The Mersey Rivers Trust is developing a long-term fisheries strategy for the Mersey Basin.  This is set out in the PDF document.

The strategy reflects the improving state of the River Mersey with fish starting to return to the rivers following the devasting impact on fish (and other river ecology) from the industrial revolution and urbanisation.  The strategy provides some key objectives for increasing the diversity of fish species by 2050 for the Upper Mersey, Lower Mersey, Irwell and Alt catchments.   The objectives take account of the fish species that used to live in the Mersey Basin before the industrial revolution, with the aim of restoring these native species to our rivers as far as possible. 

We are currently engaging with fishing organisations and other interested stakeholders about the strategy and welcome your views.  

We also plan to engage with fishing organisation and other stakeholders about extending the objectives to the Weaver-Gowy catchment during spring 2022.

Please contact info@merseyrivers.org if you would like more information or to provide any views or comments on the strategy.