Habitat Improvement

[Fruin]

I am currently trying to persuade a committee on the importance of habitat improvement. Do any members have any useful information or can anybody point me in the right direction?

I am particularly interested in increasing the smolt output of a system. Falkus said that any system is just a smolt factory and if it is working at full production, then this is as much as anybody can do to ensure the success of any one system.

I would be interested in all different ways of measuring the maximim smolt capacity of a system, measuring the actual smolts returning to sea, and improving the existing spawning habitat and juvenile survival rates.

I would prefer the seperate arguments of doing this without a hatchery, and with a hatchery. I am aware of systems like the Tyne and Tweed, but don't have a breakdown of exactly what work has been carried out and how this improved smolt output and returns of adult fish.

[wilbert]

We have had a habitat improvement scheme on the Ribble for about 6 or 7 years now. In the areas that have been worked on par densities have increased by upto 600%. Most of the problems on the spawning becks have been caused by overgrazing and siltation of the gravel, these problems have been overcome by both "hard" and "soft" engineering, big rocks and trees to us.This is a massive job and will take many years and man hours to complete, in some years i spend more time helping out with this kind of work than actually fishing! Where overgrazing has occurred the becks are very wide and shallow with no cover which is no good as a nursery for juvenile fish. No stocking or very little has been carried out on the main Ribble itself. The Hodder which is the Ribble main tributary has been stocked for a number of years and now has 3 smolt release ponds in operation which are starting to give the desired results. The main problem on the Hodder is water abstraction by United Utilities but some of the problems are similar to the Ribble's. There is now an Association Of Rivers Trust which is a good place to start looking for information as the are many river affiliated to itwww.associationofriverstrusts.org.uk. You see what has been done on the Ribble here www.ribbletrust.org.uk.

[charlieh]

There are habitat improvement schemes running on quite a few rivers; one that I know a little bit about is the Wye & Usk Foundation. They have considerable funding, but rather than choosing to spend it on pumping large numbers of hatchery-reared smolts into the river, they are trying to address the root cause of the decline in numbers by looking at habitat improvement. They do have a small hatchery operation, but in spite of repeated moaning from the likes of Geoff Franks who writes the T&S report and leads the Wye Gillies' Association, they do not see reliance on a hatchery as the best way forward.

They have been doing a number of things such as clearing blockages, opening up tree cover to allow light in, fencing banks to prevent erosion and keep dipped sheep out of the water, and addressing an acidification problem with liming. Electrofishing has shown an increase in numbers of juveniles following this work. Have a read round their good website, which gives a bit of an introduction into their problems and solutions.

www.wyeuskfoundation.org

Although your river may face a different set of issues, it might be useful to talk to them to get an idea of how you might proceed. I suspect that, if the funding is available, a first step might be to commission a survey from a qualified consultant to identify your specific problems and suggest solutions.

[Fruin]

Thank you very much guys. All interesting stuff, I'll have a better look this evening.

If anybody else feels like chipping in, please do; I need all the amunition I can get!