ABOUT US
A combined passion and enthusiasm for fisheries management led to the creation of VS Fisheries in 2005, when Viv Shears and Simon Scott embarked on their carp farming business.
The following year, the pair joined forces with Sussex farmers, the Chandlers, and the business moved to its existing premises. The farm has continued to grow steadily over the years and is now one of the largest CEFAS authorised carp farms in the UK producing all of its own fish on site.
The Directors
Viv Shears
A life of fish began as a youngster being brought up in the wilds of Somerset that saw him collecting bullheads and minnows from the local streams for tanks back on the family small holding. Angling with rod and line became his passion from the age of 11 and within a few years he was fishing matches both locally and at a national junior level. A head for science saw him embark on his A levels and then he found about fish courses at Sparsholt and the future was set!
After graduating from Sparsholt College in 1995 Viv worked for the local EA on the Hampshire Salmon Project and then returned to Sparsholt as a Fisheries Technician. In 1999 he moved into full time fisheries management as Fisheries Manager at RMC Angling, the UKs largest portfolio of lakes, where he created and stocked many well-known fisheries during his five years in the role. In 2004, he returned to Sparsholt where he lectured for 11 years on fisheries management, practical fisheries construction and fish farming. During his 30 plus years in fisheries work, he has carried out numerous consultancy projects with customers across the UK and Europe, where he advises on all aspects of fisheries development and management. Having managed numerous fisheries his understanding of practical fishery development, means he can advise customers on realistic stocking plans utilising his sound current technical knowledge, to achieve clients’ goals.
Viv continues to be actively involved in fisheries training through lecturing to various groups, including the hugely successful Colne Valley Angling and Conservation Course, that trained over 50 plus volunteer angling club members. He is also co-founder of the Anglers National Line Recycling Scheme (ANLRS) that has recycled waste line and plastics from the angling sector since 2018, and in 2023 he became a trustee of ReAP UK, which is a charity that recovers and recycles aquatic plastics from our waterways and coast lines. In 2025 he was invited to become a committee member and fisheries advisor to the Colne Valley Fisheries and Conservation group which he was honoured to accept.
As a life-long angler, Viv can be found fishing for a huge variety of fish species from crucians in Surrey, Bass and Blue Fin Tuna along the South Coast, to monster halibut in the fjords of Northern Norway. For him, variety has certainly become the spice of life in terms of his angling....... and of course carp farming!
Simon Scott
As a very small boy Simon was completely fascinated by water, spending many hours newt and tadpole hunting around an overgrown garden pond! These adventures would frequently result in jars full of desperate amphibians and a little boy covered head to toe in black silt.. not much has changed!
Shortly after his seventh birthday armed with a new fishing rod and a bag of maggots Simon was taken by his father on his first fishing trip. One silvery rudd later and a lifelong passion for fishing was born.
Having successfully graduated from Sparsholt College Simon moved to the University of Plymouth to undertake a Master of Science Degree in Applied Fish Biology.
After working in fisheries consultancy Simon headed back to Sparsholt College as a lecturer within the Fisheries Department, a post he held for 20 years. During his time at Sparsholt he was involved in many fascinating projects, including netting many of the country’s top fisheries and spawning large numbers of carp from sources as varied as Redmire Pool, North Harrow Waltonians and Sutton-at-Hone.
Simon who remains a mad keen carp angler is retained as a consultant by Korda, the Essex based tackle giants and by Baitworks, the Cotswold bait manufacturer. Additionally over the last decade he has presented and co-presented a number of television shows including Thinking Tackle, Carp Crew and Predators, amongst others. Simon continues to work as a fishery consultant and manages several private ponds.
Richard Chandler
Producing fish on the farm all started when Richard reinstated some dilapidated ponds back in 1998 as his millennium project to improve the aquatic habitat and biodiversity on the farm. A small series of ponds was created over the next few years and once teamed up with Viv and Simon the expansion of the farm progressed rapidly.
Richard has a passion for creating beautiful ponds and using his extensive knowledge of the hydrology within the soil, he has made very good use of unproductive farmland turning it into a stunning fish farm location and hugely benefitting the natural environment. His knowledge of traditional livestock husbandry is put to great effect daily and his continued drive to expand our waters has been key to the growth of the business over the last 2 decades.
Meet the Team
We are very fortunate to have a great team of 4 full time staff plus an Office Manager here at VS Fisheries. During the harvest we are also joined by a couple of seasonal staff that lend a helping hand when moving and grading tonnes of carp in a day.
Will Newman
Will achieved his Extended National Diploma in 2019 from Sparsholt and spent his summers working at Hampshire Carp Hatcheries and then with us for the winter harvest. Will joined the team on a full time basis in 2022. Whilst not on the farm he enjoys some carp fishing, a few rounds of golf and following his home team Portsmouth FC.
Toby Moore
Toby first helped us out during his days off whilst studying at Sparsholt in late 2022. Once he graduated from the Extended National Diploma course, he joined us in the middle of 2023 full time. Fishing wise Toby enjoys time chasing for various species but has a love of predators in particular!
Luke Hughes
We had known Luke for a number of years as he was involved on the local shoot and knew he was looking for a career change in 2024. Whilst Luke isn't our typical fisheries graduate he is a superb stockman and has learnt a huge amount since he started with us in October 2024.
Jacob Groom
We first met Jacob when he was a youngster when we stocked his fathers new venue down in East Sussex. Some 15 years later Jacob has studied fish farming and fisheries management achieving a honours degree in 2024. After a summer working on a trout farm in Dorset he joined the team here in late 2024. When he gets the rods out Jacob normally chases carp and wants to catch a 40lb plus off the surface.
Natalie Ayling
Nat joined us in the summer as Office Manager and deals with the accounts, admin and HR side of life here at VS. She is coming to terms with all the jargon and loves the fast pace of the work especially when in the throws of harvest!
