About Our Members

Formed over 60 years ago the FPWDFA strive to uphold the Environment Agency’s (EA) statutory duty “to maintain, improve and develop salmon, trout, eel and freshwater fisheries”. We do this in partnership with many other organisations and of course on behalf of our own membership, made up of fishery owners, farmers, tenants and fishermen, as well as some local businesses. 

We are an entirely voluntary organisation, the members all sharing a deep love of and concern for our rivers, the riparian habitat more widely and their fish stock inhabitants.  Over the decades we have worked closely in partnership with the old Water Authority, The National Rivers Authority and now currently with the EA and Natural England (NE).

Our past successes include the establishment of a water abstraction regime in the Piddle catchment which protected the delicate chalk stream habitat from highly damaging low flow/no flow events caused by over abstraction of water from the chalk. This took 22 years to achieve since the water needs of the populations of Dorset and Somerset had to be balanced with our concern for river flows.

More recently we have worked closely with the EA and raised tens of thousands of pounds to assist them with their efforts to remove old weirs, barriers and other structures blocking the free passage of salmon, sea trout, and brown trout to and from their spawning and nursery areas.
Twenty five years ago very few migratory fish could ascend the river beyond Dorchester. However, as the result of barrier removal and fish pass building projects (a total investment in the region of a million pounds) salmon and sea trout now reach beyond Maiden Newton with no difficulty.

Grayling, previously only found below Dorchester, have now colonised the Upper Frome and tributaries. These are triumphs that have taken a huge effort to achieve.

In the early 1990s our late Chairman, Richard Slocock,  co–founded the Wild Trout Trust (WTT) which is now a well know national charity. The WTT has developed various river habitat improvement techniques, which we are delighted the EA have adopted and put into practice in our Dorset Rivers with the aim of improving the in-river habitat for all stages of the life cycles of fish species.

Our successes include the establishment of a water abstraction regime in the Piddle catchment which protected the delicate chalk stream habitat from highly damaging low flow/no flow events caused by over abstraction of water from the chalk. This took 22 years to achieve since the water needs of the populations of Dorset and Somerset had to be balanced with our concern for river flows.

As an active and effective pressure group, we strive to ensure that the water quality of our precious chalk streams is maintained through interaction with those whose responsibility it is to protect our rivers, the “golden threads” that are the very lifeblood of the beautiful countryside that they run through, and the very source of the natural world that we are lucky enough to call home.