Fish 123 2

Edition 123 / Autumn 2016

The Quarterly Magazine of Fisheries Management

World Fisheries 7TH WORLD FISHERIES CONGRESS, BUSAN, KOREA The Olympics of the fisheries world

WORLD FISH MIGRATION DAY Connecting fish, rivers and people

SAMPLING SALMON IN WEST GREENLAND An experience of a lifetime

WESTERN AUSTRALIA FITZROY RIVER A GLOBAL SAWFISH HOTSPOT TRACKING ELASMOBRANCHS OFF SCOTLAND PLUS: A TRIBUTE TO JOHN GREGORY SALMON & TROUT CONSERVATION UK’S RIVERFLY CENSUS A FLY FISHER’S GUIDE TO GIANT TREVALLY

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Fish 123

FISH Autumn 2016

Fish 123 Inside this edition 4

View from the Chair

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7th World Fisheries Congress, Busan, Korea

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World Fish Migration Day

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Sampling Salmon in West Greenland

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Western Australia’s Fitzroy River a Global Sawfish Hotspot

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Salmon & Trout Conservation UK’s Riverfly Census

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Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

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The Paul Coulson BLOG

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IFM News

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A Tribute to John Gregory

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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, Ian Dolben, Peter Spillett, Valerie Holt, Paul Coulson, John Gregory, Eamon Cusack

IFM ( Institute of Fisheries Management ) PO Box 679, Hull, HU5 9AX Tel: +44(0)845 388 7012

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

The autumn edition of FISH has been slightly delayed this year to enable us to pay tribute to John Gregory’s passing. John was a valued friend, former colleague and an inspiration to so many, who gave tirelessly to the Institute.

IFM President, Peter Spillett pays tribute to John in this edition.

The theme for this edition of FISH is World Fisheries, which provides a great opportunity to see what fisheries scientists and managers are involved in around the world. This can often be inspiring and who wouldn’t be inspired by fly fishing for Giant Trevally, which features on our front cover! See more about the legendary GT in our review of Peter McLeod’s book: A Fly Fisher’s Guide to Giant Trevally.

We open with an article by Dr Ian Winfield on the 7th World Fisheries Congress, which involved 1,226 of the world’s fisheries scientists and managers from 66 countries. You can see why it is called the Olympics of the fisheries world.

This is followed by an introduction to World Fish Migration Day, which has become a global movement. Today there are very few large freeflowing wild rivers left in the world.

Hot off the press, Kerry Sims, of the Environment Agency, tells us about her experience sampling salmon off the west coast of Greenland. We then turn to warmer climes and hear about measures to better understand sawfish on the Fitzroy River in Australia.

Closer to home, the Salmon and Trout Conservation UK’s river fly census is seeking to make high resolution citizen science a catalyst for reversing ecological degradation in many of our UK rivers.

Finally, we hear about pioneering work to track elasmobranchs off Scotland.

Designed by POLAR 10 www.polar10.com

If you have an idea for an article for FISH, please get in touch as Members’ contributions are always welcome.

Front cover: Giant Trevally © Gerhard Laubscher

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

View from the Chair

FISH Autumn 2016

AFS President Ron Essig ( left ) with Eamon

View from the Chair Later in this edition Peter has written an excellent piece on John Gregory and his life. But just a few words. John was a great guy, one of life’s gentlemen and a good friend. Our sympathies go to his family who have gone through so much with the loss of John and the sudden death of his wife Lynden. Having worked with John closely as Chairman over the last number of years I have become more aware of his quiet, dogged manner to get things done and his great interest in life.

He gave hugely to the Institute over many years.

In recent years John was the driving force behind the modernisation of the Institute and building partnerships with like-minded bodies.

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John had great ambitions for the Institute, which we discussed on many occasions. How more members could get involved, how the Institute could improve the professionalism of those involved in fisheries, and how we could improve our advocacy role for better fisheries management.

Ensuring that we get involved and that the Institute grows and continues into the future would be the best way we can remember him.

In this issue of FISH we look at World Fisheries and it is interesting to consider how the problems affecting fisheries around the world are similar.

Having been privileged to travel to the American

Fisheries Society and other international conferences over the years, I have acquired an awareness of these differing issues, where it would seem to me that only the scale and species differ.

There is the pollution from large scale agriculture in Iowa, turning some of its lakes green, and the reduction of salmon numbers on some of the great fisheries of Canada. Talking to Ian Cowx, I learned of the amazing fisheries work being done on the great Mekong River to mitigate the damage caused by the construction of vast hydropower dams. According to Ian, if all the hydropower plants go ahead they will lose about 360 to 370 thousand tonnes of fish and aquatic organisms in Vietnam and about 270 thousand tonnes in Cambodia.

These hydropower plants will require fish passes to alleviate the damage. The fish passes that we know would not be suitable. These are required to be on a massive scale to allow thousands of tons of fish to swim up and down. It will be a mammoth feat of engineering.

Large scale developments are happening in the UK also. The proposed building of the Swansea Bay lagoon power plant scheme is still being considered with its accompanying fish pass.

While at this year’s American Fisheries Society Conference in Kansas, a gigantic affair, I learned of the many large scale programmes to reduce the expanding invasive carp population, including a novel way: “carp dogs”. Yes, encouraging people to eat them like ‘hot dogs’, and I have to say they were very tasty! But as one down-toearth scientist said: “If they are tasty, you will only encourage demand and make it harder to remove them”.

In considering these issues, it struck me, do we learn from such large scale projects in a similar way to other great science projects. The science developed during the early space programmes, it is said gave us the non-stick frying pan, so what have we learned from major world fisheries projects?

However, the work being done on a local small scale is also valuable, such as the the Wild Trout Trust project notching weirs on the Eastburn Beck in Yorkshire. This project was carried out by Jonny Grey of the WTT and Pete Turner

of the Environment Agency, with help from volunteers from the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and Bradford Environmental Action Trust. Fisheries at international and local level is all about working together in partnerships.

Partnerships was the theme for this year’s highly successful IFM Annual Conference in Norwich, and you will be able to read all about it in our next edition of FISH. Finally, thank you to everyone for your support and commitment to fisheries. All our efforts will be required to deal with the many challenges ahead and I would ask you to encourage your colleagues to join IFM and help champion fisheries.

Eamon Cusack IFM Chairman

View from the Chair

FISH Autumn 2016

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7th World Fisheries Congress, Busan, Korea

7th World Fisheries Congress, Busan, Korea

The 7th World Fisheries Congress rolls into Busan © Ian Winfield

Dr Ian Winfield, Fellow of the IFM, and member of the Lake Ecosystems Group at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Lancaster, reports back from the seventh World Fisheries Congress.

The Olympics of the fisheries world Following its visit to the U.K. in 2012, the World Fisheries Congress convened for the seventh time at the other side of the world in Busan, Korea, from 23 to 27 May 2016 under a theme of ‘Challenge to Sustainable Fisheries and Safe Seafoods’. Hosted by The World Council of Fisheries Societies, this immense meeting is considered by many to be the Olympics of the fisheries world. Its 2016 incarnation was 8

organised by The Korean Society of Fisheries and Aquatic Science and supported by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies, the Korean Government, the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, Busan Metropolitan City and a range of sponsors. For five days, 1,226 of the world’s fisheries scientists and managers representing 66 countries enjoyed an extremely diverse programme comprising 36 sessions containing 499 oral and 260 poster presentations, together with a fascinating trade

7th World Fisheries Congress, Busan, Korea

FISH Autumn 2016

exhibition and fantastic hospitality from the Korean people including from an army of local student volunteers providing technical and other help.

How smart are fish and everything else besides!

Although it was impossible to attend all presentations because of the unavoidable need to organise them in up to 12 simultaneous sessions, as a member of the Program Committee I did have the pleasure of reading through each and every abstract for the oral presentations. As to be expected, subjects were dominated by classic ‘finfish’ fisheries, but coverage also ranged into the more exotic fisheries management of a range of invertebrates and even seaweeds. Although marine fisheries dominated, the freshwater realm was also well represented with, for example, key sessions on the effects of climate change

Bronwyn Gillanders, Keith Rowling and colleagues look forward to welcoming you to the next World Fisheries Congress in 2020 in Adelaide, Australia © Ian Winfield

on inland fish, standard methods for sampling freshwater fishes, and moving toward a global status of inland fisheries. Fundamental fish biology and ecology was also well represented, including an excellent keynote presentation on: ‘How smart are fish and why does this matter to fishers?’ by Professor Felicity Huntingford of the University of Glasgow, U.K.

Book your place down-under for 2020 If this short account has wetted your appetite for this unique event, then consider putting a marker in your long-term diary for 11 to 15 October 2020 when the Australian Society for Fish Biology and colleagues will be organising and hosting the 8th World Fisheries Congress in the beautiful city of Adelaide, Australia. You can register your interest now at www.wfc2020.com.

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World Fish Migration Day

World Fish Migration Day Joost van Deelen, Project Coordinator for the World Fish Migration Foundation, describes the birth of a global movement.

It is only two years since the first World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) in 2014 and the concept and its meaning is already deeply-rooted in fisheries and conservation organisations and institutes around the world.

The event was conceived by Herman Wanningen, a Dutch fisheries professional with the rare talent to engage and motivate others and who is now also the inspiring Director of the World Fish Migration Foundation - http://www. worldfishmigrationfoundation.com/. His team has managed to establish WFMD as a firm date for the future for engagement with fisheries and conservation bodies around the world and their contributions are growing year on year.

The essence of WFMD is to build global awareness of the difficult challenges endured by

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World Fish Migration Day

FISH Autumn 2016

over 50 countries worldwide.

Celebrations started that day in New Zealand, with the official event opening in Christchurch, and events continued across the globe, “Connecting fish, rivers and people” following the sun and In Europe we strive to restore connectivity in our finishing the day at an rivers so that stocks may become replenished event in Hawaii. The and approach their ancient diversity and WFMD2014 Facebook abundance. In this way they can better secure page reached over the objectives of the Water Framework Directive 36,000 people that day and support our recreational fisheries. through posts, page likes and mentions, and photos from many These are of course noble and important of the events were posted and aspirations, however in other parts of the can be found on the WFMD2014 world it is far more important than that. The proliferation of dams in rivers from Asia to Africa Facebook page. and South America disrupts river continuity, threatens indigenous fish stocks, and places the World Fish Migration Day 2016 protein resources of hundreds of thousands of Buoyed up by the great success of this first people at risk. event, WFMD 2016 kicked-off on the 21st Raising the profile of all this, is of vital May and extended the reach to hundreds of importance and it is to this end that the more places. Over 2,000 organisations from Foundation conceived and published in 2012 around the world celebrated the 2nd World a guidance book: “From Sea to Source” Fish Migration Day and its embedded theme: (http://www.fromseatosource.com/). More than “Connecting Fish, Rivers and People”. At 450 10,000 copies of this are in circulation around the locations organisers hosted new, bigger and world, from New Zealand to Canada and Peru to better local events to grow awareness about China – raising the profile of damaged rivers and migratory fish and to identify the struggles and threatened fisheries and also the global scarcity needs of these migratory fish. of these rarities – free flowing rivers where stocks can still migrate from sea to source (and back The statistics of WFMD2016 tell a again) with the freedom they need. wonderful story: fish populations. By increasing awareness of the growing threats to fish stocks and the increasing risks that mankind appears to complacently taking with our rivers, the Foundation hopes that it can bring fish and people together in a shared belief in what must be done to protect these vital national resources. Our strapline for all is:-

It was the growing interest in this global movement – for that is what it has become – that led to the concept of WFMD.

A worldwide celebration of healthy rivers and free-running fish On the 24th of May 2014, the first of what we intended to become many celebrations of WFMD - a worldwide celebration of healthy rivers and free-running fish started. Extending to over 270 events, on this single day, well over 1,000 different organisations contributed through support and direct participation in

• 450 Events • 82,000 visitors to events • 63 countries (every continent save Antarctica represented) • More than 15 million people reached on social media • 2,000 organisations involved • 100 million people reached worldwide • Probably the biggest fisheries event ever staged 11

World Fish Migration Day

FISH Autumn 2016

The feedback has been fantastic:

Zeb Hogan, biologist of the University of Nevada and host of National Geographic Wild, Monster Fish: “We want people to realize what’s at stake, understand what we’ve lost, and work together to protect and restore populations of these amazing and life sustaining fish”

Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International: “Fish migration is one of nature’s wonders.

It is more important than ever to conserve migratory fish on which ecosystems but also jobs and economies depend”

Josh Royte, WFMD2016 Steering Committee Chair: “It’s so important to celebrate and restore our planet’s amazing fish migrations.

While this one day of events is incredibly meaningful and important, it has spurred the development of a broader mission to connect people around the world in order to share experiences and expertise throughout the year” Above all, WFMD is something for all those interested in the wellbeing of our fisheries – whether for their intrinsic value as a natural resource, as icons of a healthy environment, or whether they are sporting fish or a vital natural asset to nourish and sustain people.

We encourage all those with the same shared WFMD values to get involved – for the sake of our rivers and their fish.

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We are now planning ahead for World Fish Migration Day 2018 – to be held on 21st April – which we know will be even bigger and better.

And the venue? It’s wherever you want it to be!

If you are interested and want to get involved, whether by organising your own event, joining others, or simply by attending an event – watch the WFMD2018 website or contact us via Twitter at @IFMFish or visit www.worldfishmigrationday.com

World Fish Migration Day

FISH Autumn 2016

World Fisheries Migration Day 2016 map of activities

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Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

FISH Autumn 2016

Kerry Sims, Fisheries Technical Specialist from the Environment Agency, tells of her experience sampling Atlantic salmon on the west coast of Greenland this autumn.

Maniitsoq As soon as I found out I was going, I was excited and immediately had to start making logistical arrangements. I would need to be in West Greenland for two weeks of salmon sampling just six weeks later, on an island within a small community on its rocky southern tip Maniitsoq. To get to Maniitsoq is a mission in its own right, three flights, going first in the opposite direction to Denmark, then onto mainland Greenland, to an airport that was a former US military airbase within the Arctic Circle, before a domestic flight to the island.

Maniitsoq is a key location for monitoring the West Greenland salmon fishery because of its long history as a port for landing “Killiwillit”, which is the Greenlandic word for salmon, named after the only location where salmon spawn in Greenland.

In 2016 I was one of six people, from four different countries, in five different ports monitoring salmon landings in West Greenland, with Nuuk, Greenland’s capital, being the centre of the salmon sampling programme.

Sampling equipment was shipped over from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Woods Hole Laboratory, which included a balance, a pile of scale packets, vials and a lot of preservative.

I borrowed the other kit I needed from generous colleagues, including a coded wire detector and a scaling knife. Within the sampling kit were various helpful guidelines and protocols for the work, which included an English to Danish and Greenlandic translation guide.

A key phrase I picked out was: “can I see your salmons?”, which in Greenlandic is: Kapisiliutisi takusinnaavakka?!

Knowing that English isn’t spoken as a first or even second language by the locals in Maniitsoq NASCO’s monitoring programme was a touch daunting. However, I was fortunate The monitoring programme is funded by to get my hands on a diary from a previous NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Scottish sampler, which included a phonetic Organisation) to obtain fisheries data, genetic guide for some useful words. I discovered samples and ascertain the quantity of salmon very quickly on arrival that Greenlandic is a being landed by the West Greenland salmon challenging language to pick up, and that even fishery, as this is a Mixed Stock Fishery the name of the town, Maniitsoq, I’d been exploiting salmon from a number of jurisdictions. pronouncing incorrectly.

For example, in 2015 20% of the salmon landed in West Greenland were found to be of Icebergs and missing luggage European origin.

The flight over Greenland allowed me to see In recognition of this and to help conserve Atlantic salmon stocks, in 2015 NASCO agreed icebergs and the expansive Greenlandic wilderness of the world’s largest island with with Greenland a salmon catch limit of 45t per its fjords on the west coast and maze of annum for three years and the continuation of mountains, lakes and islands. their monitoring programme.

The salmon fishing season is relatively short running from August to October inclusive, with the fish caught by gill nets set amongst the extensive network of fjords.

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I was fortunate that when I arrived in Maniitsoq I was met by the salmon sampler Helen Downie from Scotland who already knew her way

Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

FISH FISH Summer Autumn 2016

around (we had a couple of days overlap due to the town’s limited flight schedule). This turned out to be more fortunate than I had initially realised, as my luggage failed to materialise for a few days, which otherwise would have left me without sampling equipment, or very many clothes in Arctic temperatures. The average daytime temperature was about 7oC!

Venice of Greenland

It was difficult to predict when salmon would be landed at the market. With 66 fisherman registered in Maniitsoq and 30 licensed to fish for salmon, it meant regular checks at the market during its opening hours, often without success. Luckily these checks allowed me to get to know a few of the regular faces on the market; the three market workers Age, Mikael and Ali-baak, the numerous fisherman and hunters coming and going, as well as some of the customers.

Maniitsoq is known as the Venice of Greenland and islands have been joined together to form a harbour, with a small container port and cod processing factory. The town is exceptionally hilly and many of the multi-coloured Scandinavian-style homes painted in different colours are balanced on top of rocky outcrops and reached by flights of wooden steps.

Outside in the square there were picnic benches where the locals would sometimes play draughts and, at the back, a line of chairs looking out to the pontoon where the many small boats came in with their catch, often carried up on a stretcher. Everyone was friendly, smiling and saying ‘Hi’ as I passed on foot, though later in my time here this gradually changed to a smile Salmon, cod, halibut and catfish to harp and nod, the more traditional Greenlandic way of greeting people here. Over time I learnt seals, harbour porpoise, reindeer and enough basic Greenlandic to get by and tracked minke whale down those people who could speak English.

Generally the salmon sampling I carried out took place in the community market, where along with salmon many other species were landed, ranging from fish like cod, halibut and catfish to harp seals, harbour porpoise, reindeer and minke whale.

The salmon weren’t particularly being targeted when I first arrived. The fishermen told me it was still too warm and the community were still busy hunting reindeer. This meant at first I was sampling low numbers of salmon each day. This soon increased though, so that by the end of the trip I was sampling 50-80 salmon a day.

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Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

FISH Autumn 2016

Sampling salmon A challenge for the sampling was to process the salmon and get the required samples before they were whisked away to be sold, or de-scaled under a high pressure hose before filleting. For each salmon, fork-length and gutted weight was required as well as a check for fin clips especially on the adipose. Scale samples were taken, as well as two small sections of adipose fin for genetic analysis. Any particularly lively sea lice were sampled and a total count of the sea lice loading for each fish was recorded. For those fish with an adipose clip, a search for secondary tags was necessary, which could be either internal or external.

Coded wire tags were searched for with the coded wire detector, essentially a metal detector and the areas around the eyes were searched for coloured VIE tags. Of the six adipose clipped fish I found, unfortunately despite an enthusiastic search of each fish, I never found any tags.

onto the fjords. Every hour I would check the market to make sure I didn’t miss any salmon.

At the end of the day, I would return to my hotel to preserve the samples in RNAlater, which is a liquid that stabilises and protects cellular ribonucleic acid (RNA) used in genetic analysis, and write out the full details of the paperwork and scale packets as there was never enough time when actually doing the sampling. Trying to keep up with the speed of the fishermen’s filleting to ensure I didn’t miss out on the opportunity to sample any particular fish was quite a challenging task.

As for the results of these efforts, I have shipped my samples and equipment back to the USA to be analysed, so we shall wait and see what they tell us about the salmon caught in West Greenland’s waters in 2016.

An experience of a lifetime

Working in the market was a fascinating My other key roles were to count the number of experience. Where else can you be working on salmon and turn around to find a small pile of salmon actually landed so as to have accurate landing data for the dates that I was in Maniitsoq seals appear on the floor next to you ready to be and to ensure that of the fish I didn’t get to fully skinned and the meat chopped up and put on sample that there were no adipose clipped fish, the market. potentially with tags, being missed. In total I If I were ever lucky enough to be invited to sampled 537 salmon, with an average length of sample salmon in Greenland again, I would 650mm and an average weight of 3.02kg. The undoubtedly accept, for the warmth of the largest was 919mm and 8.25kg. people and the wild beauty of the landscape, whilst at the same time contributing to The salmon in the town are sold solely to feed international efforts to conserve and enhance the local community, who still rely significantly Atlantic salmon. I was even lucky enough to on what the sea and coastal landscape can have clear skies giving the chance to observe provide, filling their freezers for the long winter the northern lights dancing and swirling in the months ahead. The salmon fishery still forms starry sky. a vital part of the diet given the extremely high prices of importing other food by sea or air.

It is this reliance on natural resources that supports the continued quota. The salmon are either sold fresh whole or as cutlets, frozen whole or they are filleted for either salting for a few months or smoking.

Between sampling salmon, I had an opportunity to explore the town, spot some wildlife, like snow bunting, sea eagles, gulls, ravens, lions mane jellyfish, comb jellies, juvenile cod and sculpin along with the Arctic flora, and climb the mazes of stairs up to the hilltops to look out 18

Thank you to NASCO for funding this work and to the Environment Agency for giving me the time out of my day job as Fisheries Technical Specialist in Solent Area to go and sample the salmon of West Greenland, and finally thank you to the fishermen of Maniitsoq and the market workers for their generous help in ensuring I could sample as many of their salmon as was possible.

Sampling Atlantic Salmon in West Greenland

FISH Autumn 2016

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Western Australia’s Fitzroy River

Western Australia’s Fitzroy River: a Global Sawfish Hotspot

The Fitzroy River, Western Australia

David Morgan of Murdoch University in Western Australia outlines some pioneering research into sawfish in one the world’s great remaining wildernesses.

Striking species

Team Sawfish

Sawfishes are a striking fish possessing a saw-like rostrum and two of the species can reach over 7m in length. Globally, however, all five sawfish species are imperilled and are now listed by the IUCN as either critically endangered or endangered. Their ranges have also declined by between 30 and 80% of their former distribution, with a major vulnerability trait being the susceptibility of their rostra to entanglement in fishing nets.

Monitoring programmes for the three Pristis spp. began relatively recently, but they have already revealed some important results by discovering pupping sites and nurseries.

Of these monitoring programmes, the longest running programme began in earnest in 2003 on the Fitzroy River to learn more about the freshwater sawfish. The research team, led

by Murdoch University’s Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research (CFFR), otherwise known as ‘Team Sawfish’, includes local indigenous rangers (Nyikina-Mangala Rangers) and many locals from this remote and sparsely populated region.

Of the five species, four are found in northern Western Australia, these are the green sawfish (Pristis zijsron), the freshwater sawfish (Pristis pristis), the dwarf sawfish (Pristis clavata) and the narrow sawfish (Anoxypristis cuspidata).

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The team has now tagged almost 1,000 sawfish and the recaptures have already revealed some important information about their movement patterns and habitat use. In recognition of their endangered status, since 2006, sawfishes are now protected species in Western Australia.

What is needed now is to protect their habitats too.

Western Australia’s Fitzroy River

FISH FISHAutumn Spring 2016

Fitzroy were recorded in the five indigenous languages spoken within the catchment. During the survey, a freshwater sawfish nursery was discovered, which has since been established to be of global significance.

Abstraction, mining and agriculture

Over the last decade, the big end of town The Fitzroy River one the world’s great has set its sights on carving out a dollar from this mighty river and the land through which remaining wildernesses it flows. There has been a renewed push to extract water, the huge flow of which is wrongly The Fitzroy River is one of the biggest rivers in Western Australia, stretching over a catchment perceived to be wasted as it empties into King Sound. This macro-tidal embayment supports of 100,000km2, and is recognised as one the many threatened sharks and rays, such as the world’s great remaining wildernesses. northern river shark (Glyphis garricki), the dwarf sawfish, green sawfish and winghead shark Over the course of 300km the river carves its way through an ancient Devonian Reef at Geikie (Eusphyra blochii). It also acts as a pupping location for freshwater sawfish.

Gorge in Bunuba country as it meanders its way to the coast. Large pools offer relatively Further mining and agricultural developments unfished habitats that support many species of have been proposed for the catchment, many fish. This is the site inhabited by ancient lungfish of which may be to the detriment of the aquatic and gogo fish some 370 million years ago when fauna. this part of the Kimberley was under the sea.

The human population of the Fitzroy Valley is less than 10,000, which is a major reason that the river supports amazing wildlife, including freshwater and estuarine crocodiles. It also supports traditional and recreational fishing, including for the prized barramundi (Lates calcarifer), which are found throughout the catchment and grow to well over a metre.

Surveying the river’s habitats, ecology and fish populations is quite a challenge, especially during the wet season when the flows become enormous.

Fish fauna - culturally important Historically little was known about the fish species found in the river and so in 2001 ‘Team Sawfish’ from Murdoch University, along with representatives of the Kimberley Land Council and Kimberley Language Resource Centre, identified and mapped the fish species in the catchment. The fish fauna of the Fitzroy River is diverse by Australian standards, and is culturally important to the people of the region.

In recognition of this, as part of the project, a record of the names of the fishes found in the

Winghead shark in King Sound

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Western Australia’s Fitzroy River

FISH Autumn 2016

The freshwater sawfish

Globally significant ecosystem The Fitzroy River and its wider catchment is a globally significant ecosystem, which provides a refuge for wildlife and globally threatened fishes and it is paramount that every effort is made to preserve this unique environment.

‘Team Sawfish’ has played its part in better understanding the fish fauna and ecology of this amazing river. However, it is also worth noting that the river has at least one undescribed species of fish (glassfish) and a further three species of fish have only recently been described. In many ways we have only just begun to scratch the surface in understanding the ecology of the Fitzroy River.

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The author with a freshwater crocodile (Photo: B. Ebner)

Western Australia’s Fitzroy River

FISH FISHAutumn Spring 2016

Geikie Gorge, the result of the Fitzroy River carving its way through a 300 million year old Devonian reef

Team Sawfish

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Salmon & Trout Cons. UK’s Riverfly Census

Salmon & Trout Conservation UK’s Riverfly Census

Collecting fly sample © John Slader

Salmon & Trout Cons. UK’s Riverfly Census

FISH Autumn 2016

Paul Knight, Fellow of the IFM and CEO of Salmon and Trout Conservation UK, describes the findings of their Riverfly Census.

The UK Government claims that our rivers are now the cleanest they have been for decades, yet this misses the point that, by the Environment Agency’s own classification for the EU Water Framework Directive, a staggering 83% of English rivers failed the primary objective of good ecological status in 2015.

During S&TC’s recent monitoring of phosphate (P) levels on the upper River Itchen, it became clear that, while P was having a significant effect by creating excessive algal growth, it was by no means the only stressor on the river. We also received widespread anecdotal evidence of declining aquatic flylife, especially the once prolific hatches of flies such as iron blues and blue winged olives, species highly vulnerable to diffuse pollution and now sadly missing from most of their traditional haunts. We therefore decided to quantify the situation and identify possible sources of stress by analysing invertebrate samples down to high-resolution species level.

Why survey riverflies?

Aquatic invertebrates provide an excellent indicator of the ecological condition of rivers and are a vital component of the aquatic food chain. They live in water in their larval state for many months, sometimes for their entire life cycle, and, because different invertebrate species demonstrate different tolerances to ecological stress, they can provide a continuous record of water quality.

So, understanding how and why riverflies are either present or absent from rivers where their presence could be expected, provides a good indicator as to the river’s

health. It can also identify any stressors that might be impacting the ecosystem, what the source of those stressors might be and, therefore, a first step towards finding measures to restore and protect rivers. This is basically what S&TC’s Riverfly Census is all about. (Read the Census report at http://www.salmon-trout. org/c/riverfly-census/)

Species richness Analysis of invertebrates to species level provides much higher resolution of data than traditional family-level analysis.

The most fundamental and basic measure of ecosystem health or distress is the presence or loss of species richness.

As we quote in the Census Report: ‘Whether it is a rainforest, tundra, coral reef or wetlands like a river, a stream or a lake... reduced species richness is the most consistent indicator of ecosystem distress.

It is one of those refreshing simplifications that natural systems, despite their diversity, respond to stress in very similar ways’. Clements, W.H. and Newman, M.C. (2002).

Riverfly Census Professional entomologists at Aquascience Consultancy Ltd. undertook the sampling from five sites in both spring and autumn on each of 12 rivers, using a classic 3-minute kick-sample to provide a biometric fingerprint of the river’s ecology against four measures of environmental stress: nutrient pollution, organic pollution, sedimentation and river flow. The samples also provided a straightforward benchmark 25

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Salmon & Trout Cons. UK’s Riverfly Census

FISH Autumn 2016

of species abundance, which can be compared both spatially and temporally to detect trends.

Riverfly census rivers We chose 12 rivers to provide a manageable and affordable sample set. They are a mix of designated Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and others of general fishing and environmental importance. They also form a set that is diverse geographically and geologically. The rivers are set out in the table below.

Collecting fly sample Š John Slader

River

Conservation status

Geology

Axe

SAC, SSSI

Freestone

Avon

SAC, SSSI

Hybrid

Camel

SAC, SSSI

Freestone

Coquet

SSSI

Freestone

Dove

None

Freestone

Eden

SAC, SSSI

Freestone

Itchen

SAC, SSSI

Chalkstream

Lambourn

SAC, SSSI

Chalkstream

Test

SSSI

Chalkstream

Ure

None

Freestone

Welland

None

Freestone

Wensum

SAC, SSSI

Chalkstream

The results of the 2015 Census were somewhat alarming. We found only 14 un-impacted sites out of a total of 120 sampled (60 in spring, 60 in autumn) across the 12 rivers. The rest had reaches suffering at least some impact from any or all of the four forms of stress. In particular, we found that riverfly diversity and abundance were especially impacted where phosphate enrichment and sedimentation worked in combination. Indeed, we are currently supporting laboratory research which is suggesting that sediment and P in combination is lethal to blue winged olive eggs, which have

a longer gestation period than many aquatic invertebrates. Further research into other species will start this year.

The Future The Census is on-going, with spring samples having already been collected on 14 rivers. We intend to continue and expand the Census through 2016 and 2017 as funding permits, and also to facilitate the training of volunteers to sample and analyse invertebrates to species level. While this citizen science will not take 27

Salmon & Trout Cons. UK’s Riverfly Census

FISH Summer 2016

Mayfly © John Slader

the place of professional analysis, it will provide a high-resolution monitoring programme set against the benchmarks established in the Census, and so complement the excellent Riverfly Partnership Anglers and Rivers Monitoring Initiative. To this end, S&TC and the Salisbury & District Angling Club have developed a species level identification App, using Dr Cyril Bennett’s brilliant photographic images of invertebrate larvae, and also piloted a tutorial course to train existing RP-accredited volunteer monitors how to analyse invertebrates to species level. The App is available for both Android and Apple tablets at http:// riverinvertebratelarvae.co.uk

• Motivating, training, and mobilising high resolution citizen science to monitor against those benchmarks • Providing a greater awareness of river health amongst decision makers and the public, so that the Census and high resolution citizen science become a catalyst to reversing the ecological degradation in many of our UK rivers

Partnership working

We received tremendous support while undertaking the Census. Aquascience were excellent, voluntarily going well beyond their brief on many occasions and providing scientific So the priorities for the immediate future are: evidence that few can sensibly dispute. We also • Expansion of the Riverfly Census scheme from received help and data from other organisations 12 to 24 rivers across England and into Wales, on both the Itchen P project and the Census, using professional entomologists, as we did including the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife during the 2015 pilot project Trust, Eden and Wessex Chalkstreams Rivers Trusts, and Southampton and Portsmouth • Benchmarking the current status of Universities. invertebrates in as many rivers as possible and, by that, the ecological health of English and Welsh rivers 28

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Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

Baby spurdog

James Thorburn of Marine Scotland, describes how tracking studies of common skate, spurdog and tope are providing valuable information for their conservation and management.

The research referred to in this article is part of a large collaborative effort involving several projects between Marine Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Scottish Sea Angling Conservation Network, Aberdeen University, Glasgow University, the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland’s community project SIORC (Sharks, skates and rays In the Offshore Region and Coastal Zone of Scotland), charter skippers, anglers and CEFAS who developed the tidal model.

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Elasmobranchs It is a warm, bright and sunny day. The research team are sitting two miles offshore above a reef well known by local anglers over which a large school of sharks is hunting. What may come as a slight surprise is that the boat and its crew are lying off the southern coast of Scotland and while the story may seem a little unrealistic (it is very rarely warm, bright and sunny in Scotland), the large school of sharks teaming over the reef is a largely unknown yet relatively common event in many areas around the UK. The species here is the tope shark (Galeorhinus galeus),

which is a regular summer visitor to many parts of the UK and the research team are attempting to deploy tags on some individuals in order to gain valuable movement data to help guide management decisions.

Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

FISH Autumn 2016

Tagged spurdog return

With 60 or so species documented in UK waters from coastal to deep water habitats, elasmobranchs (sharks, skates and rays) are an integral component of marine ecosystems and they bring large economic benefits to many coastal communities. In Scotland it has been estimated that they bring over £140M in economic benefits each year through tourism.

Despite the rich diversity of UK elasmobranchs, nearly a quarter (23%) of Scotland’s elasmobranchs are threatened (based on IUCN Red List classifications), which is higher than the global average (17%). Most species are also poorly understood, which hampers conservation and management efforts.

Tracking elasmobranchs From a number of angler-led mark and recapture studies we are beginning to understand the spatial ecology and behaviour of several species, including tope, spurdog (Squalus acanthias) and the common skate (Dipturus batis). These are suggesting certain movement behaviours such as distance migrated and residency, which is incredibly valuable information. Further to this, electronic tags offer the opportunity to investigate behaviour in more detail, for example, helping to determine migration routes and movement patterns between capture incidents. However, each type of tag has different advantages and disadvantages.

Double tagged skate

time of sunrise, sunset and midday. These models vary in their effectiveness depending on which species are tagged and how far the animal travels. For instance, the common skate spends large amounts of time inactive on the sea floor, so tidal models can provide good approximations of location, however, due to large amounts of time spent in deep, turbid coastal waters, light models work poorly for this species. Conversely the movements of wider ranging pelagic species that spend Which tags? little time resting can be much more effectively estimated from light levels rather than from tidal Archival tags models. These tags need to be retrieved, which can limit the number you get back; to counter These tags record environmental data, such as this, some archival tags detach from the fish, depth and temperature, from which horizontal surface and send the data via satellite. While movements can be estimated. Movement considerably more expensive, these increase models can provide approximate location, the chances of data retrieval. The data can either based on tidal patterns in the depth data often be ‘packaged’ in order to make it more (evident when the tagged fish is stationary) using suitable for satellite transfer but then may not be times of high and low water and tidal range or, transmitted at maximum resolution. In all cases, if light level sensors are incorporated, using a compromise is made.

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Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

FISH Autumn 2016

Acoustic tags These are attached either externally or internally and communicate presence when in range of a specially designed hydrophone that records tag ID and a date/time stamp as well as, environmental variables, such as temperature and depth, if the tags have the appropriate sensors included. Acoustic hydrophone arrays are highly effective at monitoring specific areas for long periods of time, but once a tagged fish leaves the range of the hydrophones, they cannot provide any information on movement.

model. Both the acoustic and archival data showed a high level of residency in the area and on the strength of this evidence the area was designated as a Marine Protected Area for the species. Monitoring using an acoustic array and archival tags is now underway to investigate how common skate utilise the Marine Protected Area.

Spurdog

Spurdog was one of the UK’s most prolific elasmobranch species but being a commercially important species it has suffered a 95% GPS tags reduction in biomass in the North East Atlantic over the last 100 years. Marine Protected These are used effectively on marine mammals Areas have not been considered suitable for and turtles but are rarely suitable for many such species that are viewed as wide ranging. species of elasmobranch in the UK as the tag However, from limited mark and recapture needs to be above the water in order to relay a evidence concerning spurdog in Loch Etive, GPS position and, with the exception of basking a sea loch on the west coast of Scotland, it sharks, this is rarely possible. suggests this assumption should be revisited.

To investigate this further, a pilot tagging Often, a combination of tag technologies can project was undertaken in the loch using a be the most effective means of monitoring the small number of archival tags. Due to the movements of elasmobranchs, using acoustic spatial scale and inland location of the loch, tags to monitor specific areas, while archival tidal and light geo-location models were not tags give insight into wider movements. suitable to determine the fish’s location. Rather, their presence in the loch was determined by Marine Protected Areas comparing temperature depth profiles recorded One way of protecting marine species is through by the tags against temperature depth profiles designating Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) and in the loch. This showed some spurdog make tracking studies have been used to assess their use of the loch all year round, including over suitability for elasmobranchs. winter. This initial project was a small scale pilot project and spurdog in Loch Etive are now

Common skate

The common skate was, as the name would suggest, once common around the UK, however, the species has dramatically declined over the last 100 years, being declared locally extinct in several areas. Being Europe’s largest skate species, it is highly prized by recreational anglers and today many now contribute towards its conservation through mark and recapture programmes. These studies have suggested a preference for certain areas, which include the Firth of Lorn region on the west coast of Scotland where fish may remain resident. To further investigate common skate behaviour in this area, a combination of archival and acoustic tags with a static receiver array were used. Location was estimated using a tidal 32

Baby spurdog

Tracking Elasmobranchs off Scotland

FISH Autumn 2016

Tope

sea surface temperature and bathymetric limits were used. Analysis of data from the tags has revealed that tope of both sexes move off the continental shelf over winter and appear to hunt in mid-water. They also have been recorded diving up to 850m deep. Over the summer Tope they return to coastal waters. This perhaps Tope differ from the above species in that there suggests that designating them as demersal or has been little commercial interest in them in UK benthopelagic may not always be appropriate waters and they have not historically attracted and their behaviour needs to be considered the same trophy status as other species, such when managing the species. as common skate. However, currently they are viewed by many as one of the best sport fish One rule doesn’t fit all in the UK and now a large mark and recapture programme exists for them. Despite this, we still These projects demonstrate that one rule know very little about a species that is prolific doesn’t fit all and both elasmobranch research around our coasts and, reaching up to 2m in projects and subsequent conservation and length, is one of our larger shark species. Luce management measures need to be tailored Bay in southern Scotland is an area where tope to the particular species and conditions in appear in relative abundance over the summer. question. Mark and recapture projects involving Mark and recapture data show they return to trained members of the public can provide an the area on an annual basis, but it is not clear initial valuable starting point around which more where they go over winter, with recaptures advanced tagging projects can be developed. being reported in the Mediterranean, Canaries These projects then offer great possibilities and much closer to home. To investigate these in providing more detailed knowledge on the movements and over-winter behaviour of tope movement and behaviour of elasmobranch in this region, a combination of archival tags species, which is essential for the future (depth, temperature) and pop-up satellite tags conservation and management of our little (PSAT) was used. To determine their location known shark, skate and ray species. both light and tidal models further refined using being investigated using a static acoustic array to determine if Marine Protected Areas may, in some instances, be a suitable management strategy for the species.

33

Damnation poster

The Paul Coulson BLOG

The Paul Coulson BLOG

FISH Autumn 2016

The Paul Coulson

BLOG I just wanted to start this blog with a few words on John Gregory and to say how much we will all miss him at the IFM. John was a long time supporter of the Institute and was influential in instigating many of the positive changes we have seen over the past few years. He was always there for you if you needed any help, advice or support and was a great mentor to myself when I started at the Institute.

It is fitting that this year’s conference took place in Norwich, as it was John who was instrumental in bringing the conference to the region following his move back there a few years ago. John and I spent a long day in Norwich, almost 18 months ago now, looking at venues whilst sampling the refreshments (and cakes) they had to offer. As always, John was great company and we chatted about everything from fisheries to football as we walked around the city. He would have been pleased to see how successful and popular this year’s conference was.

I will miss John and his support dearly.

I will not go into too much detail about the conference now, as it will be covered fully in the next edition of FISH. I will just say that we had a great few days in Norwich, with inspirational speakers and posters, excellent social events and a packed trade room. More details and stories to follow next time.

So what have we been up to in the last few months? Well after the success of our two specialist conferences we had a break of a whole month before we ran our next event. This was the Salmon Stock Assessment Workshop that I mentioned in my last blog. We worked with the Environment Agency and Atlantic Salmon Trust on the workshop with the aim of the day being to share, and gather information from the groups present on the importance of accurate stock

assessment and how this is used to inform the conservation limits for the various rivers.

We invited Walter Crozier and Niall O’Maoileidigh over from Ireland to open the workshop, and to give us their experiences of developing conservation limits and stock assessment programmes in Ireland. This was followed by some very interesting talks that covered a wide range of topics from stock genetics, to the use of aerial surveys and angler catch data for aiding stock assessment. A big thank you as always to the speakers and delegates for making it such an interesting and productive day. You can find the presentations and audio files from the workshop on the past events page of the website.

Aside from this event, a lot of my energy and time has gone into the final preparations for the opening of the new training course that we have been working on for the Environment Agency over the last couple of years. The IFM Award in Applied Fisheries Management went live on the 1st of October and it has proven very popular with Environment Agency staff. The IFM Training Team have put a lot of time and effort into the course, alongside some of the senior staff from the Environment Agency, over the last few months to ensure the course is spot on.

The new students should now be working hard on their first assignment, as well as thinking about a project to start in the New Year. There is also a field course weekend coming up for them in the spring.

I would just like to welcome the new starters on to the course and to say good luck with your studies over the next couple of years.

The same welcome also goes to the new students who have enrolled on the Certificate and Diploma courses over the summer. We hope that you will 35

The Paul Coulson BLOG

FISH Autumn 2016

enjoy your studies with us and we look forward to seeing you at an IFM event in the near future.

As Eamon mentioned in his View from the Chair, new ‘mega dams’ are being constructed on the Mekong and these could have potentially Whilst cracking on with the courses we have also devastating effects on the local people who rely continued the planning for our main event of 2017, on the river for food. Hopefully both governments which is the International Eel Science Symposium. and engineers can come up with plans to allow for The call for papers has recently gone out and we fish passage whilst producing the energy hope to have the programme finished and ready they need. for circulation early in the New Year. Over three days at London Zoo we will be covering a range of If you haven’t already seen DAMNATION I suggest topics from stock assessment to ocean tracking to you beg, steal or even buy a copy as it is a must disease and propagation. If you have not seen the watch. call for papers and would like to submit a paper please visit the website.

Barbel, Holidays and Weddings As I say, this is going to be a major event for us and Iain and I will be putting a lot of time and effort into it along with the rest of the steering group.

We still have some spaces unfilled on the steering group so if you fancy joining us then please let me know.

Hold the front page! Paul Coulson in river fishing, barbel catching shock!

After the salmon workshop, I took the opportunity to have a day off and to fulfill a long time promise to myself of a day’s fishing on the River Wye. Whilst speaking to Simon Evans, of the Wye and Usk Foundation, at the Agriculture and Fisheries World Fisheries Conference earlier in the year he had let slip that During the conference we showed the brilliant there was a new beat about to open on their DAMNATION documentary film. This film, which angling passport scheme. This was a section is set in America, shows the changing views on that until this year had not been heavily fished dams in the States, from engineering wonders that for coarse fish, and in fact for the past couple of tamed the wild waters to destroyers of wildlife, seasons had been reserved for solely for salmon heritage and ancestral lands. It shows how many anglers. Now that will do for me, and I promised of the older dams are now obsolete and are just to be in touch with Simon as soon as I could find concrete barriers preventing fish passage and space in my diary for a trip. river connectivity. There is a great scene in which After speaking to my mate Jason, who fancied a representative from the power companies calls wind energy a phase that will soon pass, however a trip as well, we put a date in the diary and I booked the beat in question. Hitherto, I had only the producers go on to show, that one dam that really seen the Wye on passing as I have traveled would have cost millions of dollars to renovate, to various parts of south Wales for work purposes. has been removed and the energy it would have When we arrived on the beat, just downstream of produced is now provided by just three wind Ross on Wye, it was one of the nicest bits of river I turbines. had ever seen, especially with the sun just coming There are some great examples of people-power up over the trees, and the fact that we had a mile winning the battles with legislators to have dams of river to ourselves. As is often the case on new decommissioned and removed. It was not just bits of river, every swim we saw looked fishy and it fisheries folk leading the charge but also local took us a while to pick a spot. residents and other water users such as canoeists.

Finally, we got ourselves sorted and rapidly rigged It is not all positive from the States, however as our rods up and cast in. Jason had a bite first new dams are still going up quicker than the old chuck and was greeted by a hungry chub of a ones are being taken down. There are even plans couple of pounds. This was to be the story of the afoot to build a series of dams in the unspoilt day for Jason, as every swim he dropped in, and Alaskan wilderness. every bait he tried, was snaffled by a chub. He ended up with 46 of them ranging from a pound to around four pounds.

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I, meanwhile, was determined to catch a barbel and chose to drop myself into a swim at the top of a riffle, which I thought would be too fast for the chub. Although the sport was not as manic as it was for Jason, I was rewarded with two very nice barbel of around 6lb each. I also lost a much bigger fish just as I was about to net it, which was a bit gutting.

We are already planning next year’s trip. If you haven’t fished the Wye before have a look on the Wye and Usk Foundation website as they have some cracking stretches.

That was my last freshwater session of the summer, however I also managed to tick off a new species on our summer holiday to the Isle of Wight. I’m not a fan of beaches, far too sandy for my liking, however I did hear that one beach on the Island was good for a few bass. This set my spider sense tingling and I managed to smuggle a travel rod and box of bits in the car underneath all the beach toys, buckets and spades.

17/09/2015 13:59

managed to catch my first two bass. They were only small school bass but they were enough to put a tick in the box. I also saw a shoal of proper lumps striking at small fish, which made me regret not putting any surface poppers in. I won’t make the same mistake next year.

Now that summer is done, it is back to the canals for the winter leagues and time to dust off the size 22s and 24s and make sure I have plenty of punch-crumb made up.

Tight lines.

Paul Coulson - Director of Operations Paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk 07960 939 836

Though, I only managed to escape with Noah for a couple of hours, it was quite productive and I 37

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

IFM News Dates for your diary Event

Date

Location

University of London MSc Student Research Project Presentations.

Arranged by Mike Chadwick

November 2nd 2016 7.30pm

Kings College London, Strand Campus

London and SE Branch Annual General Meeting

December 7th 2016 7.30pm

Kings College London, Strand Campus

International Eel Science Symposium

June 13th – 16th 2017

Zoological Society of London, London

IFM Annual Conference, 'The Big Fish'

October 10-12th 2017

Belfast, Ireland

John Gregory’s funeral There was a moving ceremony for John Gregory’s funeral at the West Hertfordshire Crematorium near Watford on Monday 19th September.

Celebrant Mathew Gooch, who had carried out a similar role back in May at Lynden’s funeral, gave a rounded and detailed account of John’s life and times, stressing the many interests he had and the many roles he played. This was followed by a more personal tribute from John’s son Sam which struck a chord with everyone present.

Over twenty members of the professional fisheries world attended the event and the strong turnout gave a measure of comfort to John’s family and friends. The Institute itself was well represented including past- president John Solbe and his wife Rosie. Chairman Eamon Cusack and President Peter Spillett were present and the latter gave one of the readings during the service. John’s ex-colleagues from the Environment Agency Welsh Region were out in force – staff, peers and managers and there were representatives from the Angling Trust, Salmon and Trout Conservation UK, Society for the Environment, and APEM as well as the Environment Agency.

38

This widespread support for John and his family showed the respect and affection in which he was held along with the good humour, likeable nature and calm demeanour he was always noted for.

Many of those present then attended a reception at nearby Croxley Green where memories and stories of John circulated well into the evening.

Truly a life well lived.

Peter Spillett IFM President

Ireland Branch Update The Ireland Branch is currently building up a head of steam towards 10-12 October 2017 when it will host the IFM annual conference in Belfast.

Arrangements are well underway. Provisionally entitled ‘The Big Fish’ referring to the iconic salmon statue located beside the River Lagan in the centre of Belfast. The Big Fish is emblematic of a rejuvenated River Lagan. Like many major industrial cities the river and dockland areas of Belfast provided the launchpad for industrial expansion.

In the 21st century the focus has turned to embracing cultural and environmental heritage, which has involved claiming back formerly impacted rivers and habitats.

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

Watch this space. IFM Annual Conference, Belfast, 10-12 October 2017. From the Battle of Jutland to the Big Fish.

The Big Fish will include themed sessions on a broad range of contemporary fisheries management issues with opportunities to explore the traditional narrative, changing context of fisheries management, and possible opportunities arising from Brexit. If you are interested in presenting at The Big Fish please contact the Ireland Branch at ireland@ifm.org.uk for further information.

The Ireland branch is also looking forward to hosting and welcoming delegates to Belfast in 2017. If you would like further information, or would like to explore sponsorship opportunities, book a trade stand or submit an abstract for consideration please e-mail ireland@ifm.org.uk Other branch news - Robert Rosell represented the branch at the Atlantic Salmon Trust and Dibney Rivers Trust ‘Formation of Rivers Trust in Ireland’ event held in Killyleagh, Co Down in July. This provided an excellent platform for delegates to engage with a wide variety of organisations and individuals with an interest in forming Rivers Trust style bodies for the improvement of their local environments across Ireland. With the 2nd cycle of the Water Framework Directive well underway the development of wide catchment partnerships is acknowledged as integral to the successful management of our aquatic resources.

The focus of branch activities throughout the remainder of 2016 and into 2017 will be on the successful delivery of the 2017 annual conference.

All branch members are welcome to become involved, please contact ireland@ifm.org.uk if you are interested in volunteering.

Art Niven ireland@ifm.org.uk

IFM help out with events on the River Thames Over the weekend of the 10th/11th September Steve Colclough, chair of the IFM marine and transitional waters specialist section and Iain Turner immersed themselves in the Thames to help out with events on the Thames.

On Saturday the 10th, as part of The Thames Festival, Iain and Steve shared a stand with Fiona Haughey at Southwark on the banks of the River Thames next to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Fiona and her team of volunteers were displaying archaeological artefacts from the Thames foreshore and the IFM added to this by doing some seine netting demonstrations. We kept some of the fish we caught in tanks on the stand to show to the public, which proved to be a great draw, especially 39

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

The poor weather didn’t seem to deter visitors and Iain and Steve were kept busy all day answering questions about the fish of the Thames.

40

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

the smelt which amazed the public with its fresh cucumber smell!

The following day’s weather was the complete opposite, with glorious sunshine and the location changed to Kew. The event was Tidefest and we shared stands with ZSL and Thames 21. The weather brought out the visitors and again it was another non-stop event of netting demonstrations and informing people of the fish that can be found in the Thames. The juvenile bass and flounder we caught were a great draw to the stands. Local MP Ruth Cadbury was particularly interested to hear of the recovery of the Thames and the presence of bass in her constituency.

Training Update It has been another successful year for IFM Training as we continue to grow and develop new courses and opportunities.

Sarah Chare presents Edward Rush the Phil Hickley Award The last few months have seen us hard at work putting the finishing touches to the new IFM Award in Applied Fisheries Management. This course was designed with the Environment Agency and concentrates mainly on stillwaters initially. Over time, the course will develop and we will look to add riverine units to it, we will also be offering it to other groups from mid 2017. The first cohort for the course started on October 1st, so good luck to all of them.

If that wasn’t enough for us, we also had a new cohort start on the Diploma on October 1st and we wish them luck as they undertake their two years of study. This starts with the excellent field course weekend that will once again be hosted by the Environment Agency at their Brampton Fish Health Labs. We have been visiting the labs for over 20 years and each time the students always come away singing the praises of Chris Williams and his team; plus they get to see lots of “lovely beasties” as Chris calls them.

The Certificate continues to prove very popular and another 15 students joined us in July. We have now had over 150 students enrol on the new course and we currently have 60 that are in the process of taking exams.

Lizzie Brailsford collects Certificate At the Annual Conference we held the training awards for 2015/16. This year saw us present a

Award prizes

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IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

new award for the Best IFM Diploma Project. This award is in memory of Phil Hickley and is very kindly sponsored by the Environment Agency.

Very appropriately it is a Waterford Crystal whisky tumbler with an engraved plaque.

Membership Report

The award winners this year were:

You can do this:

The Best Student on the IFM Certificate Course – Lizzie Brailsford

- online at www.ifm.org.uk

The Best Student on the IFM Diploma Course – Lloyd Thompson The Best Project on the IFM Diploma Course – Edward Rush.

Hopefully you have already renewed for 2016 – if not, don’t delay as this will be the last issue of FISH you receive!

- by post to 24 Heslington Lane, York, YO10 4LX - by direct debit – there is a form which can be downloaded from the website and sent to me.

We have recruited 98 new members so far in 2016.

A big congratulations to them all. Many thanks to David Bunt at Morpheus Consulting who sponsored Welcome to: the Certificate Award and to Sarah Chare who kindly presented the Phil Hickley award.

Affiliate Lewis Froggatt, Jody Hughes, Kieran Gillingham, We have been on the road in the last few months.

Steven Hardy, Ben Keith, Calum Hislop, Paul delivered some electric-fishing training to Adam Dowd the students from Myerscough College; Steve Colclough and Iain attended the Totally Thames and Tidefest events in London and did some seine Associate Steven Melvin, Miss Morgan Edwards, netting and fish ID for passers-by. The first day of Miss Jessica Anson, Ronan Cooney, Tom Coyne. this double-header took place outside the Globe Theatre and there was a lot of interest from tourists Corporate Small and locals alike.

Norfolk Rivers Trust (Jonah Tosney, Paul and Mike Lee will also be delivering some fish Miss Ursula Juta). survey skills training to students at Essex University in November.

Registered Non-Chartered Paul and Brian Davidson are continuing to work with Scottish Government on the CPD and training elements of the Wild Fisheries Reforms. This is a major piece of work and will help to identify the training needs for fisheries staff within the new Fishery Management Organisations.

Don’t forget we are always on the lookout for new partners to work with so if you have any training needs and you would like our help just get in touch with Paul or Iain.

Best Fishes Ian Wellby IFM Director of Training

42

Michael Hill, Ed Noyes, Andrew Weatherly, John Stone, Tommy McDermott, Richard Miller, Karen Twine, Dr Andrew Harwood, Michael Kurs

Student Stuart Leather, Nuno Brites, Miss Rosamund Griffin, Miss Emma Nolan, Oscar Bates.

Subscriber - Dr James Barry Chartered Membership: We currently have two members who have applied to become Chartered. If you wish to know more, please look at the Chartership pages on our website, or speak to Emma Keenan or myself.

Reduced rates for new members joining after 1st July: Please note that this concession is only for the benefit of new members. Existing members renewing after July 1st must pay the full year fee, as they will have been receiving copies of FISH and had receipt of all other membership benefits.

If you have any membership queries please contact me at members@ifm.org.uk or to the address above. Also, if you are unable to access the members section of the website, or need a password reset, please contact me.

Ian Dolben Director of Membership

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

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: Andrew Sadler andrew.sadler@environment-agency.gov.uk

Ireland: Art Niven Art.Niven@loughs-agency.org London & South East: Steve Colclough srcifm@gmail.com Midlands/Lincolnshire: Liz Baldwin liz.baldwin@virgin.net North West: Alistair Maltby alistair@theriverstrust.org South West: Iain Turner swest@ifm.org.uk Southern: Hannah Barclay hannah.barclay@environment-agency.gov.uk

Scotland: Brian Davidson brian@rafts.onmicrosoft.com Wales: Amanna Giles amanna.giles@environment-agency.gov.uk

Yorkshire & North East: Mike Lee

michael.lee@environment-agency.gov.uk

43

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

A Tribute to John Gregory John Gregory 22nd August 1949 – 7th September 2016

By Peter Spillett, IFM President.

The IFM and the wider fisheries world lost a stalwart champion when John Gregory passed away in September after a short but unexpected illness. gaining fisheries management experience in the skipjack tuna fishery in the Solomon Islands.

More importantly, he also met his future wife at university and Lynden accompanied him on his sojourn in the Pacific.

John had a lifelong career in fisheries management ranging from tropical fisheries in the Solomon Islands through coarse fish management in East Anglia to salmon and sea trout management in Wales. He was active in the IFM from early on and served on Council for many years. In addition he was a fervent supporter of NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation) and also the prestigious Society for the Environment.

John was born and raised in Sutton in Ashfield and showed an early interest in fishing, natural history and sport, all of which would occupy him for the rest of his life. He read Biological Sciences at the University of East Anglia before 44

Returning to the UK, John joined the recently formed Anglian Water Authority to work on coarse fish management under the redoubtable Ron Linfield. He and Lynden and young son Sam then moved to Wales in 1980 when John transferred to the Welsh National Water Development Authority (shortly to become Welsh Water Authority) as a fisheries scientist in the Department of Scientific Services reporting to Warwick Ayton and Graeme Harris. He remained in this post until he moved to the new position of Fisheries Liaison Officer in which he played a more strategic role across Wales.

When the National Rivers Authority was formed in 1989, John moved to work with the Director, John Stoner as a development officer. In 1991 he changed jobs again when he became District Fisheries, Conservation and Recreation Officer (DFCRO) and his role altered slightly two years later as Area Manager of FCRN in South East Wales.

After the creation of the Environment Agency, John took up the new post of Environment Manager for Eastern Valleys in 2002. In 2005 John left his fisheries’ roles and became a ‘change manager’ working in the Human Resources team until his retirement in 2012.

John has always been a keen and enthusiastic supporter of the Institute. He joined the IFM in 1975 and became an active member of the London and South-East Branch. He then helped to found the East Anglian Branch in the late 1970s with Ken Jones, and became its first Secretary. In that role he was a branch representative on Council and subsequently served on all the major committees. He formally became a member of Council in 1981 and took the role of Publicity Officer before becoming the first chairman of the Publicity and Promotions Committee in 1984.

John was again instrumental when the Society for the Environment (SocEnv) was launched in 2002 with the Institute as one of its constituent founder members. He and Robin Welcomme were appointed as board members of the new body and John became the first Chairman, serving for three years. In 2004 he achieved Chartered Environmentalist status.

John has long been known for his good ideas and innovative suggestions. He played a vital role in the creation of the Good Management Award, the IFM Newsletter (which later became FISH), Council Workshops, the IFM website, continuous professional development (CPD), and abortive attempts to achieve charitable status. He was also active at a regional level and was Chairman of the Welsh Branch of the Institute for many years until 2003. In his ‘elder statesman’ role, he oversaw three annual conferences in Cardiff in 1993, 2004 and 2013.

The tragic events earlier this year are scarcely believable. Lynden passed away suddenly from a cerebral aneurism in April and shortly before her funeral John himself was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

John represented the IFM at NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation) for nearly 20 years. When Chris Poupard in 1996 (then representing the Salmon and Trout Association) formed a formal NGO Group with the aim of co-ordinating over 30 individual organisations’ statements, John provided staunch support as secretary to the group. Over many years, the NGOs played a leading role in reforming NASCO and eventually gained a seat on its council. John continued as secretary when IFM Council member Paul Knight took over as Chair. Lynden usually accompanied John on trips to NASCO meetings and they made several long-lasting friendships with fishery scientists, particularly from Canada and the US.

Those same characteristics were displayed by his son Sam, daughter-in-law Kay and sister-in-law Kate in coping with the double loss of such close, much loved family members in quick succession.

IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

After retirement John and Lynden moved back to East Anglia, just outside Norwich in 2013. As well as ongoing fisheries interests, John now had additional responsibilities as a grandfather, which took up much of his time. His love of nature He was the first Editor of FISH magazine in 1986 showed itself in regular bird watching trips to and became Vice-Chairman of the Institute various local reserves with Chris Poupard, who for the period 1993-1998. His status was had also retired to the region. Coincidentally, the recognised when he undertook the chairmanship Gregorys discovered that colleagues who John for the 1998-2003 quinquennium, under the wise had worked with abroad, 40 years earlier, lived presidency of John Solbe. In more recent years just 10 minutes away. Ian and Rita became close he acted as Honorary Secretary and then in a friends and provided much support to John over dynamic new role as Executive Director. the last few months.

All the dignity, calm and bravery that John had shown throughout his professional career and in his various roles with the Institute came to the fore in the last few months. He faced the implacable blows that fate had dealt him with incredible courage and cheerful good humour.

John, a staunch socialist all his life, was a huge force for good. He was never frightened to challenge and steadfastly believed in doing the right thing. He always had the Institute at heart and was never driven by ego.

We were lucky to have him.

John is survived by his sister Ann, his son Sam, daughter-in-law Kay and two grandchildren, Amelie and Louis.

45

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

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Breaking News

FISH Autumn 2016

Breaking News

World Rivers Day Millions of people from more than 70 countries around the world took part in World Rivers Day on September 25, which strives to increase public awareness of the importance of our waterways as well as the many threats confronting them.

Endorsed in its inaugural year by the United Nations University and the International Network on Water, Environment, and Health, and with groups such as the Blue Planet Links as lead sponsor and with the support of others such as the Sitka Foundation, World Rivers Day events included activities in countries ranging from Canada to England, Australia to the United States, Argentina to Kenya, Dominica to Puerto Rico, and across the great rivers of Europe. “Rivers are integral to all life. Yet, many waterways continue to face an array of threats and are often impacted by inappropriate practices and inadequate protection,� said Mark Angelo, World Rivers Day Chair and Founder and Chair Emeritus of the Rivers Institute at the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

4 million km2 of ocean under protection around the UK Overseas Territories Four vast marine reserves are to be created around remote British islands in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Around Pitcairn in the south Pacific and St Helena in the south Atlantic, commercial fishing will be banned permanently in a million square kilometres of ocean teeming with sharks, turtles and whales, and destructive methods of fishing will be banned in another million square kilometres. The bans come into force immediately. Reserves will also be created around Ascension Island in the south Atlantic by 2019 and Tristan da Cunha, also in the south Atlantic, by 2020.

Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, said that the new reserves would double the area of ocean under protection around the UK Overseas Territories to about 4 million sq km, an area greater than the landmass of India. Britain created marine reserves around the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean in 2010 and South Georgia and the South Sandwich islands in 2012.

47

Breaking IFM News

FISH Autumn 2016

5-6ft tope trapped by outgoing tide off north Norfolk coast Visitors to the north Norfolk coast were taken by surprise when they spotted a shark in the water.

Witnesses said the fish was about 5-6ft (1.5-1.8m) long and had become trapped in a tidal pool at Brancaster on Sunday.

Norfolk shark story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ukengland-norfolk-37476680?SThisFB

7ft-long tuna fish has been found dead in the River Severn near Gloucester - hundreds of miles from its normal habitat in warm sea waters. River Severn tuna http://www. telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/26/lads-i-caughtsome-fin-big-three-friends-find-giant-7ft-tuna-lur/

World’s oldest fish hooks found in Japanese island cave http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-37402183

Fish recorded singing dawn chorus on reefs just like birds The ocean might seem like a quiet place, but listen carefully and you might just hear the sounds of the fish choir. Most of this underwater music comes from soloist fish, repeating the same calls over and over. But when the calls of different fish overlap, they form a chorus. Robert McCauley and colleagues at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, recorded vocal fish in the coastal waters off Port Headland in Western Australia over an 18-month period, and identified seven distinct fish choruses, happening at dawn and at dusk. https://www. newscientist.com/article/2106331-fish-recordedsinging-dawn-chorus-on-reefs-just-like-birds/?utm_ medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_ source=Facebook&utm_term=Autofeed&cmpid=S OC%257CNSNS%257C2016-Echobox

48

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Book Review

FISH Autumn 2016

Book Review A Fly Fisher’s Guide to Giant Trevally:

By Peter McLeod

Lawrence Talks, reviews Peter McLeod’s superbly illustrated and informative book on the legendary Giant Trevally.

“The fish lit up, locking onto the 6/0 brush fly, big pectoral wings set as it came up on step and engulfed the fly. Its massive head half out of the water. Stephen struck hard as the beast surged away for the reef and deep water.”

The Giant Trevally is the stuff of every fisherman’s dreams – monster fish up to 200lbs in weight that accelerates like a jet fighter kicking in an after-burner and found in distant exotic locations around the globe. This is a fish that demands an adventurous spirit with top destinations including the incredibly remote Astove Atoll, the southeastern-most island group in the Seychelles, the Nubian Flats in Sudan and Christmas Island.

The GT warrant respect and Peter McLeod’s book provides the perfect guide to this apex predator that delivers an electrifying fishing experience. Illustrated throughout with amazing photographs, Peter describes the environment’s they inhabit and hunt in, their prey species, some of their idiosyncrasies and habitats and where to locate them. He then looks at tackle, equipment, preparation, correct handling practices, different fly fishing strategies on the flats and in bluewater and some of the top destinations to go and hunt GT. It is these descriptions of where to fly fish for GT, which particularly capture the imagination.

I thoroughly recommend this book and then 50

to go on an adventure of a lifetime, and Peter can help you make this come true, through his international fly fishing travel business Aardvark McLeod (www.aardvarkmcleod.com).

A Fly Fisher’s Guide to Giant Trevally Length: 216 pages RRP: £30.00 ISBN 978-1-910723-33-3

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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FISH Autumn 2016

Members and their FISH Steve Chambers with 6 foot long, 100lb alligator gar taken from the Trinity River in Texas. It took 40 mins to land over Âź mile from where I hooked it!

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