Tackle

The Avon Roach Project  2009                                                                     

The roach has played a huge role in the history of the Hampshire Avon.  The chance of a 2lb or indeed a 3lb specimen has drawn anglers from far and wide to cast a line in an attempt to emulate their boyhood heroes. Famous names such as F.W.K. Wallis, L.A. Parker, Dick Walker, Bernard Venables and Peter Stone had all, at some point in their lives, watched a float glide between the ranunculus beds, and through the likely looking lair of an Avon Redfin.

                                                                                                  
We, as a species, find it difficult to cross over or indeed pass by a watercourse without feeling the urge to stare into the depths; the hunter gatherer instinct within us all too strong to allow it. For the roach fisher that urge is tenfold. He is beset by a desire not just to see and watch, but to hold and feel.To join them in their watery world and ultimately to have them join him in his, where at vivid close hand he can admire their brilliance of colour and perfection of form. 

                                                                                                     
But, what happens when what we expect to see is no longer there?  What happens when those familiar shapes are no longer apparent and ones float has completed its journey down stream and back again for the umpteenth time to no avail?  What do we do when the sense of despair at their absence fades and the decay of acceptance creeps in?

The sad fact is that the indifferent attitude, with which angling is blighted, causes most of us to seek pastures anew. To turn our backs on those much loved rivers, swims and fishes and go elsewhere in pursuit of what those former haunts lacked.The problem is that sooner or later, that somewhere else will no longer exist and we shall all be consigned to the landfill sites we call carp puddles.

So when the 2005 Environment Agency fish stock survey of the Hampshire Avon showed a paucity of roach in her middle reaches, it planted a seed of determination in the fertile minds of two anglers. Like many of their brethren they too hankered over the rivers nostalgic past. However, unlike the others, they were unwilling to accept defeat quite so easily and The Avon Roach Project came to be.                            

                          
Please read our story so far at www.avonroachproject.co.uk

  ****** Thursday 24 September 2009 ********

                                                                                                                     
 Angling Trust and WWF launch campaign to protect rivers under threat

In response to Tuesday’s report from the Environment Agency (EA) regarding the ecological status of water bodies in England and Wales, WWF and the Angling Trust have launched a joint campaign to restore and conserve a number of rivers in the UK that are under threat from pollution, over-abstraction and habitat damage.

As part of the HSBC Climate Partnership, WWF and the Angling Trust will implement a total of eight campaigns in as many months that call for clear and immediate action on specific local problems to restore and conserve the biodiversity and fisheries of these rivers. These local campaigns will also be used as case studies nationally to highlight the widespread nature of threats to our rivers.
The first of these campaigns will focus on the River Tame and middle Trent catchment. Parts of the Trent have been identified as being amongst the lowest quality rivers in Europe, according to the EA report. The campaign was launched on Tuesday, with coverage on BBC Breakfast News: Click here to watch the interview in full

The Angling Trust had already begun research on this river after identifying that urban run off was a key factor in its degradation. Then in June 2009, more than 1000 fish were killed as a result of increased urban run off following some severe storms over Birmingham.  With climate change scenarios predicting a more unstable weather pattern, which will see an increase in storms and flooding, it is essential for the security of the River Trent, its wildlife, the local communities and the angling clubs that the issue of urban runoff is addressed by the local councils immediately.

Mark Owen, Environmental Campaigns Manager at the Angling Trust, who will be leading on these campaigns, said: “Our focus for this catchment is to ensure that we have an effective Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SUDS) in place to reduce the risk of urban run off in the face of a changing and unstable climate. Pollution from urban run-off, such as Birmingham, is a major problem in many English rivers. However, if pollution is properly managed, then we can create attractive and useful havens for wildlife and angling which will reduce the speed and quantity of run-off from the vast paved areas in urban areas.”

The Angling Trust and WWF will focus on bringing together the two councils which suffer the brunt of the pollution, Tamworth and Burton, with Birmingham City Council to develop solutions to the issue, focusing on an improved SUDs policy in Birmingham. This plan will also need to take into account the potential increases in population, due to the planned development of half a million more homes by 2026 in the region, which will add additional urban run-off and sewage. Much can be achieved by improving the design of new developments to allow surface water to soak away and be stored in small scale storage areas.

WWF’s Policy and Programme Manager for Freshwater, Rose Timlett, commented on the EA report; “The confirmation that over 74% of our rivers currently fall below the ‘good ecological status’ line, is a wake-up call to the government that the time to act is now. These rivers are our water supply and they are the lifeblood for an abundance of wildlife. Anglers are the eyes and ears of our waterways and the Angling Trust’s involvement in the protection of UK Rivers is therefore imperative to securing a healthy future for them”.

The joint partnership between the Angling Trust and WWF, supported by HSBC, will campaign to get local councils, the government, the Environment Agency and farmers to make the necessary changes to secure the health of our waterways.

The eight campaigns will focus on keys issues such as over abstraction, urban and agricultural diffuse pollution, barriers to fish migration and hydropower installations.
Anglers can get involved by adopting a river and writing a letter to their MPs from the Our Rivers website (www.ourrivers.org) encouraging the Environment Agency to show much greater ambition in the River Basin Management Plans. There will also be various community events organised by local angling groups for local residents and anglers to get hands on in the conservation of their local rivers such as clean-up days.

Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said: “the Angling Trust will be writing to all its member clubs and riparian owners asking for suitable candidate campaigns. Anglers have, for generations, done more than any other group to campaign for and implement improvements to our rivers. We know what the problems are and our great numbers can help persuade politicians that action should be taken to address them. By teaming up with the largest environmental charities in the country, we have been able to broaden the base of support for implementing these solutions.”
 
THE ANGLING TRUST

• Promotes the benefits of angling for the environment and individuals
• Supports angling and angling interests
• Campaigns for anglers and the environment
• Protects our waterways and marine environment
• Lobbies government and agencies on behalf of angling interests
• Delivers real benefits for anglers in the UK

For further information about The Angling Trust go to www.anglingtrust.net

  Chalk Stream Research Could Unravel Atlantic Salmon Declines Globally

Atlantic salmon have suffered a massive 70 per cent decline in the past 30 years and there is now an international effort in place to provide effective conservation and restoration of the species.
For over 30 years the River Frome in Dorset, once famed for its 30lb salmon, has been providing some of the best evidence of the Atlantic salmon decline in our rivers across the country. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has recently taken over one of the country‟s leading salmon and sea trout research centres based on the Frome at East Stoke (until recently, the fisheries research based on the river was run by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology).

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust‟s salmon and trout research centre is directly involved in the international effort to research wild salmon declines and their causes and the entire river catchment has been transformed into an impressive natural river laboratory. To date, this research facility, which comprises the most technically advanced scientific monitoring equipment of any river in the country has collected nearly 40 years of data, which will have an important input in the future management of adult salmon.
Over that period a large amount of monitoring equipment has been installed making it the most instrumented natural river laboratory in Europe.
Despite the ongoing international conservation efforts to reduce over fishing at sea we lack the scientific evidence for managing our rivers better. We desperately need to identify which environmental conditions the fish experience in fresh water rivers best prepare them for their survival at sea. To reverse the 70% decline in returning salmon numbers over the last 20 years, and to see more 30lb salmon returning to our rivers, we urgently need to unlock these secrets.
Dr Anton Ibbotson who heads the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust‟s research centre at East Stoke, said, “Over the last ten years we have developed specialist techniques for tagging individual fish to work alongside state-of-the-art fish counting, monitoring and tag detection equipment installed on the River Frome.“We have individually tagged 50,000 salmon parr in the last four years, which could now be distributed anywhere between the River Frome and the icy waters of Greenland. Once they start returning to the river over the next few years we will be able to monitor their arrival and help build up a picture of why some fish have survived in the sea and why others have not. This will help manage salmon populations in the future.”   

A unique feature of the catchment-based laboratory is the 'hands off' automatic electronic smolt counter which counts the delicate juvenile salmon and sea trout as they migrate to sea. The use of Passive Integrated Transmitter (PIT) tag technology enables the scientists to study large numbers of individual fish in order to better understand the factors that influence the life history, survival and migratory patterns of both salmon and sea trout. This facility is not replicated anywhere else in the UK and has far less damaging affect on the fish than using traps or other interception devices.
Dr Ibbotson explains the implications of this research, “This natural laboratory will enable us to answer many of the really important questions about salmon and sea trout stocks that would be difficult to answer elsewhere. A really good example of this is how the environmental conditions the fish experience in freshwater affects their survival in the sea. Too often, we see marine and freshwater sources of mortality as independent, but now we can follow large numbers of individual fish from their early freshwater life -stages through to maturation and spawning.”
Dr Nick Sotherton, the Trust‟s director of research, said, “This is one of the best equipped rivers for salmon and sea trout research in Europe and the research is relevant to every salmon fisherman in the country, whether he or she fishes the Spey or the Test. Working on this influential research laboratory, which has international and national standing is a considerable boost to our existing brown trout research programme and we believe it will save dramatic implications for international salmon research.”

The next stage of research for their survival
The initial conservation focus was to reduce over-fishing of salmon at sea and there is little more that can now be done. We must now focus research effort on ensuring that the freshwater habitat produces salmon that have the best chance of survival at sea. This huge natural laboratory on the River Frome is of both national and international importance – we can study, fish by fish, entire populations of migrating salmon using its unique „hands off ‟ monitoring equipment. The results will teach us how to best manage our rivers to produce more fish that will survive at sea and return to spawn.

Critical questions for the future
A great deal is known about salmon in the Atlantic - they adopt a silver coat to help evade sea predators; they must adapt internally and externally to survive the icy cold salt water; they can swim up to 100 miles a day during their 4,000 mile migration. But we know so very little about
what can be done to improve the freshwater habitat to produce salmon that have the best chance of survival on their epic journey. Is it down to the size of a salmon when it runs to sea? Is it the time of year when it chooses to migrate? Do autumn migrating fish have higher survival rates? Is it far more complicated environmental issues such as climate change, water or air temperature, river flows or rainfall patterns? Are the conditions experienced in the freshwater river affecting the number of years a salmon spends at sea? The longer at sea, the bigger the fish - every salmon fisherman wants to see more 30lb salmon in our rivers!
The River Frome and its monitoring equipment will allow us to find the answers to these questions by conducting experiments that, quite simply, could not have been done before.

Your help is crucial for wild salmon

The Trust has an enviable track record in the conservation of game and wildlife. In the coming years, this work on the River Frome will make a vital international contribution to our knowledge of the factors that affect the health of salmon populations in our rivers. The Trust would therefore like the support of anyone interesting in the conservation of salmon to fund this important research. Your support will have a direct impact on the quality of scientific input to our endeavours to increase wild salmon stocks for future generations.

Why the Trust need extra funds

• The opportunity to save the huge data and knowledge bank waiting to be harnessed from 50,000 fish already tagged.
• The opportunity to continue the crucial long-term monitoring research programme.
• The opportunity of building on decades of goodwill built up with landowners adjacent to the River Frome and their huge co-operation.
• To try and answer these questions in the future we would risk having to raise funds to build a whole new facility - many times more than the funding support required now to keep the existing site running.
• The opportunity for the Trust‟s science to contribute to the international recovery of salmon numbers would be delayed indefinitely, a source of significant concern for game fishing enthusiasts.
• To summarise, the opportunity to contribute to the recovery of this key game species, the king of fishes, is unprecedented and deserves to be supported.

Endorsements

Atlantic Salmon Trust “It is now vital to understand and influence conditions in our rivers and inland waterways. We are supporting the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust because it can be entrusted to produce the science that will help rebuild thepopulation of this species.” Tony Andrews Director

Salmon & Trout Association “We thoroughly endorse and are supporting this research now being carried out by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Finding out how to reverse the alarming decline in salmon numbers will help to ensure the future for game fishing.” Paul Knight Chief Executive

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