On the evening of December 5th the national news
reported on the massive tidal surge that battered the North Sea coast of the UK. In the days that followed the news reported on the human cost, damage to homes and property that is heart breaking at any time, let alone the run up to Christmas. The news also told of the damage to coastal bird reserves, the mega rich RSPB (nature Nazis) even had the cheek to ask for more money! Then there were the pictures of wide eyed baby seals, separated from their mothers in the storm. It comes as no surprise that the damage to the freshwater ecology goes unreported in the mainstream media, nobody cares about a few slimy old fish.
For the second time since the autumn the Norfolk Broads have been hit by a surge of salt water that travelled up to twenty miles inland on all of the major rivers. Tides like this should only occur every fifty years or so but we’ve had several recently. Some will point to this being more evidence of global warming, who knows? The numbers of fish killed will probably never be known but previous surges in 2007 and 2008 devastated the fish stocks in some Broadland rivers. Nature is resilient and has a way of fighting back, it has done so in the past and there is no reason to believe it can’t do so again. However if sea walls are breached and dunes eroded the next tidal surge could change parts of Broadland forever. There’s nothing we anglers can do about this except enjoy what the Norfolk Broads has to offer while we can.
A recent Broadland Pike, hopefully it won't be my last!
For the second time since the autumn the Norfolk Broads have been hit by a surge of salt water that travelled up to twenty miles inland on all of the major rivers. Tides like this should only occur every fifty years or so but we’ve had several recently. Some will point to this being more evidence of global warming, who knows? The numbers of fish killed will probably never be known but previous surges in 2007 and 2008 devastated the fish stocks in some Broadland rivers. Nature is resilient and has a way of fighting back, it has done so in the past and there is no reason to believe it can’t do so again. However if sea walls are breached and dunes eroded the next tidal surge could change parts of Broadland forever. There’s nothing we anglers can do about this except enjoy what the Norfolk Broads has to offer while we can.
A recent Broadland Pike, hopefully it won't be my last!
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