Restored fish pond aims to restock river Lune

Around £25,000 has been invested into the restoration of a pond near the Lune Aqueduct to help restock the river with fish for anglers.

The spawning pond provides a safe haven for popular fish like Dace, Bream and Gudgeon, to spawn and thrive until they are ready to re-join the river’s main river system.

Since its creation in 1999, the pond and surrounding area had fallen into disrepair and was overgrown with shrubs and vegetation.

Restoration work included strengthening the channel from the river to the pond using timber edging boards, providing a direct passage for fish to move in and out of the pond.

The water has also been deepened to enhance food sources and habitat for fish.

Environment Agency fisheries officer, John Cizdyn, said: “The River Lune is a tough place for fish to spawn.

“Many fish get washed downstream into the tidal area of the river where spawning is near impossible, this pond provides a safe refuge.

“It’s timely that this restoration work has finished now as coarse fish need to spawn during the spring close season.”

The ‘close season’ for coarse fish in rivers came into effect on March 15.

Every year, the close season prevents fishing for coarse fish for three months to give fish a chance to breed.

The Environment Agency put £10,000 of fishing licence money towards the work, with Heysham M6 road builders Costain and Lune Rivers Trust making an additional contribution of £15,000.

The work was completed by Costain, in compensation for the unavoidable impacts to the river’s bank resulting from their construction of the new Lune Bridge on the Bay Gateway.