THE Environment Agency is introducing emergency measures in a bid to make sure the crucian carp doesn’t disappear from our fisheries.

The fish cross breeds readily with other carp species, a situation which as led to many anglers falsely believing they have landed huge crucians.

Now the EA is worried that there are few real crucian waters left, and they are appealing to fishery owners who beleive their water still holds true crucians to contact them straight away. The EA will then assess the water to find out if it holds crucians, brown goldfish, hybrids or a mixture.

If this study reveals, as is feared, that there are only a few waters left holding true crucians, the EA has promised to take brood fish from these venues and breed them at Calverton Fish Farm, Notts with a view to returning many real crucians back to the wild.

The news comes in a week when one angler, Dean Wedlake, is claiming to have caught a new British record brown gold fish at 7lb 9oz (no, we didn’t know there was such a record either, but apparently it stands at 5lb 9oz).

The fish, which looks like a crucian carp, came from Hawkhurst Main Lake, Kent. Venue latest, 01580 753813.