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It’s possible that the area where you fish is managed specifically for river conservation, but a quick google of “angling conservation uk” reveals that in general angling isn’t the unalloyed conservation good that your post might imply.
ewanmac-
You know what, I tend to agree with that analysis, the overstocking of carp at the expense of all other species and the artificial feeding of the stocked (fashionable and profitable, but unnatural) biomass has plenty to answer for.
I think that someone should create a for/against fishing thread and leave the memes thread for, well, memes. I won't pollute it further with any answers.
ColinTheBald
On our bit of trout stream some wild fish are caught and stripped of eggs and milt, the resulting fry are raised in a hatchery, vastly improving the chances of the fry reaching maturity. The donors are released.
If our waterways were left to the Environment Agency, most would resemble barren canals for surface run-off, water meadows would pretty much cease to exist.
Left to the water companies anything upstream of a sewage works would be abstracted and flow levels vastly reduced. Anything downstream would be a slow running sewer.
Left to the general public, every bankside would be knee deep in rubbish and the water would enjoy even more shopping trollies (and bikes). You should see the amount of crap cleared by working parties of fishermen.
Fishermen are about the only people who give a damn about fish and, therefore, the biodiversity which supports them.