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Support the ACA's fight to make polluters pay

By Mark Lloyd

Water pollution kills hundreds of thousands of fish each year, which has a huge impact on local economies, aquatic wildlife and not least the enjoyment of anglers. Rivers and stillwaters are also under threat from water abstraction, escaped farmed fish, weirs and flood defence works. The Anglers’ Conservation Association (ACA) is a unique organisation which fights these and other threats to water environments throughout the UK under common law and seeks financial compensation for our members when they do become reality.

We are currently fighting about 60 legal cases on behalf of our members with a value of over £2 million in compensation. Reports of these cases in the media act as a serious deterrent to would-be polluters, as they know that if we can find evidence that they have damaged our members’ waters, a writ from the ACA will land on their doormat shortly afterwards. The ACA also secures several injunctions from the courts to stop damage continuing. I f an injunction is broken, offenders can find themselves in contempt of court and can end up in jail .

The ACA fights these cases by using the common law. While the Environment Agency (EA) and other enforcement bodies use the criminal law to prosecute polluters, the fines are paid to the Treasury and are often too small to make an impact on the profits of big companies. Using common law, the ACA can seek compensation for the person or angling club for the damage caused by the pollution. Whilst criminal cases must be proved ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ (i.e. 99% certain), civil cases under common law need only be proved ‘on balance of probabilities’ (i.e. 51% certain). This means that the ACA is much more likely to win its cases. When it does, all of the money goes back to improving the affected river.

Our members’ subscriptions contribute to our famous ‘fighting fund’ which allows us to indemnify our members against any risks of losing a case – although we have only lost three cases since our formation in 1948 and have won thousands. We work very closely with the EA to follow up on its prosecutions with a civil action wherever we have members who have been affected.

In the South West of England the ACA is currently:

Acting for 2 clubs and 5 individual fishery owners on the River Brue who suffered a huge fish kill as a result of organic pollution from a farm;
Seeking compensation from contractors who were working on the River Barle and spilt concrete into the river killing many trout and juvenile salmon.

The ACA has also recently:

Won significant damages for slurry pollution on the River Tamar;
Acted for the Fowey Rivers Association for intrusion of sand;
Advised the Liskeard & District Angling Club about canoeists;
Advised the Lynher River Association about perch which escaped into their waters.

For more information about the cases we are fighting on behalf of our members, please visit our web site and click on the ‘case updates’ section, where you will find much more detail.

The ACA also fights many other causes on behalf of anglers. At the time of going to press, the ACA is celebrating the suspension of sales of cypermethrin sheep dip, something it has been calling for since 1997. The ACA performed a crucial role in securing this ban by threatening to bring a multimillion pound claim directly against the manufacturers of cypermethrin. The ACA may still pursue this claim for the severe damage that has already been caused and will continue to fight for a permanent ban.

If you care about the health of our nation’s rivers and still waters, then please join us. We have about 10,000 members, which is a tiny fraction of all anglers. If every angler supported the ACA with £20 a year (less than 40p a week), just imagine what we could do on your behalf. If you are a member of a club, find out if the club is a member; if they are, then you qualify for a reduced rate membership and the club benefits from the legal protection we offer. If you own a stretch of water, then please give us a call to discuss riparian owner membership.

You can download a membership form for all categories of membership on our web site at www.a-c-a.org or just phone us on 01568 620447 and we’ll send you a postage-paid form to complete and return to us. It’s really easy to support our difficult work.