[Lords and Ladies]

I'm curious whether there are any laws governing what aquatic plants can be sold in the UK? Does anyone know more about this?

I'm only recently learning about the problems caused by invasive aquatic plants and I'm slightly stunned.

I have a small outdoor pond and keep a few tropical fish. Over the years I have purchased canadian pondweed, parrotfeather, a non-native pennywort, azolla (not purchased but obtained). So my list of aquatic plants reads like a Who's Who of the destructive and invasive plants, it also reads like the top ten of what aquatic plants are sold. (I think I've got rid of azolla from my pond but it wasn't easy.)

Maybe I'm missing something, it seems so easy to legislate on this and publish a list of prohibited aquatic plants. Most garden centres and aquarists would stop selling them and if they didn't at least I'd have something to wave under their noses. I thought the EU was for exactly this kind of thing if our government isn't interested. Are water authorities asking for this?

I'd welcome your thoughts.

I'm not a tub-thumping environmentalist but the more I think about this subject, the more it annoys me.