Plenty of fish in another sea: why the fish had to go from Burgh Heath Pond.

It was rather a stunning sight seeing a mass of carp and other big fish being pulled in by net to be relocated. On 24th March 2004 a group of professionals employed by the Reigate & Banstead Council moved the fish out of Burgh Heath Pond.

Why do this? A number of people have raised concerns about animal cruelty, effect upon the environment and disturbing the balance of nature at this beauty spot by removing the fish.

Here is why: during the whole of last summer and much of Autumn the residents of The Green lived the same nightmare day and night seven days a week and come rain or shine. Since word had got around among the amateur angling community that carp had been spotted in the Pond scores of thoughtless fishermen turned up besieging the land around the Pond.

The lone Sunday fisherman was replaced by at times as many as thirty anglers vying for the best spot. Then the tents were set up around the pond. Camp fires were built scorching wooden benches and the grass verges. Holes were dug for barbecue pits.

Gradually the Pond which had been a designated area of conservation because of the presence of rare species of flora and fauna became a dumping ground for fishermen's empty beer cans, plastic bags, discarded fishing tackle and worst of all their excrement and urine within a stone's throw of people's homes. In the space of a few months erosion that would normally take years caused banks to give way under the anglers. The rat population exploded. Instead of dawn dew, urine and used toilet tissue hung from the grass beneath the trees on the water's edge. Parents and their young daughters turned away appalled by the sight of men exposing themselves in broad daylight to urinate without moving an inch from their fishing spots.

Young families who used to come for walks and respite by the edge of the Pond, old ladies who took their promenade with their dogs, school children who came for their projects were driven away to make way for the rowdy anglers barking into their mobile phones at all hours, urinating at the doorsteps of 90 year old residents, the din of electronic baits that rang through the night and anglers screaming filth at residents and other visitors. The wildfowl were strangled or injured by fishing lines and hooks.

Mothers with their toddlers who once came to throw bread to the ducks were too frightened to approach the edge of the water for fear of injury by the swinging fish hooks in the hands of reckless amateurs.

Now the carp and other big fish have gone, so have the loutish bullies. The wild fowl are happy that they can roost and waddle about without fear of serious injury or death. Residents and other visitors to the Pond have recovered a place of tranquil beauty where the only noise and scuffles are the flapping of goose wings and moorhen and ducks vying for the best piece of bread being thrown at them by an elderly visitor.

If anyone says that not all fishermen are like this, we would agree. Unfortunately the vast majority of those who besieged the Pond last year were this bad, and worse.

 When the loud disruptive individuals were politely asked to reduce the noise so that shift working residents could get some sleep or were asked not to urinate within five yards of their front doors, the response was either too rude to print or what one middle aged angler gracefully did, was to urinate into a bottle he had been drinking from in front of our very eyes and to leave that as a reminder of his presence. Is that how anglers mark their territory these days? Discarded fishing tackle still hang from a willow tree like a bright orange flag reminding us of the days when we felt too intimidated to step outside our front doors.

If any one is concerned about how inhumane it was to stun the fish they should be reassured that the vast majority of the fish were removed by carefully placed and drawn nets. Moreover the stunning was temporary in effect and did not kill or cause serious harm to the fish whilst being removed and moved. The fish now live happily elsewhere, where hopefully their mouths will not be ripped apart by inexpert fishermen fishing them out, over and over again, killing them slowly with their hooks.

The carp and most of the other fish that left were not indigenous to this pond. The balance of nature that has at last returned can be seen by the resident heron that has now returned to do a little fishing of his own. May the nationally protected crested newts that make this Pond a very special one for Conservationists proliferate without being trodden on by fishermen's boots. May the school children return for their projects and old ladies go for their Sunday walk around the Pond. May we the residents finally get some sleep?

D. Roelens.