Reaping What He Sows?

Herefordshire's (England) river Lugg is a protected Site of Special Scientific Interest. It provides rare habitats for many animals, including salmon, trout, kingfishers and otters. A farmer, with property worth £21m-£25m, decided to use bulldozers and excavators, to dredge and re-profile a 1.5 k stretch of 'his' river. The exercise removed tons of material and trashed mature trees along the river banks. He claimed he was improving waterflow (it wouldn't have any such effect). The farmer has fortunately received a 12 month prison sentence for his 'environmental vandalism' (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/farmer-jailed-for-damaging-river-lugg-herefordshire). The Environmental Agency and Natural England took the farmer to court. They often currently don't bring charges, being concerned about risking their limited finances. In addition to his prison sentence, the farmer has to pay £600,000 of prosecution costs. He will also has to finance the remediation for that stretch of the river and is banned from being a company director for 3 years. These are all sensible outcomes but a) it will take decades for the river habitats to recover and b) the money involved is 'a drop in the ocean', given the farmer's total assets.