A bitter war over the right-of-access to one of Britain's finest fishing waters has broken out between anglers and paddle-boarders.
The River Avon, which runs through the historic harbour town of Christchurch in Dorset, has become the scene of a territorial dispute between the two groups.
Anglers have positioned a punt boat beneath a bridge as they block the way to kayakers and paddle boarders, who the anglers claim are trespassing onto a private fishery. They accused the paddlers of ruining a day's fishing with up to 150 'disturbances' a day.
The paddle-boarders, however, insist the river has been used for centuries as a right of passage.
A bitter war over the right-of-access to the River Avon, which runs through the historic harbour town of Christchurch in Dorset, has become the scene of a territorial dispute between anglers and paddlers. Pictured: a stand-up paddleboarder passes two fishermen during calmer times on the river
Much like the rest of the country, the number of kayaks and Stand Up Paddleboards (SUPs) has dramatically increased on the river over the past year due to the number of people taking up the hobbies during the pandemic.
That has led to frequent clashes beneath the bridge that spans the river close to the town’s Norman castle and the site of the Royalty Fishery.
It is claimed both parties resort to hurling foul and abusive language at each other.
One fisherman is said to have deliberately caused a woman to be thrown off her board while others have reported being recorded on smartphones.
On the other side, anglers have complained of having stones thrown at them from paddlers stood on the bridge above the river.
The paddlers’ case was recently boosted when the local council rejected planning permission for a sign in the river which stated 'unauthorised crafts had no right of access'.
Amy Bower, who works at the SUP Store which sells and hires out paddle boards, described their ongoing 'rivalry' with the anglers.
She said: 'They get quite annoyed with anyone using the river because they pay a lot of money to fish there.
'But it’s not their river - we have as much right to use it as anyone else. This is such a beautiful part of the country and it should be for everyone to enjoy.
'On a busy Saturday we’ll get a lot of customers who come back very upset. The other day, one woman complained because her little girl ended up crying by all the shouting.
'One of the ladies I teach said a fisherman yanked the chain anchoring the punt boat to the river as she tried to get past.
'She fell off her paddle board and the guy kept shouting at her.
'Now we always tell our customers to watch out for the fishermen because of how aggressive they’ve been.
'We tend to avoid them. It can be very stressful.'
One 34-year-old woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said she felt intimidated by two fishermen silently filming her on her paddle board.
She said: 'Me and my housemate, who has a
