Wet, wet, wet…..

November 23, 2009

Well I can definitely say I’m glad I am neither in Cockermouth or a River Cocker fish or fish egg.  I managed two days fishing on the Cocker this year, and one of the bridges that was washed away in Lorton, I had stood on looking for moving fish.  It is quite strange to think that a big stone bridge like that was so easily washed away.

In all seriousness the high waters won’t be doing us many favours at all.  My report for our AGM tonight was finally completed on Friday after spending the best part of a week looking through the analysed data.  I knew already that there was an overall improvement, and that this was due to three factors, but the one I think that was the most important, and highly relevant looking out my window now and listening to the news, is Redd wash out.  The more I looked at data and read about the effects of high water on redds the more convinced I became that the low winter waters of 2008 resulted in a much better redd survival, and on top of that the timing of the spring “floods” was well after alevins had emerged, and there is much scientific evidence that this is another vulnerable stage for our juveniles.  Salmon tend to suffer less as they are able to bury the eggs far deeper, but trout on average only seem to get them down 15cms.

So what does this mean, well I am fairly certain next years trout fry results will be lower than this years already, with much of the trout having spawned.  If the weather eases then salmon fry may be better or the same.  What else can we do?  The well used words of climate change will continue to be used  by all and sundry but to bring home climate change we must link it to every day occurrences and things people care about, we are lucky it is not our homes that are being washed away but our fish are still fairly important, to us.  We must cut our Green house gas emissions, of that there is no doubt, and encourage others to do the same.  This is the first thing we can do, and must be the first, as everything else is mitigation and will not be as effective as halting climate change.  At our AGM tonight I will mention some of the other mitigation measures we can take on the ground.

So off my soap box, and onto what else we got on with last week!  Monday was the usual report writing, as was Tuesday and Wednesday morning.  Wednesday I went up to Kendal to a North West Crayfish group meeting.  The importance of the North West for White clawed crayfish can’t be understated.  Probably the most important area in Europe.  Much was discussed and key outcomes are the needs for educating people about crayfish plague and signal crayfish.  Crayfish plague will devastate white claw populations in a short period of time, and it is easily transferred on fishing tackle, wellies, even dogs.  It is so important when fishing in different catchments that we disinfect our equipment, tackle and foot wear.  This is not just for anglers, but walkers, and canoeists as well.  Disinfectant is not expensive, and can be bought from vets, and farmers co operatives.  It doesn’t just stop crayfish plague but will help to halt the transmission of fish diseases such as G. salaris.  The introduction of signal crayfish is just as bad for white claws, but our ASC vs fish research is indicating a severe impact on salmonids from signal crayfish.  We must discourage anyone thinking of introducing ASC to waterways, it is also illegal under various legislation and holds a severe penalty. 

Thursday I met up with Ian, Maurice and John from United Utilities to look at some problems on the Brennand and to discuss other issues soon to be brought up on UU’s estate.  They were very keen and enthusiastic to help in anyway possible and we will work together to try and rectify the problems we have seen.  Before Ian arrived I bumped into some students from Newcastle University who aer studying the impacts on water levels from the SCAMP program.  It was a very useful chance meeting and we hope to share data to look at correlations between river level/flow and juvenile abundance.

Friday I finished my presentation for tonight’s AGM, and as a reward I went salmon spotting on some of the tributaries  around Clitheroe.  One place in particular I visited showed many salmon in large numbers trying to ascend a weir.  This is a weir that we hope to work on to improve migration, we already knew salmon struggled to ascend but my visit really confirmed the point.  I saw just one salmon successfully ascend the weir and there were over 30 attempts made in just 30 minutes.  Removal of weir should always be our first option, but it is not always that simple.  Quite often the landowner does not want to remove the weir as it may have historical, economic or physical value.  We will always look to remove weirs, as even a fish pass is not the most ideal situations.  Fish still have to use up valuable energy in ascending even the best of fish passes.  The weir also have other ecological impacts, scouring of river bed down stream, and holding up valuable sediment and gravels upstream.

Watching the salmon on Friday, made me rather emotive, It is sad to watch animals that have faced threat after threat trying to ascend an obstruction so close to there final goal, it is also exciting to see so many of them, and makes me quite angry that our impact as a species can be so devastating.  A cheesy line to finish this week blog - like those salmon I will continue to try and try (some say I am very trying) to improve the environment until I can’t do so anymore.

Posted by Charles Edward Poate | Filed Under Education, General News, Threats to the River 

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