Thames eels may become extinct says angling author

EELS in the River Thames are in danger of becoming extinct, says an expert.

Dr David Solomon, a retired freshwater ecologist, said the most likely cause was climate change, not over-fishing.

He was speaking as he launched his latest book, which charts the history of fish and fisheries on the famous river.

Dr Solomon, an experienced angler, said: “Most anglers put back the fish they catch so I don’t think the Thames has an overfishing problem.

“But eels are becoming very scarce. There has been a 90 per cent decline, which could have been caused by global warming. They are now in danger of becoming extinct in the Thames.

“Eels are an important part of the eco system and things will change without them. It’s a great loss, something we will never get back.

“They had a major role in the Thames fisheries. There were many eels traps and mills paid their rents in eels to their landlords, so they were very important.

“I wish we knew why they are disappearing — adults spawn in the Sargasso Sea in the Caribbean and the larvae migrate towards European shores following the Gulf Stream current and something is going very wrong in the cycle.

 “It’s not just a problem in the River Thames but also in the Mediterranean and in European rivers.

“We don’t know why and where in the cycle things are going wrong, it could be because of changes in the ocean currents or because of parasites. There is a lot of research going on to find out more because eels are very valuable.”

His book, A History of Fish and Fisheries of the River Thames, is his third and describes the development of fish stocks and fisheries of the Thames for food and for sport.

Dr Solomon, 74, who lives in The Street, Ewelme, with his wife Yvonne, worked for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and as a fishery consultant.

He said: “I have done a lot of work on the Thames in the past and had a lot of information on it, which I found really interesting and wanted to share and I thought it was worth it. I’m hoping it will be of interest to historians as well as local people.”

The book is illustrated with old engravings and photographs and contains anecdotes and stories from the Anglo-Saxons to the present day.

These include the number and price of each species of local freshwater fish used to feed Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, in the days leading up to his execution in Oxford in 1556.

Dr Solomon also writes about the years of efforts to re-introduce salmon to the river.

There is also the story of a Henley man who caught more than 800 Thames trout over 3lb during his lifetime.

Dr Solomon spent 20 years gathering information for the book and the last eight writing it.

“I kept going back to it but with lockdown I had more time to focus on it,” he said.

“It was in danger of never being finished as I kept finding more and more information I wanted to include — there are so many stories to be added but you need to stop somewhere.

“The book is not really a guide on how to fish — there are too many books already telling you how to do that — it’s about the fish themselves, the fisheries and their history.”

Dr Solomon started fishing when he was eight years old.

He said: “I always found water and the river fascinating. I caught my first fish, a gudgeon, with the help of my father, when I was eight.”

In six decades, he has been fishing in Scotland, Alaska, Russia, Tierra del Fuego and the Caribbean.

“I’ve been fishing in many locations around the world but obviously much less in the past year-and-a-half because of the pandemic,” he said.

“I entered a few fishing competitions in the past but I wasn’t very good so I just do it for my own enjoyment.”

His biggest catch was a 181lb halibut that he caught in Alaska. The halibut is the world’s largest flat fish and can weigh up to 515lb each.

Dr Solomon said: “That was definitely my biggest catch but when I was fishing in Russia I caught seven salmon in a day, which is quite good.

“After retiring, I started writing about my experiences and the history of fishing locally. I’ve always enjoyed it. My job involved a lot of report writing but it has definitely become a passion now.”

Dr Solomon now splits his time between writing and fishing with his six grandchildren.

He said: “The older ones, who are aged between five and seven, are really interested in it as long as it’s fun and as long as they catch something. Young people can be very impatient but they will learn.”

His first book was about the history of the River Exe in the South-West and was published in 2013.

Last year, he published a book about Ewelme Brook, describing the stream and its place in the hydrogeology, landscape, history, rural economy and ecology of its catchment.

Dr Solomon said: “I gathered a lot of information on the brook, which is so important for the village and the main reason Ewelme exists. It’s woven into the history of the village.”

The proceeds from sales of the book were split between Ewelme village store, the Friends of Ewelme Watercress Beds, the Ewelme Society and the Bensington Society.

• A History of Fish and Fisheries of the River Thames is published by Fluvial Books and is available from Richard Way’s bookshop in Friday Street, Henley.