SOUTHAMPTON'S sea anglers will be left with nowhere to fish if a major port development goes ahead at Dibden Bay, one of the area's leading fishermen has warned.

Shirley Sea Angling Club's chairman Bob Patterson was speaking after giving evidence to the inquiry into plans for the huge new container terminal between Hythe and Marchwood.

On behalf of Southampton's 25 clubs, he warned against the potential damage to the area's bass population and the loss of shore fishing and bait digging grounds.

He also warned of the potential danger for fishermen who would have to cross a narrower channel in small boats.

He told inquiry chairman Michael Hurley: "The whole of Southampton Water is a bass nursery area from May 1 to October 31.

"This development would destroy a large part of this nursery," he warned.

The bay itself was an important sheltered area where people could fish in relative safety from their boats.

It was also one of the best stretches of coastline in the south for people fishing from the shore, he told the inquiry.

He also spoke of the potential danger which would be caused by the narrowing of the channel when the new dock was created.

There were warnings, too, that the jewels in the crown of commercial fishing in Southampton Water and the Solent could also be severely damaged.

As well as hearing that those jewels - precious oyster beds near the area where Southampton Water joins the Solent - could be tarnished, the inquiry also heard of potential damage to other marine life.

The proposals by Southampton dock operator Associated British Ports to build the terminal include vast amounts of dredging to accommodate some of the world's biggest container ships.

The sediment which drifts into the water from that dredging could cause severe damage to the productive beds at Chilling, Calshot and Stanswood Bay, oyster distributor and fisherman Robbie Russell told the inquiry in Southampton's Eastern Docks.

He also cited damage done to shellfish populations in Southampton Water when a dredging operation went wrong and the sea bed was smothered with sediment.

The Southern Sea Fisheries District's chief fishery officer, Ian Carrier, also warned of potential damage.

This could be not only to the oysters but also to important breeding grounds for bass, one of the sea's most valuable fish

He also questioned the confidence in ABP's marine impact evaluations which stated that nothing would go wrong.

"We are concerned that there are considerable potential risks.

"We therefore consider that a much wider risk analysis needs to be carried out and that this must then establish clear guidelines as to what will happen if things do go wrong," he said.

Similar fears were voiced by Mrs Gillian Mills, secretary of the Stanswood Bay Oystermen's Association, which fishes a large area of oysters off Calshot and Lepe.

She disputed claims in an earlier document that oysters can stand being buried by sediment.

"That is not the case.

"It has an adverse effect on both spat (the spawn from which oysters grow) and juveniles by smothering and the silting of gills in adults which, if not limited, can result in death," she said.

She and Mr Carrier also expressed deep reservations over the dumping of dredged material on marshland between Hythe and Fawley Refinery.