or keep fish
• issued 70 commercial salmon and sea trout licences
• issued 170 commercial elver authorisations
• issued 34 commercial eel authorisations
• collated and reported on 12,469 salmon and sea trout rod catch returns

9. Enforcement

We make sure anglers comply with regulations to protect fish stocks, such as during the close season.

In 2022 to 2023 we:

• checked 39,159 fishing licences
• issued 1,949 offence reports
• successfully prosecuted 265 anglers for fishing without a licence

It can take up to 6 months to bring a case to prosecution. The number of prosecutions does not necessarily reflect the number of people issued offence reports during this financial year.

The percentage of anglers who do not buy a licence and get caught by our enforcement officers is 4.83%. In total £49,493 was issued in penalties against anglers over the year. The average penalty received was £186.77.

An integral part of our enforcement activity is the Fisheries Enforcement Support Service provided by the Angling Trust. This includes the Voluntary Bailiff Service which operates across all of England with a total of 659 volunteers, as of 31 March 2023.

Voluntary bailiffs:

• did 16,598 patrols
• gave 38,351 volunteer hours on the bank
• did 137 joint patrols with the Environment Agency
• did 79 joint patrols with the police
• submitted 1,047 incident reports to the Environment Agency, Police and other agencies
• submitted 464 intelligence logs to the Environment Agency and police

41 police forces have joined Operation Leviathan and Traverse initiatives as part of the Fisheries Enforcement Support Service.

10. Incident response

We responded to 407 incidents involving dead or dying fish. These incidents included the following.

Cause	Number of incidents	Number of fish killed	Percentage of incidents	Percentage of fish killed
Pollution	30	15,113	7.37%	1.84%
Fish disease	19	1,792	4.67%	0.22%
Warm or dry weather or algae	218	763,299	53.56%	93.06%
Illegal fishing	17	86	4.18%	0.01%
Fishery management	12	691	2.95%	0.08%
Other causes	42	4,403	10.32%	0.54%
Not identified	69	34,833	16.95%	4.25%
Total	407	820,217	100%	100%

These data comprise incidents where we have:

• confirmed that fish have been killed
• observed and recorded a number of dead fish

It can be difficult to accurately estimate how many fish have died in individual incidents or even that any fish have died. That’s because some carcasses:

• may not be visible (sunk or washed away)
• may have been scavenged
• were not accessible to count

We can only provide a best estimate based on the assessment method used. Because of this, you should take the number of fish kill incidents and the total number of fish killed as minimum estimates.

It can also be difficult to attribute a fish kill to a specific cause. For example, while poor water quality or pollution may be the reason for the fish kill, this may have been triggered by prolonged dry and warm weather.

11. Monitoring

Monitoring of fish populations helps us to:

• inform our management decisions
• report on the state of the water environment

We do surveys either every year, 2 years, 3 years or 6 years. The frequency depends on why we are collecting information at the site. Not every water body is monitored for fish. We prioritise those:

• with angling interest
• considered at most risk

During 2022 to 2023 we did 1,200 fish stock surveys. This is down from the 1,521 surveys done in 2019 to 2020 as a result of high summer temperatures, meaning that a number of surveys were cancelled due to fish welfare. Numbers of surveys have risen from 2021 to 2022 (926 surveys) as the effects of COVID-19 on operational activities has now subsided.

Waterbody status for fish as indicated by these surveys and other data showed:

• 43% – good or better
• 27% – moderate
• 24% – poor
• 6% – bad

We also use our fisheries monitoring to assess the status of migratory fish stocks in our main salmon and sea trout rivers. We use a range of fish counters and rod catch data to make these assessments.

In 2022, for England’s 42 principal salmon rivers, we classified:

• 1 ‘not at risk’
• 5 ‘probably not at risk’
• 6 ‘probably at risk’
• 30 ‘at risk’

Salmon populations in England remain in a critical state. 

For England’s 44 principal sea trout rivers, we classified:

• 8 ‘not at risk’
• 9 ‘probably not at risk’
• 17 ‘probably at risk’
• 10 ‘at risk’

See the publication summary page for a map showing the status of salmon and sea trout rivers.

The declared salmon rod catch for England was 5,498 salmon, which was 15% higher than 2021 (4,769).

The declared sea trout rod catch in England was 6,537, which was 24% lower than 2021 (8,582).

If you would like to find out more:

• we provide a detailed report on the status of salmon stocks across England and Wales in the annual assessment of salmon stocks and fisheries in England and Wales 2022
• you can find information on rod catches from individual rivers in our salmonid and freshwater fisheries statistics for England and Wales 2022 report

12. Research and development

Our research and development programme helps to make sure we have a rigorous evidence base to support:

• risk-based decision making
• sustainable fisheries management

Between April 2022 and March 2023, we were engaged in various projects to address the main evidence gaps and improve our understanding of issues affecting fish populations. Where possible, we work in partnership with our partners to deliver shared research objectives more cost-effectively.

We have listed the national projects worked on by our Chief Scientist’s Group under the fisheries research and development programme. This includes projects completed in 2022 to 2023 and work still ongoing. A list of publications relating to recent and past projects is available on GOV.UK.

Strategic review of data and information on coarse fish in rivers

This detailed examination of fishery survey data from a number of rivers continued. Selected rivers include the:

• Thames
• Yorkshire Dales rivers
• 3 Fenland drain systems
• Bristol Avon
• Soar
• Wensum
• Waveney
• Suffolk Stour
• Essex Pant and Blackwater system
• Medway
• Yorkshire Ouse

Data and information from this project will be used in the reviews of our fisheries monitoring programmes.

As part of this project we are working to develop the use of the representative catchment index tool. This is for comparing and characterising river catchments in relation to fish populations.

Review of salmon stock assessment methodologies

This joint work with Cefas, Natural Resources Wales and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust continues. It is reviewing all aspects of salmon stock assessment methodology and management decision structures. This is in response to challenges to our management approaches from external stakeholders.

This process is nearing its conclusion and we hope to present the full report to important fisheries stakeholder groups in autumn 2023.

Beavers and fish

We continue to advise on proposed new research on interactions and review emerging evidence and documentation on this subject.

Use of environmental DNA (eDNA) for fish sampling

We continue to advise on the use of eDNA for various fisheries related purposes due to growing interest in the methodology and ongoing academic research.

Natural capital value of inland fisheries

We are looking in closer detail as to how specific values for angling can be incorporated into the new natural capital register and account tool.

Net Zero

We are doing a light touch scoping study on possible implications of Net Zero activities and policies on fish and fisheries.

Other research and development work

We are supporting the development of indicators for the status of fish populations in rivers for the 25 Year Environment Plan. We are also producing favourable condition status reports for selected fish species including bullhead, the lamprey species and twaite shad.

We are supporting the development of species abundance indicators for the biodiversity targets for the Environment Act, working with colleagues from Natural England and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

We have a ‘watching brief’ on a variety of other research areas relevant to fisheries, including:

• endocrine disruption in fish
• microplastics research
• climate change
• fish and eel passage and protection
• impacts of light on fish
• pink salmon