SEVERN fisherman Nigel Mott is set to challenge the Environment Agency over a ruling he should take no more than 30 salmon a season from his putcher rank at Woolaston.

The 30 fish limit has been applied to all the Severn putcher fisheries. Lave net fishermen have been restricted to just five salmon each.

The ruling came into force this season. It is designed to enable more salmon to reach the River Wye's spawning beds.

In tandem with the Severn restrictions a byelaw was introduced last week making it mandatory for rod and line fishermen on the Wye to release all the salmon they catch. Results will be reviewed annually with a full review midway through a 10 year restriction.

The Agency say they have scientific evidence that many of the fish taken in the Severn are, in fact, heading for the Wye. Under new powers contained in the Marine Bill and to comply with regulations contained in a European Habitats Directive the Agency say they have no option but to implement catch restrictions.

Mr Mott, the Severn's last remaining commercial fisherman, describes the ruling as "a stick to beat us with" and claims the Agency's evidence is seriously flawed. He describes the Severn's stock of salmon as "quite healthy"and says the ruling completely removes his livelhood without any compensation.

In a remarkable turn of events Mr Mott contacted the Agency when he caught his 31st salmon and invited newspapers and a television crew to the river bank to witness events as the fish was confiscated by enforcement officers. That day he caught a further two fish both of which were also confiscated.

Having received an assurance he would be prosecuted for breaching his licence conditions Mr Mott then began to remove his putchers.

He has been told to meet with Agency staff this week for a recorded interview and expects to appear in court in September.

A full-time fisherman for 37 years, Mr Mott says that during that period there have been two significant changes affecting fisheries - the growth in fish farms and their failure to control the damaging impact of lice, and the removal of fisheries legislation from local to national level. He said he believed Severn stocks to be quite healthy.

Mr Mott added: "I am looking forward to my day in court and to closely examining the Agency's scientific evidence."

Members of the Severn Estuary Netsmen's Association will meet in Newnham next week to discuss their next move.

Vice chairman Peter Kavanagh said members had been engaged in hours of talks in the hope of reaching a compromise with the Agency. "I'm afraid to say things look very bleak and we may now have to consider other options including a judicial review," he said.