Men Who Matter - Simon Evans at the Wye Usk Foundation

Simon Evans is great company with all the untrammelled energy of a Labrador pup. Whenever you talk to him you come away refreshed (even if a little battered) with the knowledge that there are young men in fly fishing knocking down the doors of convention and devoting themselves to the aquatic environment.

The Wye Foundation was initiated in 1995 by a group concerned by the decline in spring salmon on the Wye. Philip Parkinson, formerly of Sportfish, was a prime mover along with Stephen Marsh Smith, now at the ACA. In 2002, the Foundation was expanded to embrace the Usk and partly because of this partnership, the Foundation was able to buy off the nets that threatened the salmon runs of both rivers.

Although vitally interested in all fish species, it is perhaps salmon that drives Simon most obviously. The list of the Foundation’s successes really is admirable. For example, partly because of Simon’s huge vitality over the issue, eighty percent of Wye rod-caught salmon are now being returned. This is one of the highest levels of catch and release in the country. Just think how important this is: as Simon points out, go back a few decades and ninety percent of the salmon that entered the River Wye would be killed before reaching the spawning beds. If they weren’t caught at Monmouth, they’d be picked off at Ross or at Bredwardine, or at Hay or anywhere along that danger infested route from the sea.

And let’s say a salmon did make it to the spawning redds…chances were, in the old days, the redds wouldn’t be there! In fact, before the Foundation began its work, ninety percent of the catchment was inaccessible to migratory fish. What we have now is a hundred and sixty kilometres of tributary streams that have been opened up and made welcoming to arriving fish wanting to spawn.

Just think about this statistic for a moment. A hundred miles of streams and small rivers that were formerly clogged up, which have been cleared out, generally by hand, often in the summer heat, plagued by horseflies. Back breaking work. All for the good of Mother Nature.

Hand in hand with clearing the catchment was the drive to get on top of the acidity problems that had afflicted the upper river for decades. Simon was quick to catch on to a new system of liming – HAS. The idea is to put down lime at a measurement of sixty tonnes per hectare around the sources of the streams. Again, this is killing work – often physically lugging the stuff by hand through bogs and the heat of the summer.

But results have been stunning. Take, for example, the River Tarrenig. This hasn’t been able to support any fish life since the 1970s but by 2005 both salmon fry and parr were resident in the river in appreciable quantities.

Of course, the work of the Foundation doesn’t just benefit trout and salmon. For example, white-clawed crayfish are showing positive signs of increase in both the river systems of the Usk and the Wye. And, as a result of buying of the nets, shad runs in both rivers are ever more healthy year upon year. The coarse fish are coming back, too. Chub stocks, for example, have not been as strong for decades.

And it’s this next bit that I like above all. Simon isn’t the sort of guy to work in a vacuum. In conjunction with the marketing manager, Seth Johnson-Marshall, a true live wire, he wants the results of the Foundation’s successes to be enjoyed by all. Hence the Wye and Usk Passport Scheme. Anglers anywhere can now enjoy ever-improving wild fishing on the Wye, the Usk and their tributaries. A hundred and twenty kilometres of water are already open to day ticket anglers with huge plans for expansion in the coming couple of years. The Passport Scheme, bringing anglers to rivers they’d never even previously heard of is not only good for them but also for the riparian owners and the area as a whole. Bed and Breakfasts fill up. Hotels sell meals and pints to hungry, thirsty fishermen. But perhaps, above all, now these fisheries are worth something again. There’s money coming back and landowners are seeing the value of their waters. And if riparian owners of all levels are treating their rivers with respect again, then there’s a real chance for the future.

And Simon is always looking ahead. There are still acidity problems to be tackled. The River Lugy needs to be cleared. Pollution issues in the middle and lower Wye have to be looked into. As Simon says, “Our mission is to put ourselves out of business. Once these two rivers are up, running and being looked after, then we’ll not be needed.” And what then, I wonder? “Well, we’ll simply be off to work on the next disaster area until every river in the land runs pure again.”

You can’t say fairer than that!