Fishing rights - who owns a river?

[surlymonkey]

I'm hoping to get into fishing soon, but have been stumped on one thing...

How do I find out who owns a part of a river?

Tony.

[pumpy]

Hi Tony, i guess it is normally down to the environment agency, tho' Anglian Water may well have a say if they abstract from it. Is it the Thet or the Ouse? You would need to know in order to find out. Good luck from East Harling!

[MKG]

Who owns part of a river, as far as this question is concerned, isn't relevant (at least, not necessarily) - it's who owns the fishing rights, which is an altogether different thing. Search around for your nearest angling association. They'll know the ins and outs of licensing for every water within miles of you.

Mike

[boboff]

In Tidal Rivers, as long as you have a licence you can fish from a boat, but not from the Bank unless you own the Bank, or have permission from whoever owns the river. If it's not tidal then this does not apply, and as Mike says it's who owns the fishing rights that is important.
Sea Fishing from the beach or rocks is therefore allot more accessible for us Plebs.

I live on a River, which is Tidal, and the local fishing club, full of Toffs etc, once actually bought the house I live in, just to sell it again without the Bank. The history of the club is all tyed up with the Duke of Bedford Estate, and is now run by ex Army Majors and other Masons. It really annoys me they trim the banks on the other side of the river, but give me big time stress if I trim it on my side, there only reason for this is most of them are right handed and therefore prefer to fish from the other river bank!

[surlymonkey]

I rang the Enviroment Agency, 03708 506 506** (Mon-Fri, 8am - 6pm), and the local fisheries officer mentioned getting in contact with either the local council/parish, angling club. Also mentioned getting in touch with the land owner; I suspect you visit the Land Registry for the info.

I would've thought there would be a giant UK fishing database with all this info!

Cheers for all the input!

[plumbers]

most of the time, the fishing rights are owned by the local council/organization