What to write when all of the “busy as can be” sayings have been used!!
January 19, 2010
The title for this post should give you some idea of the start to the new year for us at the Trust. Last week saw me put in my most hours to date, and I can’t see it getting less in the near future! Just quickly I have put a poll on the main page for people to vote on weekly, or otherwise blog posts (including not at all), it is entirely anonymous and so far we have had 17 votes, 15 to remain weekly, so for the time being I will continue, all be it a day late this week!
Monday I rushed to Barrowford to take photos of the weir to provide to our design consultant for the fish pass we are installing there. The weir was very icy, but I got what was needed and by the end of the week, we had out initial drawings provided. We have now to re-adjust our plans for this project as it is not quite what we were expecting, but certainly the right way to go! A lengthy meeting with Philip followed and then a normal afternoon of correspondence!
Tuesday I was in Long ridge school to get their Trout in the Classroom scheme set and ready for the egg delivery. Followed by a stop in Hurst green to look at a section of river we suspected had some impassable barrier to migration, a depressing visit, I couldn’t get to the water due to ice, but talks with the Landowner meant I now had 7 more barriers to add to our expanding list. I then spent the afternoon trying to get my 2009 report finished, but didn’t quite get there.
Wednesday more of the report, and still not done! In the afternoon I went out with one of our trustees to survey a road culvert/bridge ready for a fish pass design. This was planned to be done in December but weather beat us, and like many people, we are behind due to the snowy period.
Thursday I got the survey details onto CAD (Computer Aided Design) using a free program (we’re not a rich enough trust to get a copy of the usual CAD program!), and then was met by a funder who brought good news of a contribution to our Fishing passport scheme. I say good news, but suddenly I have more on my to do list than before! I also prepared a costing for restoration stocking for Fish Legal, this was not on our patch, but helping organisations like theirs is an important part of river conservation unity. In the evening I met Kyle Young to talk about monitoring of the Brennand and Whitendale abstraction alleviation scheme. Which was good. This meeting was followed by a Calder salmon workshop. I had spent the previous week in the evenings, going through research papers (some provided by Kyle and some I had on my hard drive from Uni days). Up until Wednesday night I was firmly in the “stock the Calder camp”, as a tool to get a Calder salmon run going. By Wednesday night I no longer could decide, and by Thursday I was even more undecided how I felt. The costing I did for fish legal, I then extrapolated to get an idea of how much would need to be spent to achieve a good Calder salmon run - £20k. I know some people do stocking for less than this total sum, but I am talking about sufficient numbers to start what I believe would be a sustainable salmon run. Then I read a paper from Denmark on losses of smolt descending weirs – 53%. So of the £20k I had come to over £10k would be lost straight away. Plus a huge number of other factors, made me twitchy about the amount of money to be spent. On the other side of the argument, was the need to get salmon into the Calder sooner than later to achieve Good ecological status by 2027, and also that the straying rates of wild salmon, might not be good enough to bring a sustainable salmon population to the Calder. The money could be raised by clubs downstream who would benefit, and if not, I don’t see how a scheme could get going as the EA don’t seem to have any money for it. Further more would £20k not be spent better on improving habitat on the Calder? I am asking a question for you to answer, as I don’t know!
Anyway, following two great presentations from Chris Heap and Jamie Stevens (of Exeter University), on stocking techniques, and genetics (respectively) there was a similar mixture of opinion at the meeting. And many other good arguments were presented, including clubs who were not at all keen of having salmon entering their waters. And in my opinion they had some fairly good reasons, and arguments why not. I think in the end everyone went away with more information on the subject, and had also been able to see what information people would base the decision on in the end. This was the ultimate aim of the meeting, and hopefully when the decision is made people will support whatever that is. I think a good meeting was run by the RFCA and Kyle Young from the EA.
Friday was a long awaited day for Stephen, who despite being on crutches came out for the day, we collected the trout eggs from dunsop, and then dropped them to the Schools. Dunsop, Chipping, Long Ridge, Edisford, Padiham – St Lenords, and Whalley. A hic-up with Pendle School has meant a delay until later this week.
In the evening, yes Friday sodding evening, I got a call from ARTs asking if I had any R&D projects I needed funding for, so after giving them 2, I was asked for a costing, I had not yet gone about costing them, but ARTs needed them for Monday a.m., so at 18:30 I sent and email with my costings.
I have neglected to mention the various contractor and project issues that were also worked on, but I think you’ve heard enough from me! So apologies for the late posting and have a good week!
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