Data analysis, the joys of excel
November 9, 2009
Another week spent with the onorous task of getting the data analysis completed for the end of year electro fishing report. It’s no small task, but what I have done so far this morning has made great in roads and I hope to be done some time this week.
Last week started with a long meeting with Philip as we didn’t see him the week before, and with a Trustee’s meeting Tuesday we had a lot of reporting to do – as we keep getting busier and busier. After Philip left there wasn’t a huge deal left of the day but I was sure come 5 o’clock my vision had a distinct spreadsheet distortion to it!
Tuesday more of the same, finished my report for the trustees, got an invoice in the post and then spreadsheet after spreadsheet. In the evening was a long but productive trustees meeting. With so much going on it was no surprise that we were their till gone 22:00! I had a few action points which I have already followed.
Wednesday I met Darren Wilson the EA catchment officer for the Calder and we had a look at a couple of potential projects on the Calder. He was very positive and we hope to work with the EA and Barrowford AA to get these projects underway. In the afternoon…. more spreadsheets.
Thursday I had a day discussing electro fishing techniques statistics and fish in general with Rebbecca Chaffer the Fisheries Officer for the Eden Rivers Trust. We were pretty busy all day, as if you hadn’t guessed by my hints at spreadsheet above, there is a lot of statistics involved with fisheries data!! We managed to help each other with our own sets of data and come up with a good approach for next year. In fact we wondered if some of the stuff could help other rivers trusts who are about to or soon to be undertaking their own electro fishing program. These trust get togethers are very very useful and it is important to learn from one another. Despite the differences in between the Ribble and the Eden there is much common ground!
One small bit of excitement in the middle of the day was that I got a call from Paul Matty of the City learning Centre who asked if I would do a telephone interview with a student to be aired on Radio Lancashire. We talked about the Calder the salmon and sea trout at Padiham weir and how we work with the EA to try and improve all rivers.
Friday I put together a small summary (I say small but it was a good couple of pages) of the previous days meeting. These make sure that I don’t forget what was discussed and also are a good opportunity to mull over a few things and add them in. I also had to put together some project files and specifications for projects going ahead next year. I discussed them through with Chris Heap whose expertise in Health and Safety, and contractor management is invaluable. I am sad to say that Chris has stepped down as a Trustee due to his other various commitments, including the sea trout and salmon smolt stocking projects, and habitat works that the Hodder Consultative are currently working on. We were sad to see Chris step down, and I as would the rest of the Trust like to thank him for his help, however he certainly hasn’t left and has promised to help with any of our projects, this will be particularly helpful and welcome especially with all that we are doing next year.
In the afternoon Stephen and I decided to head out and do some site visits but the miserable weather and lack of water in the side tributaries around Clitheroe brought us back to the office fairly sharpish!
We were in time to see Fred Higham who popped in to catch up, these are handy visits as we learn much from the anglers that we otherwise wouldn’t and with all the angling contacts Fred has he doesn’t miss much and this gives us a very useful source of information from the anglers.
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