ANGLERS claim they could legally fish from a boat on the River Severn in the middle of Worcester's swan sanctuary.

The fishermen, led by brothers Neil and Dilip Sarkar, have failed to get the swan sanctuary reduced to allow them to fish in the area to the north of the bridge.

But they believe they could fish from a boat, provided it is not tethered to the bank, as there is no bylaw banning fishing on that stretch of river.

"Our advice is that if we fish from a boat, the riverbank landowner's permission is not required," said Dilip, from Kingfisher Close, St Peter's.

"There is nothing anyone can do to stop us fishing from a boat, providing the boat is licensed and the anglers concerned possess rod licences."

He has put this claim to the city council's head of community services Alan Stuttard, who has promised to investigate further, although he believes the owners of the river bank own fishing rights to the centre of the river.

"Mr Sarkar has a view, but Worcester anglers and other river users agreed to the swan sanctuary 12 years ago and it has worked very well," said Mr Stuttard.

"The reality is that Worcester had four swans originally and now it has a beautiful flock."

He has promised to check that there are no historic rights for fishing from boats, but said this could take some time, as it would involve the legal department in searching through old records.