FISH 132 - Winter 2019

Edition 132 / Winter 2018

The Quarterly Magazine of Fisheries Management

Thriving or Surviving – Creating Resilient Fisheries Fish, Space, and River Reconnection Saudi Arabia’s Freshwater Fish and Resilience to Environmental Threats Floodplain Management in Bangladesh’s Largest Wetland The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England +more

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Inside this edition 4

View from the Chair

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Fish, Space, and River Reconnection

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Saudi Arabia’s Freshwater Fish and Resilience to Environmental Threats

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Floodplain Management and Impacts on Fish and Bird Conservation in Bangladesh’s Largest Wetland

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The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters

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The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England

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Visit to Alkborough Flats

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Peace of Mind - Advertorial by Sunderland Marine

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Postcards from the Annual Conference

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The Paul Coulson BLOG

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IFM News

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Breaking News

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Book Review

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Members and their fish

Editorial Team: Lawrence Talks, Steve Axford, Peter Spillett, Paul Coulson, Iain Turner, Valerie Holt, David Bunt

IFM ( Institute of Fisheries Management ) PO Box 679, Hull, HU5 9AX Front cover: Hull Fountains © Neil Nicklin Design: POLAR 10 www.polar10.com

Tel: +44(0)845 388 7012

E-mail: info@ifm.org.uk. www.ifm.org.uk Find us on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter (@IFMFish)

If you would like to contribute to FISH please get in touch.

Fish 132

Fish 132

The theme for this edition of FISH is Thriving or Surviving – Creating Resilient Fisheries, which was the title of our 49th Annual Conference in Hull.

The Annual Conference was really well attended, hugely enjoyable and provided a great opportunity to learn about many of the pressing issues facing fisheries around the world and what responses are being taken to create resilient fisheries. There was so much covered that rather than trying to give a synopsis of all the presentations, I have cherrypicked a few that particularly caught my attention.

Martyn Lucas of Durham University, gave the John Gregory Lecture and challenged everyone on their mindset when it comes to fish passage.

This was followed by Ibrahim Alharthi, of the Hull International Fisheries Institute, who gave a fascinating presentation on a preliminary study to learn more about the resilience of Saudi Arabia’s freshwater fish to a range of threats.

If you think the UK sometimes has a shortage of rain or issues with water management, this presentation gave a whole different perspective on fish living in a challenging environment.

Keeping with the overseas theme, Shams Galib of the Department of Biosciences at Durham University and the Department of Fisheries in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, gave a presentation on the challenges of realising resilient and self-sustaining fish populations and abundant wetland birds in a floodplain environment that is heavily regulated to control flooding and provide for food production.

Moving into salty waters, Magnus Johnson of the University of Hull, opened everyone’s eyes up to the multi-million pound fast expanding international trade in lobsters. What’s astonishing, for example, is that American lobster landings have more than trebled in the last 50 years to over 150,000 tonnes.

Though not presented at the Annual Conference, I conclude the main articles with a piece by Graeme Pierson, IFM member and Senior Fisheries Specialist for the Environment Agency, on the value of freshwater angling in England today. What is it worth to the economy?, and what is it worth to you?

Finally, Valerie Holt describes the conference visit to Alkborough Flats.

Lawrence Talks - FISH editor fish@ifm.org.uk 3

View from the Chair David Bunt at the Annual Conference

View from the Chair Past, Present and Future Past The focus of this edition of FISH is on our 2018 Annual Conference in Hull. I am proud to say what another excellent conference it was. IFM conferences seem to get better and better, thanks to the professionalism of our two staff, Paul Coulson and Iain Turner, supporting local branches’ organising committees. The content and the quality of papers and presentations is also a major draw, as is the networking and relationship building opportunities, the vibrant social interaction, and a chance to discover and explore somewhere new - Hull was a very pleasant cultural surprise for me! The success of conference is reflected in attendance, with Hull having 125 delegates, second only to the Belfast conference in 2017. Thanks again to all who attended or helped organise it. Speaking at conference is always a pleasure and an honour.

Though you wouldn’t think so by the photo taken of me! I look forward to what should be a bumper 4

2019 conference in Nottingham as it will also celebrate the IFM’s 50th Anniversary. I hope to see you there.

And so, with formation in 1969, the Institute is 50 years old this year. Amongst IFM members reading this, there will be those who helped form the IFM, those who became members then and those who weren’t even born then. A lot has happened in 50 years: advances in fisheries management and environmental regulation, reorganisation of administrative authorities that have gone full circle (twice). The UK has joined the EU, devolved governments, and is about to leave the EU (at least by today’s news). There have been fluctuations in fisheries funding, variations in the recognition of fisheries management as a profession by employers and major improvements to the environment – particularly in post-industrial rivers. What hasn’t changed is the dedication and professionalism shown by people like you as fisheries managers to fish, fisheries and the

Present So, IFM has another busy schedule in its 50th year. We continue to lobby Government to aim to get the best from major changes such as Brexit and the 25 Year Environment Plan. We will be running an increasing range of fisheries training, such that IFM is now the second biggest provider (by delegate numbers) of fisheries training in the UK. My thanks to Ian Wellby and the Training team for this fantastic improvement over the past five years. Our policy team (led by Miran) is aiming to prepare statements to influence thinking of policy-makers and practitioners on topics as diverse as Fish Disease, Hydropower, Diffuse Water Pollution, Flow Regulation, Rewilding, Eel Management, and Plastics. 2019 is also the final year of IFM’s last 10-year strategy, so this year is also time to review and develop our strategy for 2020 – 2029 to plan our future.

Future Still the biggest issue affecting the future for UK residents is Brexit (sorry – I know many people are bored of it by now). At the time of writing our Government is wrangling with itself and the EU, so we are still no closer to knowing if there will be a clean break on 29 March or if there will be a deal with a less traumatic two year implementation period. It’s important because (1) anyone who has traded with Europe or travels, knows how movement and trade have become much easier over the years with frictionless borders, and (2) environmental legislation (which includes Fisheries, Agriculture, Water Framework Directive etc.) is largely derived from the EU, so, is one of the legislative areas most significantly affected by Brexit it affects our profession.

Whilst Brexit is out of our direct control and influence, the Defra 25 Year Environment Plan for England and Wales remains a great aspiration.

That is something within UK Government control and influence from NGOs such as ourselves. IFM is regularly at the table or contributing to joint policy statements to lobby government to shape,

for example, meaningful environmental targets and definitions and measures for ‘net environmental gain’. We are collectively doing all we can to shape a better environmental future.

Hopefully, by the Nottingham conference we will know where we are with both Brexit and the 25 Year Environment Plan and we can reflect on how we can make the best of those for fish and fisheries as we enter the next decade.

As ever, your views on anything IFM or fisheries management are appreciated and you are welcome to contact me direct at chairman@ifm.org.uk.

With best wishes.

David Bunt | IFM Chairman

View from the Chair

environment and IFM’s desire to support you in that. The Nottingham conference in October will reflect in more detail what we have learnt from the past 50 years, to inform how we do it better still in future.

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Fish, Space, and River Reconnection

Martin Lucas with Finnish pike

Fish, Space, and River Reconnection Martyn Lucas of the University of Durham, gave the John Gregory Lecture and challenged everyone on their mindset when it comes to fish passage. in recent centuries, but concerted efforts are being made to reverse this. Physical connectivity No, this presentation is not about fish on the in rivers enables functional hydrological, International Space Station, but the space-use geomorphological, chemical and ecological requirements of fish for life history completion processes. For biota, barriers inhibit movements and long-term persistence of natural populations. of migratory species and limit local dispersal Freshwater (including diadromous) fishes need of other species between habitat fragments, to disperse between habitat patches and many often causing population decline or preventing species exhibit clear migrations seasonally, or recovery. The number and distribution of river at particular life history stages. Fragmentation barriers (dams, weirs, culverts, bed movement of river habitats has contributed to biodiversity checks, etc.) across Europe are poorly known decline in European rivers, including in the UK, and this lack of knowledge is being addressed

Not the International Space Station

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Fish, Space, and River Reconnection

as well as removing impounded habitat that is a major problem in low-gradient, cool-water streams. An increasing number of studies (including some great ones from the Danish National Institute of Aquatic Resources lab. e.g. https://amber.international/wp-content/ uploads/2018/01/AcceptedManuscript_BirnieGauvin-et-al.-JEMA.pdf are showing the strong ecological benefits to be achieved by the removal of many redundant barriers. But what we may regard as redundant, ecologically damaging hangovers from the Industrial Revolution others may regard as historical assets that are Traditional hard-engineered fishways familiar and of cultural value to people. Yet in Britain the removal of such barriers is fraught don’t work for weakly dispersing fish with complexity. While actual removal can be species such as minnow relatively cheap, in the UK, the cost in time and Among the mobile biota impacted by barriers are multiple evaluations of potential impacts (some of which are major, e.g. altered flood risk) tends to fishes, not only those that migrate widely (e.g. mean “mitigations” are more often favoured, even salmon, eel, barbel), but also smaller-bodied, weakly-dispersing species that are key elements though a substantial number of the low-cost “easements” carried out by Environment Agencyof river food webs. Many European urban Rivers Trust-wider stakeholder alliances may be streams, formerly too polluted for fish, are now of questionable ecological value. The oftenclean enough to sustain fish communities, but trotted out phrase by the Environment Agency upstream recolonisation of these waterbodies (and its equivalents elsewhere in the UK), rivers is often prevented by artificial barriers, and traditional, hard-engineered fishways (especially, trusts (yes, and I am a trustee in two of these), but not only, those for salmonids) do not work for DEFRA (Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the like that “Easement X most weakly-dispersing species (e.g. minnow, has opened up Y km of stream for migration by loach, stickleback, bullhead and gudgeon). all fish species present” is, in a very large number of cases, absolute tosh and an embarrassment Need for a rethink to the science of river restoration, even if it is a There needs to be a complete re-think of the conveniently ascribed “outcome measure” of fishway or fish pass paradigm for enabling fish such easements. There is no excuse for sloppy migration, to one that facilitates highly effective science and sloppy statements. In the UK, dispersal of the natural fish community, including connectivity restoration funding opportunities species that are ecologically important, but are also often constrained by the Environment have low fisheries importance. Impacts on Agency’s (and several equivalent agencies) downstream migration and dispersal, including “Computer says No” outcome of the distribution salmonid smolt migration at simple, overflowing of Water Framework Directive ecological weirs are also, too often, ignored. This is quality (especially fish) monitoring sites and despite multiple studies demonstrating that recorded ecological quality, with regard to small weirs can strongly reduce survival of, for barrier distribution. For example, such WFD fish example, smolts during low flows, which are sampling sites often occur below all or many likely to become more frequent with climate of the obstacles in a given tributary, and may change. Thus there is an incorrect assumption generate a ‘good’ grade, when fish communities that such structures have no impact on fitness of further upstream are actually severely degraded. downstream-migrating fishes.

Waterbodies graded as ‘good’ never make it for a consideration of restoration funding in a land Physical removal of weirs and other barriers can where WFD grades rule the decision process. enable uninhibited movement by a wide range of biota, and restoration of sediment transport, by the EU AMBER (Adaptive Management of Barriers in European Rivers) project – see https:// amber.international/. Only a few countries have good national databases and there is little Europe-wide standardisation currently. It is likely that there may be an average of about one artificial barrier per stream kilometre across Europe, but the vast majority of these are small (< 1 m high). Although most are small, the high number has a cumulative impact on connectivity and habitat modification that may, in many catchments, exceed that of a few large dams.

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Fish, Space, and River Reconnection

Migrating river lamprey

also, simply unacceptable, to “sign off” novel fish passage designs that “look good on paper/CAD” Well-designed and constructed nature-like and seem to have a rational basis of design, bypasses can reinstitute valuable habitat without field testing these at the types of barriers heterogeneity and connectivity, as well as biota they are intended to provide passage at – somovement. Although they might not always called tiled lamprey/eel channels or composite attract salmonid migrants efficiently due to the Larinier-eel-lamprey passes are good examples (sometimes) limited fraction of river flow within of these untested fish passage structures (even the bypass, they are much better for facilitating though we know Lariniers work appallingly for bi-directional dispersal of a wide range of river lamprey). In determining the right approach species and sizes of fish, as well as other aquatic to optimising improved connectivity alongside biota. Although a variety of hard-engineered flood defence, navigation, hydropower and other fishway solutions exist, better evaluation of needs, such as invasive species control, within a their performance for non-salmonid species of catchment, the Adaptive Management framework varying sizes is needed for improved cost-benefit (https://amber.international/wp-content/ appraisal. This needs to include effectiveness uploads/2018/01/AcceptedManuscript_JEMA. for assisting dispersal and recolonisation of small pdf) offers strong potential and is recommended. fishes such as loach, minnow and bullhead. It is

Fish passage solutions for all species

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50th Annual IFM Conference.

Call for Papers ‘Learning from the past to inform the future’

October 8th – 10th 2019.

Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham, UK. This year we celebrate fifty years of the Institute of Fisheries Management. At this historic milestone, the Institute felt the time was right to dedicate the Annual Conference to review past successes, highlight the current state of fisheries and fish populations and look forward to the challenges and opportunities facing the industry, from environmental and socio-economic change, to technological development.

This conference will bring together speakers and delegates from across the UK and Ireland, Europe and Worldwide; for three days of talks, posters, field trips and networking. The poster judged best at conference will receive the “Keith Easton Award”.

The organising committee would welcome submissions from people working in the following fields:

All abstracts should include the following information in this order:

• Tagging and telemetry

• Authors’ full names with presenter’s name highlighted,

• Fisheries hydroacoustics • Recent and future advances in technology • Fish passage • Re-wilding the aquatic and riparian environment • Governance and economics • Environmental challenges • Historical perspectives in fisheries management

• Title of the paper,

• Affiliation and country of origin for each co-author, • Full address of the presenting author, • Email address of the presenting author, • 100 – 200 word abstract on the paper’s content, • Whether it is to be an oral or poster presentation

Submissions are welcome from freshwater, The Steering Group will review all estuarine and marine environments. submissions and will aim to ensure a good balance of topics and geographic areas.

If requests for oral presentations are Closing date for submissions oversubscribed a poster presentation 31st May 2019 may be offered instead.

All submissions and enquiries should be sent directly to the conference administrator at info@ifm.org.uk 13

Saudi Arabia’s Freshwater Fish and Resilience

Al-Asfer Lake Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Freshwater Fish and Resilience to Environmental Threats Ibrahim Alharthi, of the Hull International Fisheries Institute, gave a fascinating presentation on a preliminary study to learn more about the resilience of Saudi Arabia’s freshwater fish to a range of threats.

If you think the UK sometimes has a shortage of rain or issues with water management, this presentation gave a whole different perspective on fish living in a challenging environment.

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Saudi Arabia’s Freshwater Fish and Resilience

Cyprinion mahalenss

apoensis; Garra buettikeri; Carassius carassius; Oreochromis niloticus; Poecilia latipinna; Freshwater fish are an important part of wetland Gambusia affinis) to these threats, through diversity in Saudi Arabia. Eight indigenous undertaking an investigation of diet, growth freshwater species inhabit Saudi Arabia’s fresh and reproduction. It was hoped, for instance waters, together with a number of non-native fish to learn more about recolonisation after their species, which have been introduced. habitat had dried up, to ascertain their feeding Saudi Arabia, however, doesn’t have any strategies, differences in growth rate and pattern permanent rivers, rather it has wadis, which are of reproduction in different environments. It was dry river beds for much of the year, except in the then planned to use the results to inform the rainy season, when they can experience flash development of a conservation management plan floods. In some situations, dams have been for these species to help address conflicts with built to store water in these otherwise dry river human activities. valleys, though these too can periodically dry up. Temperatures can be extreme, with highs of Eight different locations were chosen for the over 50,°C and rainfall is very low, with an annual study, which included five reservoirs, two wadis average of less than 5 inches. and a man-made lake.

Freshwater fish of Saudi Arabia

Threats

Field work

In addition to extreme temperatures and dry weather, Saudi Arabia’s freshwater fish face a variety of other threats. For example, extensive pumping of water for domestic supply and agriculture, unmanaged recreational fishing, dams, introduced species and pesticides.

Fish stomach contents were identified using reference guides to determine relative abundance of each food taxon present. Diets of different groups of fish based on age, location and seasons were compared. Prey-specific abundance was used to determine feeding strategy (specialist or generalist), frequency of occurrence (high or low), and prey importance (rare or dominant), and within or between phenotype components (niche width or contribution). Differences among ages, locations, seasons and dietary overlapping were analysed using cluster analysis.

Learning about the resilience of Saudi Arabia’s freshwater fish

The resilience of Saudi Arabia’s fish and their recovery after exposure to these threats is largely unknown, and so this study was designed to provide a preliminary assessment of the resilience Maturity stages, size at maturity, gonadosomatic of the seven main fish species in Saudia index (GSI) and fecundity and its relation to Arabia (Cyprinion mahalensis; Carasobarbus

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Saudi Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Freshwater Fish and Resilience

Al-Janabeen Dam saudi Arabia

total length and weight were determined to understand the reproductive strategies. Age and growth rates were ascertained for each species in each location, and Von Bertalanffy growth models, length-weight relations and condition factor were calculated.

Drought refuges The pools of water examined in the wadis provided refuge for fish during dry periods, but wadis further up the catchment were found to be more resilient than floodplain wadis because they hold water for longer. These pools provide vital drought refuges and are essential habitats to protect fish and their prey from the impact of drought. Wadi Turbah, which is close to the Buthrah Mountains, forms small separate ponds in the dry season and these were found to provide refuge for adult fish until the rainy season returned and fish were then able to recolonise the river.

adapted, for example, Garra buettikeri uses its pectoral fins as a sucking tool to fix themselves in the rocks during flood. After flood, this species would normally move upstream to recolonise, however in this study, this was not possible due to a dam being present upstream of the study site.

Response to extreme temperatures Interestingly, no mortality of indigenous species was observed in the wadis or reservoirs during this study due to high temperatures as the fish were able to live in deep water or be under water plants to escape the heat, which appears to be an adaptation to high temperatures. In Al-asfer Lake, however, where the temperature reached extreme levels, more than 38°C, and oxygen was depleted, species like non-native tilapia were found dead, especially in water-deprived areas.

Feeding strategy

The diet of the studied fish species varied according to location and season. Most of the In contrast, the small ponds and streams within fish species were found to have a generalist the middle or edges of the wadi floodplain, where feeding strategy that was less influenced by prey fish were found, also experience violent and type and more strongly linked to availability. extreme flash flooding that flushes out everything from tree branches, wastes, sediments and silts, which has the potential to be damaging to the fish or their eggs. In response, fish species have

Adaptation to flash floods

16

Growth rate Differences in growth rate were found between sites, with slow growth being found in reservoirs of some species that prefer running water.

Reproduction Endemic species, like Carasobarbus apoensis, Cyprinion mahalensis and Garra buettikeri, have varying patterns of reproduction. Both Carasobarbus apoensis and Cyprinion mahalensis spawn in spring during the rainy season. However, in terms of location, mature Cyprinion mahalensis were found mostly in wadis or the tails of reservoirs where running shallow water was present, whereas large adults of Carasobarbus apoensis were found mostly in stagnant waters with dense aquatic plants, in reservoir bays or in the deeper parts of wadi ponds. These two species seem to spawn once a year, though it was observed that some individuals spawned at different times; this needs further research. Garra buettikeri, meanwhile, is a batch spawner, spawning throughout the year. This pattern of reproduction helps this species to recruit readily. In Al-asfer Lake, Oreochromis niloticus, a mouth brooder species, is an active spawner throughout the year. There is plenty of food in this man-made lake because of inputs of agricultural and organic wastes and the ability of this fish to digest blue-green algae. Some female tilapia were so overloaded with ripe eggs that they could hardly swim. Poecilia latipinna and Gambusia affinis are viviparous species (they give birth to live offspring) with productive seasons that may extend for several months, starting in the spring.

Some individuals were reproductively active from their first year of life.

Saudi Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Freshwater Fish and Resilience

Thrad Dam Saudi Arbia

Ibrahim catching fish during field work

Fish were stocked in the lake for biological control purposes, but despite the difficult conditions, these species were able to succeed, producing self-sustaining populations, despite some mortalities occurring as a result of high temperature, oxygen depletion, population density and stress-induced problems.

Unmanaged fishing During the study it was evident that fishing is unlicensed, unmanaged and the fish are caught for food. The most widely used fishing method is rod and line; however, gill nets and cast nets are increasingly being used. This is putting great pressure on some fish populations, notably Arabibarbus arbicus and Carasobarbus apoensis.

Development of a conservation management plan for Saudi Arabiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s freshwater fish species From the preliminary research described above, it is clear that indigenous species have adapted to the challenging conditions, with periods of extended drought and high temperatures.

However, they are reliant on spring rains, pools of water remaining in the wadis during drought and an ability to recolonise waters without meeting obstructions. Further research is needed, but some clear water management priorities are beginning to emerge, which include managing abstraction to ensure pools remain even in the driest weather to provide drought refuges, maintaining wadis free of dams and obstructions to enable fish to recolonise in the spring rainy season and management of fisheries to ensure that fish populations are not over-exploited.

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Floodplain Management

Floodplain Management and Impacts on Fish and Bird Conservation in Bangladeshâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Largest Wetland Shams Galib of the Department of Biosciences at Durham University and the Department of Fisheries in Rajshahi, Bangladesh, gave a fascinating presentation on the challenges of realising resilient and self-sustaining fish populations and abundant wetland birds in a floodplain environment that is heavily regulated to control flooding and provide for food production.

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Floodplain Management

Floodplain management is a worldwide issue Worldwide, water regulatory structures, such as sluices and dams, have significant impacts on aquatic ecological connectivity, for example, within the river and between the river and its floodplain.

Bangladesh Bangladesh has a population of over 160 million.

In the Food and Agriculture Organisationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (FAO) State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report 2018, Bangladesh has the third highest level of fish capture from inland water bodies with 1,048,242 tonnes of fish in 2016 (China topped the list with 23,18,046 tonnes) and the fifth highest level of aquaculture with 2,204,000 tonnes of food fish production in 2016 (China again topped the list with 49,244,000 tonnes).

Bangladesh is situated on the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s biggest delta, the Ganga-Brahmaputra delta, which commonly experiences flooding. To protect people and facilitate food production Bangladesh has 4,190 sluices.

Key pressures causing this dramatic decline include fishing pressure, habitat loss, water pollution and the impact of water regulatory measures such as dams and sluices.

Study on the Baral River in Bangladesh A primary aim of this study was to determine the effects of current sluice management on the fish community in the Baral River, which is a major tributary of the largest wetland in Bangladesh, the Chalan Beel. A further aim was to investigate wider problems for biodiversity conservation particularly concerning wetland birds in a wetland that has shrunk to 30% of its former dry-season size over 50 years.

By way of background, at the study site during the rainy season (June to October) the sluice gate is operated in an undershot manner, with the gates open one metre from the bed. For the period January to May, the river is turned into a fish rearing pond with fences to keep the fish in and sand extracted.

Sampling

Fish sampling was undertaken between June and December 2015 and involved a variety of methods, which included seine netting, In Bangladesh in 1989, 260 different freshwater fish species were identified. By the year 2000, 54 the use of fish traps and a traditional lift net. of these species were categorised as threatened. In addition, measurements of a number of physical parameters were collected, including By 2015, 30 riverine species were extinct, 64 rainfall, water depth, water temperature, water threatened and 27 near threatened.

Bangladesh freshwater fish species

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Floodplain Management

transparency, pH and dissolved oxygen. In total, 5,536 fish were sampled, with 48 species being found, of which two were non-native species.

For the bird survey, local school teachers and experienced fishermen were interviewed, together with holding a focus group discussion about changes in bird populations over the last 20 years. The aim was to establish trends in numbers and whether rare or unknown. 25 bird species were recorded in the area, with 76% resident and 24% migratory. These include kingfishers, cormorant, the great white egret and Indian pond heron.

Impact of sluice control during the flood period on fish populations During the flood period, which is the peak breeding time for native floodplain fishes, the sluices were operated in an undershot manner, with the flow going under the sluice gates. The degree to which they were opened varied between 16% and 60% of the water depth. During this time, fish abundance and species richness were 229% and 155% higher respectively at sites upstream of the sluices, compared to downstream of the sluices, despite similar habitat being present upstream and downstream. Outside this period, when sluices were fully open, fish abundance and species richness were found to be similar both upstream and downstream.

The fish samples collected during the study were dominated by fry, which are susceptible 20

to damage by sluices. Of the 48 fish species captured in the study, 20 (41.7%) are classed as threatened in Bangladesh and their abundance was significantly lower downstream of the sluices, further highlighting the impact of the sluices on fish populations. During the study, two non-native species, Aristichthys nobilis and Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, were recorded, which were thought to be escapees from local aquaculture activities.

Impacts on wetland birds During the study, twenty five species of wetland birds were recorded in the Chalan Beel wetland.

From interviewing local farmers and villagers, 64% of these species appear to have decreased in the last 20 years, and 11 more species may have become locally extinct over this period.

This suggests that widespread ecological disruption is occurring.

Recommendations Improved water management (e.g. gate opening height and duration) or modification (e.g. fish pass) of the Baral sluices is needed, to meet biodiversity and fisheries needs, rather than just for flood control and crop production.

In addition, cessation of destructive fishing, seasonal in-river fish ranching practices and sand dredging is recommended, as these are all significant additional pressures in a heavily modified and managed environment.

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The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters

American lobster Š Derek Keats

The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters Magnus Johnson of the University of Hull opened everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes up to the multi-million pound fast expanding international trade in lobsters.

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American and European lobster are very similar

Phenomenal growth in lobster/pot fishing in the UK and NW Atlantic

One of the challenges with American lobsters being brought over the pond and sold in Europe is that American and European lobster are very similar in appearance and the difference between species is not constant. Some American lobsters look like European lobsters and vice versa. The diagnostic features that distinguish an American lobster are a ventral tooth on the rostrum and the absence of a white spot on the carapace.

This is a scarily explosive fishery on both sides of the pond. American lobster landings have more than trebled in the last 50 years to over 150,000 tonnes. The vast majority of lobsters (83%) are landed in the state of Maine.

One of the reasons that has helped to generate this growth, is that dead fish are effectively being fed to crustaceans. For each lobster pot,

The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters

approximately 1kg of bait is used and replaced every 3-4 days. Lobsters that are big enough are taken but the pot also provides a home and food for undersized lobsters to survive and feed another day. In all, to catch 1 kg of lobster, between 2-8 kg of bait is required. Currently 70% of Atlantic herring landings in the Gulf of Maine are used as bait to catch lobsters in traps throughout coastal New England. This equates to about 75,000 tonnes of herring.

Some folk would say ranching, others might say eutrophication.

The increase in landings is also partly being driven by: an absence of competition for food due to removal of fishy competitors; partly by warming waters off the coast of Maine; and partly by the need for potters to fish for lobster/crab whatever the season and price.

The ex-vessel value of the American lobster fishery is estimated at roughly $666.7 million dollars and represents one of the largest and most valuable fisheries along the Atlantic coast.

In the UK the lobster fishery too has expanded.

Between Teeside and Spurn Point 1000,000 lobster pots are fished, which use about 20,000 tonnes of bait each year.

European lobster Homarus gammarus © Arnstein Ronning

American lobster in the UK. If you then add the CO2 associated with trawl-caught bait shipped from Scotland to the US to support their lobster Potentially a huge ecological impact industry each year, the grand total is 677,330 While mobile sea fishing gear, such as trawlers, tonnes of CO2, which is a ratio of 52 tonnes cause both physical and ecological impacts; with of CO2 to 1 tonne of American lobster. That’s static gear such as lobster pots, there is less a lot of CO2! For a perspective, the average physical impact but more of an ecological impact household in the UK emits 2.7 tonnes of CO2 with the pots providing shelter and food. This is every year from heating their home, so 677,330 all the more the case today, as the lobster pots tonnes is equivalent to heating 251,000 homes! are near semi-permanently deployed.

In terms of the fuel use, fishing with pots and traps is heavy on fuel use, with the use of small boats in a high value, low tonnage business.

Imports of American lobster and impact on livelihoods

When I first started thinking about this, I assumed that imports of American lobster into the EU was High carbon cost of international trade a relatively new thing – a bit like our live exports of lobster to Italy and France. But it turns out To capture 1 tonne of lobsters it takes 2,500 litres of fuel, which produces 6.7 tonnes of CO2. that we have been importing lobster to the EU/ 13,000 tonnes of American lobster are exported UK since the end of WWII, the1950s, when lots of freight planes became available. to Europe, which equates to 87,100 tonnes of CO2. Airfreighting the 13,000 tonnes to Europe With the abundance of American lobster, you adds an additional 311,610 tonnes CO2, which can buy a plate sized, live lobster, by mail from makes a total of 398,610 tonnes of CO2. This the US/Canada for less than you would pay for a is a ratio of 30 tonnes of CO2 for one tonne of UK lobster. To rub salt into the wound, you can 23

The Trans-Atlantic Trade in Live Lobsters

Bridlington Harbour

buy a whole cooked, frozen American lobster in Bridlington for ÂŁ5. Given the price differential and the problems we already have with regard to knowing the true provenance of fish in shops, there is the possibility of fraudulent marketing with the difficulty in telling the two species apart.

This potentially could have significant impact on the economic viability of European lobster fishermen.

Invasive species - reports of American lobster in European waters Across Europe, there has been a significant increase in reports of American lobsters, particularly since 2010. They are often, but not always, caught close to shore. The routes by which the American lobsters are getting into Europeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waters are likely to be varied, but people running holding facilities or perhaps restaurants 24

close to the shore, are as likely to release (dump) poorly looking or damaged lobsters into the sea as into the bin. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also been recorded that Buddhists have released lobsters into the wild, as they believe that releasing captured animals back into the wild brings good karma.

The American lobster is a non-native species, which is a potential threat to European lobsters.

If it gets established, there are a number of risks, including cross-breeding and hybridisation, which could dilute the genetic strength of European lobsters and make the native population susceptible to disease, especially shell disease, which is not found in European lobsters.

Maine lobster used to have a clean green image in the UK. I think, however, this is being tarnished as American lobsters are being found in our waters.

Services offered by Electrafish include on site testing to Environment Agency

Services ffered

by Electrafish on site to W Environment Agency the supply ards, repairs to aony electric fishing include machines mtesting ade in olverhampton, standards, repairs to any electric fishing machines made in Wolverhampton, the supply of generator and battery p owered fishing machines, anodes, cathodes, and Honda new gServices offered by Electrafish site testing to Environment Agency enerator and battery powered include fishing omn achines, anodes, cathodes, and Honda ic fishing generators standards, repairs to any electric fishing machines made in Wolverhampton, the supply of electric fishing generators generator attery powered fishing achines, anodes, cathodes, and Honda also also cnd arry out reconditioning om lder which have ften erformed We new cWe arry oaut rbeconditioning of oof lder machines achines which hoave opften performed many r eliable y ears

o f s ervice i n t he f ield.

F or e xample, m any m achines b uilt i n 1 999 electric f ishing g enerators reliable years of service in the field. For example, many machines built ian nd 1999 an have and updated, hereby providing a virtually ew machine before We also bceen arry reconditioned out reconditioning of older tm achines which h ave often pnerformed e have een and updated, thereby providing a virtually new machi at ab m uch rreconditioned educed many reliable years coost. f service in the field. For example, many machines built in 1999 and much ceen ost. raeconditioned reduced re continually aind mproving all tnhereby ew generator and powered before hElectrafish ave b updated, providing ab vattery irtually new machine machines.

G enerator m achines c an h ave s ockets f or f rom 1

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o r m ore a nodes p and 1 or at a much a reduced cost.

Electrafish re continually improving all new generator and battery owered cathodes, nd cb attery powered achines cfan bfe Smooth or P ulsed C output or and 1 more Electrafish re ontinually ih mproving all new generator b6attery owered ines.

Generator ma aachines can ave msockets or rom 1a nd to or mpDore anodes both. Generator machines can have sockets for from 1 to 6 or more anodes and 1 or machines. cathodes, and bp attery p owered achines an be Sfmooth oorder. r Pulsed DC output or

Regular reports are pm rovided to ccustomers or every more cathodes, arogress nd battery powered machines an be Smooth or Pulsed DC output or

The primary driving forces behind ELECTRAFISH have been, and always will be, both.

customer service, customer support nd product reliability. order. dedicated Regular progress reports ap re rovided provided o cacustomers for very order.

Regular progress reports are to ustomers feor every

Electrafish m achines are qbuick and easy to operate, abnd extremely effective n any

The p rimary d riving f orces ehind E LECTRAFISH h ave een, a nd a ill bie, The primary driving forces behind ELECTRAFISH have been, always nd aw lways will be, harsh a nd c hallenging c onditions c ommonly e ncountered.

dedicated customer service, customer support and product reliability. ated customer service, customer saupport apnd product reliability.

Quality, mm aintenance and servicing of atll o prioritised in aell ffective d esign ian nd

Electrafish achines are quick nd easy oroducts perate, is and extremely any Electrafish achines re quick and easy to operate, manufacturing functions. harsh and m challenging caonditions commonly encountered. and extremely effective in an challenging Quality, mcaintenance and servicing of eancountered. ll products is prioritised in all design and and onditions commonly

manufacturing f unctions.

Quality, m aintenance and servicing of all products is prioritised in all design and

facturing functions.

Electrafish Limited, Registered Office: 48 Warstones Drive, Penn,

Wolverhampton WV4 4PR, England.

Electrafish Limited, Registered Office: 48 Warstones Drive, Penn, Email: sales@electrafish.co.uk Tel: 01902 340625 Mob: 07775 608505 Wolverhampton WV4 4PR, England.

Email: sales@electrafish.co.uk

Tel: 01902 340625

Mob: 07775 608505

Electrafish Limited, Registered Office: 48 Warstones Drive, Penn,

Wolverhampton WV4 4PR, England.

The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England Mirror carp

The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England Graeme Pierson, IFM member and Senior Fisheries Specialist for the Environment Agency, discusses the value of freshwater angling in England today. What is it worth to the economy and what is it worth to you?

Background In 2016 the Environment Agency commissioned research on freshwater angling activity in English fisheries. This included seeking to gain an understanding of how often, where and what types of waters anglers are fishing, what species they prefer and how much anglers spend on their sport each year and the contribution angling makes to the economy.

This information is important both to the Environment Agency and to other players in the fisheries scene such as the Angling Trust, The Rivers Trust and a whole host of other bodies such as local councils, angling clubs, and private fishery owners and managers.

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Fish and the fisheries they support are important components of Natural Capital â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the ecosystem services that land, water and air provide and that keep our society healthy and prosperous.

What we did The research was undertaken for the Environment Agency by environmental economists Risk and Policy Analysts Ltd. and sub-contractors Accent and PJMEconomics.

The research was based largely on two questionnaire surveys of rod licence holders, conducted in 2016. The first questionnaire was sent to all 350,000 licence holders living in England for whom the Environment Agency had

The second questionnaire focussed more on preferences anglers have for fisheries with different characteristics – size and type of fish, cost of fishing, distance from home, in addition to non-fish related attributes such as parking, attractiveness of the environment, safety – and cost per day’s fishing. From the data generated it was possible to estimate a theoretical ‘Willingness-to-Pay’ for various fishery characteristics and improvements in angling facilities.

What we found Angling activity The first survey – of angling activity and expenditure – elicited over 10,000 on-line responses and 500 successful CATI responses.

The data generated were checked against the full licence holder database to ensure, as far as possible, that the responses collected were representative of the angler population in terms of age, licence type, geographical distribution, and gender.

• In 2015, 22.5 million days were spent fishing.

• Coarse angling accounted for 19.7 million days.

The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England

email contacts, plus a CATI (computer assisted telephone interview) survey of over 500 anglers for whom we didn’t have email details. This questionnaire asked anglers how many times they had fished in freshwater in England in 2015, which waters they fished, for what species, and how much they spent on different products related to angling such as tackle, bait, fuel, accommodation, match entry fees etc.

12 days fishing in 2015, trout and grayling anglers similar.

• Angling activity in river basin districts largely reflected the number of anglers living there, though in some districts such as Northumbria, Solway-Tweed and Severn river basin districts, they had significant numbers of anglers from outside the region.

Anglers’ spending English anglers spent an estimated £1.7 billion on freshwater angling in 2015. Of this, £680 million was on items not related to specific trips, such as tackle, club/syndicate memberships, clothing, books, angling magazines, whilst £1.06 billion was spent on trip related items – e.g. fuel, bait, day tickets, and accommodation.

• Anglers each spent an average of £430 on tackle in 2015.

• Salmon anglers spent an average of £400 each on membership and syndicate fees whilst for coarse and trout anglers this was around £110.

• Bait, fuel and day-tickets accounted for the bulk of trip-specific spend by anglers in 2015.

• An average of £270 per angler was spent on match fees in 2015, most of this was by coarse anglers.

Responses to all the questions about angling activity, preferences and expenditure were hugely variable so the above figures are averages with huge ranges around them, for instance when asked how many days were spent coarse fishing in 2015 the responses ranged between one day to over 300 days!

• Carp were the most popular individual species Economic impact accounting for 7.4 million days.

• 2.4 million days were spent fishing for trout, mostly on stocked stillwaters.

• 134,000 days were spent fishing for salmon and sea trout.

• Across all angling types 69% of all angling days (15.5 million) were spent on stillwaters.

• Individual coarse anglers spent an average of 26 days fishing in 2015.

• Salmon anglers spent an average of

The total economic impact of expenditure on freshwater angling in England in 2015 was estimated to be £1.46 billion (expressed as Gross Value Added, GVA) and supported approximately 27,000 full time employees (FTEs).

The contribution of angling to the economy of different regions in England, largely reflected the numbers of anglers and amount of angling activity in each region, but visiting anglers made significant impact in some cases.

Some examples are shown next: 27

The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England

• In Anglian river basin district the economic impact of angling was £127 million GVA and it supported 2,800 FTEs. Visitors accounted for around £40 million GVA and 815 jobs. Each angling trip by residents was worth around £40, whilst for visitor-trips it was worth £117.

• In Northumbria the economic impact of angling as whole was comparatively small at £15.4 million GVA and it supported 283 FTEs. Each angling trip by residents was worth £40 whilst visitors contributed over four times as much at £169, perhaps reflecting visits for salmon fishing.

• In the English part of the Severn river basin district, economic impact was £93.1 million GVA and it supported almost 1,800 FTEs. Almost half of this economic impact was the result of visiting anglers. Their trips generated £142 each compared to those by residents which generated £42 each.

How does angling compare with other activities?

• Figures from 2012 on people walking the South West Coast Path, show that walkers using England’s longest National Trail spent around £436m during 2012. This expenditure supported 9,771 FTE jobs and GVA estimates were nearly £350m (South West Research Company, 2014).

• In 2012/13 the 42.4 million adults who visited the natural environment spent £21 billion.

• Of all overnight trips taken in Britain in 2012, 37% related to trips involving outdoor recreation, equating to a figure of £10 billion (Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Reconomics report (2014).

• In 2012, the outdoor specialist market was estimated to be worth £1.43 billion.

Notwithstanding the varying scope of these studies, this suggests that whilst angling makes only a modest contribution in gross terms, the contribution per angler and per trip is highly significant.

How is angling changing?

A similar survey of angling activity, expenditure and economic impact was conducted in 2005.

• The total number of freshwater angling days spent in England in 2015 was 22.3 million, which is a fall of 22% from the 2005 estimate of 28.5 million.

• Fishing on all water types is less frequent but the greatest decline has been in river fishing (43% fall since 2005) and canals (39% fall).

• The greatest fall in angling activity has been in the North East and North West, with a small increase in Anglian, Thames and South-East river basins.

• Popularity of river trout and grayling has increased slightly.

• Salmon angling days have reduced by over half since 2005, which is particularly noticeable in the North West.

• Total trip related expenditure by anglers in 2015 (£1.06 billion) was very similar to that in 2005 when adjusted for inflation.

• Non-trip related spend increased from £469,000 in 2005 to £680,000 in 2015.

In summary, it appears that anglers are fishing less frequently but proportionally spending more on each trip and significantly more per annum on tackle, clothing, club memberships etc..

How do anglers value the characteristics of different fisheries?

The second angler survey, undertaken in late • Walking tourism alone supports up to 245,000 2016, like the first one involved both on-line and equivalent full-time jobs, and contributed up to CATI questionnaires. This questionnaire used £2.76 billion for the English economy. choice cards showing hypothetical fisheries • 260 million visits to National Parks and Areas with different characteristics (size, abundance and type of fish, access, parking etc.) – and of Outstanding Natural Beauty resulted in excess of £6 billion expenditure and supports importantly - distance from home and day ticket costs. From the responses to these, our over 85,500 businesses and more than 120,000 jobs (National Park England, in Much contractors were able to calculate a theoretical ‘Willingness to Pay’ for various changes to More than a View (2015).

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By combining the results of this second survey (where anglers were invited to make choices between features of hypothetical fisheries) with those from the first survey which indicated where anglers actually fished in 2015, we created a • Anglers had a greater consumer surplus simple Excel spreadsheet-based tool to enable (perceived greater benefit) for an increase in environmental and fisheries managers to fish abundance from low to moderate rather indicate the likely benefits of changes to fishery than from moderate to high: £22.63 compared characteristics such as increasing number of to £2.43 per individual trip. pegs, changing price, improving fish size or • Likewise for changes in sizes of fish, consumer improving aesthetic quality. surplus generated by a change from mostly small fish to medium sized fish was £10.63 but The full report: A survey of Freshwater Angling in England, has now been published and is from medium to large was £7.76. available on the GOV.UK website: https://assets.

• Attitudes varied between angling sectors and publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/ different age groups – younger age groups system/uploads/attachment_data/file/748300/A_ expressed a higher willingness to pay for survey_of_freshwater_angling_in_England_-_ larger fish compared to older age groups. phase_1_report.pdf Anglers who fished more frequently expressed higher willingness-to-pay than those who fished infrequently.

• Anglers from the South East river basin district generally had the highest ‘Willingness to Pay’, whilst those from the Humber basin expressed the lowest.

• Amongst fish species, anglers showed strong preferences for the species they were most interested in and an apparent willingness to switch from venues that were dominated by species other than those they are targeting.

For instance, river coarse anglers indicated a willingness to pay for the presence of barbel of around £7 per trip, general mixed coarse fish even higher at £8.80 per trip, whereas for the presence of salmon the ‘Willingness to Pay’ by river coarse anglers was actually negative.

• For other general fishery characteristics, those perceived as most valuable were availability of pegs or swims, lack of visible or known pollution, attractiveness of the environment, absence of litter. All of these were ranked more important than size and abundance of fish.

As with the survey for phase 1 of the project, responses from anglers were hugely variable both between and within different sectors of the sport and a key message from this study for fisheries managers and that the angling market is highly fragmented and making choices that suit all, or even most, anglers can be difficult.

The Value of Freshwater Fishing in England

fisheries such as increase in fish size, increase in numbers of swims etc., which can be taken as a yardstick of how important these various factors are to anglers.

Visit to Alkborough Flats

Visit to Alkborough Flats On a bright and sunny Wednesday afternoon, a small group visited Alkborough Flats as part of this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Annual Conference.

This isolated piece of land lies on the right bank of the River Trent as it joins the Humber Estuary, and is bounded on the landward side by a steep escarpment. At the top of this lies the village of Alkborough.

We started our trip with a coach ride from Hull along the north bank of the Humber and over the Humber Bridge, then along the south bank going westward towards the Trent confluence. We had a very informative commentary from Barry Byatt on the estuary and places of interest on the route. At Alkborough village we were joined at 30

Julianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Bower, a scheduled ancient monument comprising a grass maze, by Faith Spencer, Environment Agency Humber Strategy Habitats Advisor. The view over the Flats from the high vantage point was stunning, a diverse complex of grassland and wetlands.

One of the largest realignment sites and flood storage schemes in Europe The Alkborough Flats coastal managed realignment scheme is one of the largest realignment sites and flood storage schemes

Visit to Alkborough Flats

in Europe. Prior to the scheme, the area was managed as arable farmland with flood embankments running along the whole riverside boundary. The site covers 450 hectares, of which 370 hectares lie between the remaining tidal defences and the escarpment, and 80 hectares between the tidal defences and low water mark (intertidal mud flats). It provides a significant flood storage area, which can reduce high tide levels over a large part of the upper estuary by up to 150mm. In the 2013 tidal surge, it reduced tidal flooding by as much as 7%, by volume.

ÂŁ11.1 million, which was mainly funded by Flood Defence grant-in-aid with funding contributions from EU Interreg and Yorkshire Forward.

At its inception, it was estimated that the gross ecosystem services benefits would be ÂŁ27.9 million.

Internationally important site for wildlife

Photo by Dlanor S on Unsplash

The Humber is a major estuary, taking drainage from a fifth of the land area of England and studies have shown that its important intertidal and wetland habitats will be lost over the next The scheme commenced in 2006 and is a 100 years due to sea level rise. The extensive partnership between the Environment Agency, tidal mudflats provide internationally important Natural England, Associated British Ports and habitats for wildlife, including 160,000 waterfowl.

North Lincolnshire Council. The majority of the In addition, the estuary provides sandbars, land was originally purchased by the Environment shingle banks, saltmarsh, saline lagoons, Agency and Natural England in 2003 using funds reedbeds and freshwater marshes and as such from HM Treasury and the Regional Development carries SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest), Agency, with the final portion being bought with SAC (Special Area of Conservation), SPA (Special funds from Defra in 2004. The scheme cost Protection Area) and Ramsar designations.

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Visit to Alkborough Flats

New habitat created To allow inundation of the Flats, a section of the tidal defences was removed and an overspill weir installed. A distribution channel was constructed to aid inundation, although the site already contained a network of ditches and watercourses.

The site is being monitored regularly and has shown that by creating a new flood storage area with a mosaic of habitats, it is possible to provide for a diverse range of estuary fauna and flora and off-set some of the lost habitat elsewhere.

The group proceeded from the high area to the flats and enjoyed a very pleasant walk along the well constructed paths, suitable for wheelchairs, to the hides and viewing points. Only when down on the flats themselves could you appreciate the size of the site and the complex habitats that are developing, including some areas still used for arable farming.

Work is ongoing to assess the effectiveness of the flood storage site, but the wider project has produced a complex pattern of new habitats, including grazing marsh, saline pools, wet and dry reedbeds, a freshwater area, hedgerows and grassland scrub, together with facilitating mudflat development. This has improved habitats It was a very well organised site visit that was for benthic communities, fish and epifaunal enjoyed by us all. invertebrates, birds and produced a rich diversity of plants.

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ANGLING LAKES POLICY After an extensive review of their existing angling lake insurance policy, Sunderland Marine is delighted to launch a first loss insurance policy for angling lakes which covers stock mortality caused by a named peril.

For angling lake owners and managers the new policy brings: Peace of Mind – You’ll have the right cover at the right price.

Clarity - know exactly what you’ll pay to cover your stock.

Transparency – cover all or part of your stock. You decide the cover levels that are best for you.

Value for Money – get the right insurance cover for your business and stock.

Please note that each policy will be subject to a minimum premium of £400 plus tax.

WHO CAN USE IT? The policy will be applicable to all trout and coarse angling lakes, plus ornamental lakes, etc. Each enquiry will be subject to a risk management review.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Visit www.sunderlandmarine.com/insurance/angling-lakes/details/ Or contact a member of our team via email: fisheries@sunderlandmarine.com or tel: 0191 232 5221.

Copyright © 2019 Sunderland Marine Insurance Company Limited 2019. All Rights Reserved

Sunderland Marine

Peace of Mind Those of us old enough to experience the summer of 1976 (my parents have told me all about it), assumed it would be a one-off.

However, it appears that long hot summers may now occur more frequently. Predictions from the 1990s showed that there was only a 5% probability of these temperatures occurring in the future, so have we all set up our mitigation and emergency systems with this probability in mind? For 2019, it has been predicted that there is a 15%-20% chance that we will have a repeat of the temperatures seen in 2018. By 2050, scorching summers will be the norm, according to the Met Office Chief Scientist Dr Stephen

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Belcher. This may be good news for the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ice cream sellers, but it may cause a few sleepless nights for fishery owners and managers.

Feedback from Sunderland Marineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s risk managers after a busy summer 2018 visiting fisheries and fish farms has indicated that, not surprisingly, the temperatures caused numerous direct environmental problems for stock such as low oxygen levels and an increase in the number and intensity of algal blooms. Fishery managers are well used to deploying aeration pumps and even using secondary water supplies such as boreholes, but if these types of conditions become more common and potentially more extreme, it may be that even with the best

Sunderland Marine

monitoring and mitigation strategies, it will not be enough to prevent significant stock losses.

Therefore fishery owners and managers may want to consider stock insurance as another level of defence, so that if the worst happens, businesses can get back up and running as soon as possible.

Whilst England’s sporting teams may have caused a few anxious moments over the summer of 2018, and will probably continue to do so in the future, we hope Sunderland Marine can help protect fisheries and businesses allowing the owners and managers to be confident about the future.

The policy also comes with a complimentary risk James Simison management service, providing bespoke practical Risk Management Surveyor and advice to each fishery that purchases a policy.

Coordinator (SMI) Sunderland Marine’s risk managers have built up a wealth of knowledge, having underwritten their first fishery policy in 1986.

Sunderland Marine Sunderland Marine is the leading international insurer of fishing vessels, aquaculture and angling lakes risks with over 8,000 policyholders worldwide. Established in 1882, the Standard and Poor’s A-rated company is based in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK with regional offices in Australia and New Zealand and, trading as Harlock Murray Underwriting, in Canada. The company became part of North Group in 2014 following a merger with global marine mutual North P&I Club, which also has offices and subsidiaries in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Greece, Japan, Singapore and USA. Sunderland Marine’s qualified and knowledgeable teams of underwriters, surveyors and claims staff ensure

clients are provided with high levels of service and comprehensive insurance policies. The company is also at the forefront of promoting safety at sea and regularly contributes to and sponsors training programmes in the UK and overseas.

For more information, please visit Sunderland Marine’s website at www.sunderlandmarine.com.

To speak to one of our team contact: Katherine Clifford +44 191 232 5221

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Postcards from the Annual Conference

Postcards from the Annual Conference

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Postcards from the Annual Conference

The Paul Coulson BLOG

The Paul Coulson

BLOG One Hull of a city....

Hull Minster © Mike Bartlett

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The Paul Coulson BLOG

Well what can I say about Hull? Brilliant venue, amazing social events, lovely friendly locals, stunning buildings, great beer and it never rained, oh and I got to stay in my own bed instead of a hotel every night. Okay, maybe I am a tad biased about my home city but we did have a great few days in Hull for the 49th Annual Conference.

As you will see from the featured articles we were treated to some varied and interesting talks once again with everything from Brexit to crabs, and paddlefish to participation covered across the three days. We also had a couple of excellent field trips to the Skerne Wetlands Project and Alkborough Flats as well as a cultural tour of Hull (yes, we still have some left over from last year). The Annual Dinner took place in the very fishy surroundings of The Deep aquarium and this year we were pleased to be able to show the short film on the return of salmon to Yorkshire.

This featured a few of the dinner guests and as you can imagine there was much cheering and hollering as they appeared on the big screen!

There were rumours that a few autographs were asked for but this was never confirmed.

The other highlight of the dinner was the presentation of the training awards. A big congratulations to Damon Block and Rob Pitkin on picking up awards on the night, and also to

Rebecca Cheng who, in classic awards style, couldn’t be with us as she had emigrated to Australia the day before the conference. Iain and I did offer to fly out and present it on Bondi Beach but apparently the training budget wouldn’t stretch that far.

The Annual Conference wouldn’t be as successful as it is without the support of the companies that both sponsor the event as well as those that take trade stands. We are very lucky, and grateful, to have the support of so many companies in our industry and I would just like to say a big thank you from the Yorkshire Branch, and the Institute as a whole, for their continuing support.

Putting the miles in Aside from the conference we have also been busy with our fishery management weekends.

Ian Wellby and I have delivered the first two of these at Walthamstow Reservoir and at the Environment Agency offices in Nottingham.

These events are growing in popularity, so much so we ran out of seats at Walthamstow!

We have three more remaining this year in Sheffield, Warrington and Godalming, so if your club would like to attend one of these events 39

The Paul Coulson BLOG Natalie on Skiddaw

Lily in the lake

Wolf run

40

The Paul Coulson BLOG

please keep an eye out for the details from your local Environment Agency Fishery Officer.

have ventured back on to the East Yorkshire ditch for the annual Newport Pairs Winter League. We are not doing too badly so far, though it has been We have now moved on to planning for our 9th a bit of a struggle. In the first match, it snowed Specialist Conference in May. This will be held at (perfect winter league conditions) and blew a the DoubleTree by Hilton just outside the Roman gale which made it hard to fish properly. Mike walls of York. The theme for this year is Fish, however, managed to play a blinder by snaring Flows and Climate Resilience and we are looking a 4lb bream with about 30 minutes to go. This forward to an interesting couple of days in York. is the biggest fish that has been caught on the The call for papers is out now, so if you would league for many a year and catapulted him up his like to present some of your work we would love section, if only I could have caught one as well. to hear from you.

The second round was a real struggle with the You will also find the call for papers for our fish being shoaled up very tight. If you didn’t 50th Anniversary Conference within the pages draw on the fish you sat and watched the chap of FISH. The theme for this special few days next door empty it instead. We both scraped a is Learning from the Past to Inform the Future. couple of pounds of fish to get us a few points.

The branch has some superb plans for the week The third round was much better and I had a and it is sure to be a great few days celebrating great day catching 8lb of roach and a few perch. our special birthday. Full details on the Mike had a few as well and we finished third on website shortly. the day. So, all to play for with three rounds left.

After the excitement of the conference, I was The Nettle files lucky enough to have a nice relaxing family holiday planned to the Lake District. I am pleased to say that the lovely weather continued The destruction continues. The last few months has seen her eat the kitchen door, some and we had a glorious week not far from Bassenthwaite and at the base of Skiddaw. The fridge magnets, Lego men, Pokémon figures, numerous kitchen sponges, some hair bands wildlife was amazing and we saw red squirrels and socks. She has also gone back to digging daily as well as a number of different birds and up my garden, which I thought deer. As we had my parents with us, Natalie she had grown out of. Natalie and I decided to make the brave (and possibly has been doing some research silly) decision to walk up Skiddaw. I’m pleased to say that we made it, and up the tougher route and apparently Beagles can be chewers until they are two. As as well. The views as you climbed were worth Nettle was only one on Boxing the sore legs and nothing beats having a ham and pickle sandwich at 2000 ft. I also managed Day, this gives us another year of half chewed children’s toys and to get in a few good training runs for the Winter tea towels with holes in to look Wolf Run that I had to tackle again the following forward to! weekend.

Against my better judgement, I agreed to sign up I have moved on and bought a nice new fish to the race again, however this year it was much tank to keep me occupied. You never come downstairs to see a guppy swimming around more enjoyable, partly I think to the fact it was with a Pikachu in its mouth.

12°C and not 2°C as it was last year; the lake was almost warm enough to bathe in. Okay, that last bit was a lie, but at least there was no ice!

We are now broadening our horizons and are looking at doing other races later this year, hopefully we will find a nice summer one to do.

Tight lines.

Paul Coulson - Director of Operations

paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk As it is now the winter, I have finally got my fishing 07960 939 836 gear out of the airing cupboard. Mike Lee and I 41

IFM News

IFM News Event

Date

Location

IFM and EA Fisheries Management Workshop

March 2nd - 3rd

Sheffield - Free

IFM Certificate Field Course

March 16th - 17th

Warrington - Free

IFM and EA Fisheries Management Workshop

March 30 - 31st

Warrington and Godalming - both free

IFM Award Field Course

April 13th-14th

Electric fishing training -

April 27th - 28th

Loughbrough - £360

9th Annual IFM Specialist Conference Fish, Flows and Climate Resilience

May 21st - 22nd

DoubleTree by Hilton, York

October 8th – 10th 2019

Nottingham Conference Centre and the annual dinner will be held in the Council House

50th Annual Conference Learning from the Past, to Inform the Future

For further details on up and coming events: www.ifm.org.uk/events

IFM at the Westminster Forum I was fortunate to attend a Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum Keynote Seminar on behalf of the Institute in mid-January.

The subject matter couldn’t have been more topical - the future of environmental principles and governance post- Brexit!

The opening speaker Begonia Figueira, an environmental lawyer, set the tone by explaining the governance gap when we leave the EU. Although she was encouraged by the Environment Bill, which sets out the 25 year Environment Plan (EP) and the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), she felt that the EP had no detail, metrics or baseline, and that the OEP was not sufficiently independent and had limited powers.

The organizers had assembled a good cast of speakers, representing a range of sectors, who each had a few minutes to make their points before the audience was invited to ask questions. These points were emphasised by Shaun Spiers from the Green Alliance and GreenerUK who added that the principles were too weak, 42

IFM News The Deep aquarium Hull © Les Stubbs

climate change had ridiculously been omitted from the Bill and that the Bill should apply to all the devolved administrations, not just England.

Chris Price, representing diversified farming, was worried that the Agriculture Bill hadn’t set down any environmental ‘public goods’ standards whilst Roz Bulleid, speaking for the manufacturing industry, was concerned about the costs of environmental management, the rapid rate of change, increasing complexity and other competing demands facing companies. She applied several straightforward tests to the Bill which failed on all counts!

Martin Baxter stood in at the last minute for a water industry spokesman. Unfortunately Martin, from IEMA, knew very little about water so he mainly talked about the Broadway initiative, an attempt to influence the Government on the importance of space based planning, interconnectedness and the need to introduce ‘a duty of care for the environment’ across several sectors.

from the Environment Agency agreed that the environmental principles should be strengthened by embedding them in law and she would have liked to have seen climate change adaptation targets included. Roger Pullin from the CIA (Chemical Industries Association, unfortunately!) made a plea for innovation to be one of the core principles and felt that the OEP should carry out investigative work. Julie Hill represented the recycling industry and her concerns for the OEP were the ‘3 Ms’ – milestones (EP targets), measuring (this required partnership with business), and money (sufficient resources available).

The last speaker Sonia Phippard was from Defra so you might have expected her to try to answer some of the fundamental points being raised at the meeting. Instead she focused on recent history, the record scale of responses to the EP and the Bill, the amount of work involved, the huge challenge ahead and so on. She did point out however, that the EP was statutory, the draft Katy Losse from the National Audit Office pointed Bill was an enabling framework that sets out what out that for environmental governance to work it to cover and that the OEP would be in place by needed senior involvement, clear responsibilities the end of 2020. and good data. She too questioned the Overall, the speakers tried to put an optimistic independence of the OEP and emphasized the slant on the future but it was clear that leaving the need for sufficient resources to reach a ‘critical EU will weaken our environmental standards and mass’ (not defined). Emma Howard Boyd 43

IFM News

protections, and that the Government’s proposals well as identifying projects to research for the are insufficient to even maintain the status quo, coming year. let alone improve matters.

If you are involved with a fishery, or have an idea that you think may make an interesting project Dr Peter Spillett for one of our students we would love to hear IFM President from you. As our courses become ever more popular we need a wider range of projects for our students to get involved with.

IFM Membership news

By now you should have all had your renewal letters and a great many of you have already renewed your membership for which we thank you for your continued support of the Institute.

If you haven’t renewed yours yet, then it’s very easy to do so. The easiest way is to set up a direct debit with your bank and that way your membership automatically renews at the beginning of each year without you having to do anything. You can always renew at any time by logging on to the website and renewing online and alternatively you can send us a cheque if you prefer.

One thing is very important though and that is to keep your contact details up to date, without this we can’t keep in touch and you may not receive FISH magazine or our newsletters.

Each year we get several renewal letters sent back to us as the member has moved away without giving us their new contact details, so please just take a few minutes to check that we still have your current details, thank you.

Iain Turner

IFM Development and Membership Officer

IFM Training Report The autumn and winter is a busy time for IFM Training. We continue to run our fishery management workshops on behalf of the Environment Agency as well as delivering our three distance learning courses. The new students on the Diploma and Award courses are now well into the swing of things and have completed their first pieces of course work as 44

At the Annual Conference we were delighted to present the IFM Student of the Year Awards.

These are presented to the best performing student across our three distance learning courses. This year’s winners were: Best Student on the IFM Diploma – Robert Pitkin Best Student on the IFM Award – Damon Block Best Student on the IFM Certificate – Rebecca Cheng Congratulations to all the students who have passed our courses this year.

Students on our Certificate Course recently sat their first set of exams for 2018. We had a record number of submissions with over 90 papers taken and sent in for marking. The tutors are now hard at work marking all of the papers so that we get marks to the students in good time.

If all goes to plan with the marking we should see a record number of passes this time around as well.

As the spring hopefully rolls in we will be holding our annual practical weekends for students on the Award and Certificate courses. Last year we were hit by the Beast from the East during the Certificate weekend which saw us netting ponds in finger numbing water, gale force winds and driving snow; Ian Wellby even had to abandon his car as he couldn’t get back into his village. Let’s hope we don’t have a repeat of those conditions this year.

Paul Coulson Director of Operations

IFM News

Branch Contacts If you want more information on IFM activities in your region, please contact the branch secretaries through the email addresses below: East Anglia: Andy Sadler

andrew.sadler@environment-agency.gov.uk

Ireland: Robert Rossell

Robert.Rosell@afbini.gov.uk

London & South East: Steve Colclough srcifm@gmail.com

Midlands/Lincolnshire: Ryan Taylor

ryan.taylor@environment-agency.gov.uk

North West: Paul Coulson

paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk

South West: Iain Turner swest@ifm.org

Southern: Iain Turner

iain.turner@ifm.org.uk

Scottish: Lorraine Hawkins lorraine@riverdee.org

Wales: Emma Keenan

emma.keenan@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk

Yorkshire & North East: Mike Lee

michael.lee@environment-agency.gov.uk

45

Breaking News

Breaking News Cocaine in the River Thames makes eels hyperactive

Breaking News

Cocaine in the River Thames makes eels hyperactive The Sunday Times (20 January 2019) reported that Londoners are taking so much cocaine that the class A drug can be found in the Thames Leaping salmon © Jason Dale and that it is making eels hyperactive.

“Researchers used a monitoring station near the Houses of Parliament to assess how rising cocaine use, plus downpours that overwhelm waste plants and carry sewage into the river, were damaging it. The cocaine comes from users’ urine and can be detected in wastewater but should be removed by water treatment and dilution. In the Thames, however, that system is failing, with a constant low level of cocaine.”

Climate change and the importance of northern refugia for Atlantic salmon

This story, as you can imagine, attracted lots of media interest around the world however, as the story unfolded claims became somewhat distorted. Cocaine can be detected in the Thames but it’s not the highest in Europe, 0.5-2 ng/l cocaine on the Thames compared to 1-29 ng/l in other European surface waters.

Sewage treatment is effective at removing and reducing cocaine concentrations. Claims of behavioural impacts on eels were linked to laboratory experiments, but was exposure at meaningful environmental levels? One report stated that, “The concentration of cocaine found in the Thames was so high it lay outside of the quantifiable range”, though this statement actually relates to caffeine not cocaine.

Nevertheless, despite the distortions, such stories do highlight unexpected environmental issues.

Salmon populations were characterised using microsatellite loci and then analysed in the light of ocean surface temperature data from across the region. Analysis showed the presence of a latitudinal cline of genetic variability (higher in northern areas) and water temperatures (sea surface temperatures) determining genetic population structure (the latter in combination with genetic drift in southern populations).

In research by Horreo et al. (2018), patterns of geographical genetic diversity in Atlantic salmon were studied across the whole of the Atlantic arc, as well as whether patterns (and thus genetic population structure) were affected by water temperatures.

Under the current global change scenario, northern areas of Europe would constitute refuges for diversity in the future. This is effectively the inverse of what appears to have happened in glacial refugia during the last glacial maximum. From this perspective, the still abundant and large northern populations should be considered as precious as the small almost relict southern ones and protected.

Careful management of Atlantic salmon, coordinated across countries and latitudes, is needed in order to avoid its extinction in Europe.

48

To advertise in the next edition of FISH please contact: Iain Turner iain.turner@ifm.org.uk

49

Book Review

Book Review How to Catch Big Pike

By Paul Gustafson – Review by Lawrence Talks As a lad, I always dreamt of capturing a mammoth pike. In fact as a school prize, I was given a copy of the Fred Buller’s classic book, The Domesday Book of Mammoth Pike, and so it is with great pleasure that I review Paul Gustafson’s latest book.

Complete with foreword by Fred Buller, this is a richly illustrated, well written and practical guide to catching big pike. It is clear throughout, that Paul is passionate about pike and is very much a champion of the species. I was particularly pleased to see a chapter dedicated to the careful handling of pike and highlighting that pike are a fragile quarry. I was surprised though that he didn’t recommend twin hooks as an alternative to trebles, and smaller hooks, which reduce the likelihood of complications.

This book is now in its third edition with revised and extended sections, takes you through what methods and bait might be used, how to approach different waters, whether rivers or lakes, and fishing from the bank or a boat. It is generously illustrated throughout with new photographs and new, specially commissioned artwork. It covers the very latest scientific discoveries about how pike detect their prey through dedicated olfactory organs; how they use their specialised sense of smell; and what it is exactly that pike see - with obvious relevance to choice of lures.

The author has also included new material on the fishing of loughs, lakes and rivers in Ireland; on fly fishing for pike; and on how to locate record pike in a new chapter written by Fred Buller.

All in all this is just the book to read by the fireside and not only dream about catching a giant pike but it equips you with the skills to do so.

50

How to Catch Big Pike Author: Paul Gustafson Hardcover: 336 pages Publisher: Robinson (9 Jun. 2016) ISBN-10: 1845286049 Price: £35.00

Fish and eel pass design, fabrication and installation, including full CAD capabilities Tidal gate fish passage mitigation, including design, fabrication and installation of bespoke dampers and spring retarders Fisheries assessments and surveys, including PHABSIM studies, electro-fishing, quantitative mapping, advanced quantitative experimental design, migration and barrier studies Fisheries monitoring and R&D, including pit-tagging, DIDSON/ARIS & camera monitoring, telemetry studies, field-based experiments and product development Fisheries impact assessments of hydropower installations and appropriate mitigation measures In-house civil construction design and project management

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Members and their FISH

Adrian Pinder and friends with a 300lb white sturgeon on the Fraser River Canada

Do you have a picture of yourself with a fish?

If so FISH would like to hear from you.

Send your images to: fish@ifm.org.uk