What is Fish In Need?

Fish in Need (FIN) is a new conservation and education charity established by a group of fish lovers in 2021. Our aim is to revive, rescue and restore fish populations across the UK by supporting initiatives to restock freshwater fish, to improve their habitats, and provide public education about how to preserve freshwater fish populations and the ecosystems they inhabit. The founding team includes renowned angling expert and author John Bailey, actor and comedian Paul Whitehouse, ex-chairman of Farlow’s Richard Hewitt, ex-City lawyer Simon Clark, and Dr Mark Everard, a passionate naturalist and renowned authority on sustainability.

Our Charitable Objectives:

1) To conserve the freshwater aquatic environment for the benefit of the public, in particular, but not exclusively, by making grants to conserve and protect freshwater fish populations of United Kingdom origin and the environments and ecosystems necessary for them to thrive.

2) To advance the education of the public in the conservation of the freshwater aquatic environment, the relationship between freshwater fish and wider biodiversity and knowledge of the freshwater aquatic environment, including water safety.

How will we do this?

We will provide financial support to projects in the form of grants, as well as sharing our expertise and helping with publicity.

Applications from both coarse and game fishing initiatives will be welcomed although we currently see more to do on the coarse fishing side. We want to operate in a style which is supportive, transparent, inclusive, common sense, non-bureaucratic and with minimal overhead. Because a core aim is to support action rather than just aspiration, we’re looking for initiatives which have started (or are shovel ready).

We want to make the process of application as painless as possible, recognising that many will be from small initiatives.

Decisions will take into account matters such as value for money, likely impact/deliverability over the short, medium and long term, sustainability (in both senses of the word), scientific credibility and public benefit. Please see our ‘Funding‘ page for how to apply.