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Surfing around yesterday I came across a PDF produced by the Mitcham Common "Conservators"

The following are two passages regarding the 2008 de-silting and fish murdering works at the Seven Island Pond and proposals to do the same at One Island this year and their attitude to angling.

The 2008 incident resulted in local anglers and passers-by rescueing hundreds of fish dredged up onto the banks to die and be eaten by gulls and moving them to the Wandle; not legal I know but better to have saved them than let them die?

"Policy 34: Pond De-silting
Larger ponds will be de-silted as and when necessary.
The depth of silt in the larger of the Common’s ponds is regularly
monitored. Silt is an important component of a waterbody’s ecosystem.
However, excessive amounts reduce the available open water habitat and
in time would lead to the pond turning into a marsh and ultimately a
terrestrial habitat. In addition, Seven Islands Pond has a large and rapidly
spreading stand of bogbean which will need to be reduced in size during
the lifetime of this management plan. Before any future de-silting work, the
pond in question will be surveyed and a method statement detailing the
most appropriate and least damaging way in which to undertake the work
will be produced. It should be noted that de-silting operations invariably
release nutrients into the water that were previously ‘locked-up’ in the silt.
When this happens algal blooms often occur and these will be controlled
by placing straw in the waterbody. In 2008 Seven Islands Pond was
desilted and the islands re-profiled.
Sub-Site Habitat Parcel Timing of work
Seven Islands Pond Seven Islands Pond Late Summer/Autumn 2008
One Island Pond Late Summer/Autumn 2010
Bidder’s Pond Bidder’s Pond Late Summer/Autumn 2011
PDF created
Policy 37: Angling
Angling will be permitted in Seven Islands Pond and One Island
Pond, but if angling pressure has a detrimental impact on the pond’s
ecology and/or amenity value, fish stocks will be reduced. In all of
the Common’s other ponds fish stocks will not be allowed to
develop.
In the past angling pressure on the Common’s two largest waterbodies
harmed wildlife and the visual appearance of these two valued features.
Discarded tackle, littering, over-fishing, bait digging, tree damage,
overnight camping and other anti-social behaviour occurred on an almost
daily basis during the spring and summer months. In the late 1980s the
Conservators held discussions with representatives from the local and
regional fishing fraternity with the aim of regulating the angling on the
Common. These discussions failed to come up with a solution and so the
decision was taken to periodically de-stock the ponds. Although there are
still damaging incidents, in general this policy has worked well and there
has been a marked improvement in the situation since it was first
implemented. As part of the desilting works, fish were removed from
Seven Islands Pond in 2008. Bidder’s Pond is too shallow to support fish
and in 2009 as part of a pond cleaning task all fish were removed.

_________________
John

Just received a reply to an email I sent to the Conservators contact address:

Dear John

I can confirm that if the Mitcham Common Conservators decide to remove fish from either Seven Islands or One Island Pond they will employ a fish removal contractor taken from a list provided by the Environment Agency.

Martin Boyle
Warden of Mitcham Common

-----Original Message-----
Sent: 01 September 2010 15:24
To: Mitcham Commoninfo
Subject: One Island Pond de-silting works
I’ve read on the Mitcham Common web-site about the One Island Pond de-silting works, proposed for summer/autumn 2010 and was interested to know if the fish population would be removed and if so, re-located.

My interest is because when the Seven Island Pond was de-silted in 2008, fish were left on the banks by the machines removing the silt and had to be rescued by local people, many being moved to the nearby River Wandle.

Regards,
John Whittington


Sounds good, but I imagine that's what they did last time...

No, they didn't do that last time. Or rather, if they did, the conservators themselves had to finish off a bad job. I spoke to someone who was the only person there netting fish with a landing net, who told me he was a conservator..............the 'owners' of the common for legal purposes.

And yes the fish were piled up on the banks.

Hi Pete, I heard about the problems at the 7 Islands on the web; although people moving the fish to the wandle isn't legal, I thought it better than chucking them up the bank. I'd be interested to see what happens this time.

If anybody knows when it's happening or sees it start, it would be good to put it up on here so others can help out in some way?

hi every one my fist post on the forum
i went over one island while they was desilting it and spoke to the two fellas doing the work .I asked what had happened to the fish "had they been removed or not" they said no and that there was no fish in there ?. then i went over there a few weeks later to have a look how it was doing where i found 3 dead pike 2 tench and plenty more in the water all of a decent size ,

Hi Marty, How long ago was it you saw the fish? I predicted this would happen...

hi john was just after christmas few fish on the banks and others in the water