Newsletter December 2004

Number 27

Dear members and friends,

The collected articles of this newsletter are all carefully, and somewhat optimistically, filed as 04.11; the November target date. Sorry, we are late no one to blame butmyself but I do plead a two month absence in mitigation.

Much of the time was spent in Australia, that vast country with a population not much bigger than Greater London, albeit growing fast.

No salmon, as we know them, but lots of fly, lure and bait fishing in every style of river for trout to Barramundi, and superb sea fishing from deserted beaches that disappear over the horizon. Distances are such that most trips include a week end camphoned to a fine art in this country, and many demand miles of bush walking, itself a fantastic experience. A state licence gives access to many miles of free fishing. Some how, and in hindsight unbelievably, I never found time to wet a line.

Even all this beauty is threatened from so many demands. A part of the beautiful Karrajini National Park in the Pilbarra is losing a mountain to Iron mining. Federal Government controls all mineral rights. Annually 70,000 hectares of ancient Tasmanian forest being felled for wood chip destined for Japan. As the song says; 'turn it into paper; put it in the bin - nobody cares.

Ah well, we have our own problems to attend to. We cannot take on the world's this week.

I am delighted to report that a new committee member has been co-opted, pending confirmation at the next AGM. Pete Reading, well known to so many of you, is a most welcome and significant addition to our strength.

Pete is a keen angler in all disciplines and a former Chairman of Christchurch Angling Club. He is head of Science at Ringwood School and has already made major contributions to Mike Twitchen's Schools project. More of that inside.

Anyone wanting to take an active part in the trust's work will be most welcome to join the committee. We are in particular need of a secretary. Minutes and some correspondence, collating data, helping with this newsletter and similar would be an enormous help to me. Someone who would enjoy a role as a full member as well would be icing on the cake.

Some may remember that I serve as a Migratory fish representative on the Environment Agency's Regional Fisheries, Ecology and Recreation Advisory Committee.

All members appointments are made under the Parliamentary 'Nolan Rules' which determines that after two terms of three years, which I complete in April 2005, members must stand down, but may offer themselves for re-appointment for one final term, to be considered with all other applicants. I have made myself available for consideration.

I believe it is an important committee. One of the few, post BRITE, bodies where the word 'Fisheries' is still used. I'm sure many of the members, like me, would like more of our advice adopted, but we are not without influence. We get sight of, and comment upon, E A. head office and Government draft policies early in process. Also my serving on the South Wessex Area Fisheries Forum, together with personal contacts, enables me to act as a conduit from local area to region. I am at your service in this respect also.

Two members who have served three terms and must now retire are Barry Burrows; who represents South West Netting interests, and Mike Weaver who represents Recreation interests, of which fishing is but one.

Both have offered wise counsel in their specialities but also, as we all try to do, on the much broader aspects of our environment, and how the Agency serves it. I shall miss them both.

Not much to cheer about as far as catches are concerned I fear but I am ever hopeful and with some reason. The EU have been and are very active in relation to the Irish drift nets, as are we. More inside..

The enormity of the achievement by NASF UK and others in the buy out of the majority of the North East coast drift nets can now be gauged. The last full netting season was 2002. Here are the River Tyne's upstream fish counts; January to August inclusive.

2002 - 6,211. 2003 - 12,591. 2004 - 18,612

Yes, Water quality, habitat, Hatchery, etc but WOW!

Are you watching Ireland?

A very happy Christmas to you all. A new year of tranquillity. May you always fish in clear waters and sometimes feel a tight line.

Brian Marshall

Provisional 2004 Catch (Figures in brackets 2003)

River Avon. Salmon

Rods. 126 (187) -33% Nets 108 (66) +63%

Total 223 ( 253) +13% All returned alive.

Sea Trout Nets 646

72 of the rod caught salmon were caught at the Royalty. One rod caught 28, another caught 12 and one 10.

Following the theft of the counter computers at the Royalty and the introduction of Digital equipment no monitoring has taken place at Great weir this year.

River Test. Salmon. To end October

Rods 459 (163) +181% Counter 869 (312) +178%

River Itchen Salmon to end October

Rods 148 (57) +165% Counter 314 (106) +204%

Approximately a further 50 passed the counter in November to date.( 22nd). The June rod count exceeded the number counted. Re-catch or leakage?

River Frome Informally about 70 salmon to the rods. CEG fish Counter very low. Unlikely to reach 2003 level.

River Piddle EA Fishery, 6 salmon. of which 5 released.

Diary Dates

Annual Charity Pike Match

Sunday February 20th 2005 Interested? Telephone John Beckett on 01722 338001

Annual General Meeting

Friday March 18th 2005 at the Brian Whitehead Centre, Downton. Usual attractions.

Trout in Schools

Thanks to the generous sponsorship of Tesco, the WSRT 'Trout in Schools' project is poised for another attempt to rear brown trout in the class room for release into the wild. The first batch of eggs were subjected to close scrutiny and loving care by a group of fascinated pupils at Ringwood School last year, and we were heartened to see a success rate well beyond the expectations of the experienced trout farmers who were involved in advising WSRT and the school at the outset.

It was most satisfying and encouraging to see the five hundred or more little trout being released by their young carers last spring, and we are anticipating even more pupil involvement from now on.

After Christmas we are hoping to involve four more local schools in the project, and with the help of the EA and local fishery owners we could see trout being released into a variety of local waters.

The scheme is not a focus on stocking or restocking, however, but as part of Mike Twitchen's WSRT Educational initiative is entirely about raising the awareness of youngsters of riverine and general conservation, as well as the broadly educational aspects of reproduction and husbandry of animals.

In early stages of the scheme, it was envisaged that salmon could be raised from eggs to fry and released into the river, but the implications of obtaining eggs and EA approval were daunting.

The arrangement of tanks and pipes and tubes, the dripping and gurgling noises, and the cutting edge engineering involved in drilling holes in plastic, stopping leaks, and worrying over the weekends and holidays that we would return and find a flooded school or little pile of dead trout are all memories that I am sometimes fond of revisiting.

The eager and excited faces of youngsters trying to induce the newly hatched fry to feed, or watching them swim off, are what it is all about, however. Thanks to all at WSRT, particularly Brian, John Levell and Keith Elson, and to Michael Twitchen for the idea and enthusiasm to get things moving in the first place.

With Tesco's continuing sponsorship, we hope that the project will continue to grow and spread to more local schools and perhaps be a blueprint for national success.

Pete Reading

(We hoped to release these fingerling trout into a local, stocked trout stream but were refused permission, the Environment Agency citing the Trout and Grayling Strategy, English Nature and the excessive number of fish. Our pleas to consider the biomass of c.500 trout @ 3 to 5 gms each, fell on deaf ears. In July we referred the matter to Nigel Milner, Head of Fisheries Science at the EA's National Fisheries Technical Team in Cardiff. He referred it to Adrian Taylor; Fisheries Policy & Process Manager, Exeter who, in turn, referred it back to Blandford! As yet on November 25th we have heard no more. The weight of the paperwork now exceeds the weight of the baby trout. Ed.)

What makes good fishing?

How was your Avon salmon fishing in 2004?

Were you fishless like me or did you catch a salar in all its glory?

Did your enjoyment depend on what you caught?

On Saturday 16th October I went on the Wessex Salmon & Rivers Trust Grayling Day, organized by John Slader. About a dozen of us fished carriers and side streams of the River Test at Wherwell. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with good company, a good lunch, a famous river and free rising grayling. In many ways it was one of my best days fishing of the season.

This was the first time I had ever visited the famous Test and driving home to Sussex along a wet and dark motorway I pondered on why I had enjoyed the day and on what makes good fishing. My catch had been 10 grayling, the best weighing just 1lb.

These grayling were wild fish feeding naturally in the clear water of their birth and they took small nymphs and dry flies resembling their food. On a light cane rod they fought well for their size. Several weeks earlier I had caught a 5lb rainbow at a small trout lake. This trout was stalked in water clearer than the Test's and hooked on a size 12 buzzer fished on the same rod I used for grayling. He fought hard in and out of lush weed beds.

Why did a 1lb grayling seem a much better catch?

My conclusion was that I knew the 5lb rainbow was grown on pellets, recently released and that its capture was "artificial." Its size did not reflect its guile or ability to evade capture over several seasons, but simply its feeding in a stew pond.

I then pondered about coarse fishing. When I was a teenager in the 1970's a 20lb carp was a season's ambition. Friends assessed their success by the number of double figure carp caught. Carp today seem huge, but has their size made them better or made carp fishing an experience of greater quality or pleasure?

It seems in some rivers even barbel are bloating on a boilie diet. I suspect I would feel a profound sense of unease catching an obese barbel, however big, knowing that it was a product of gorging on heavy ground baiting rather than its own skill in wild feeding.

I then thought again about my grayling day. The pleasure or "quality" came not from the size or number of the fish, but the challenge and uncertainty of their wildness.

How then do I look back and judge my 2004 salmon season on the Avon. I fished for 19 days at Somerley and Severals. My catch was one kelt taken in February from the Ibsley Bridge Pool. Lean and silver I wished her every luck in her return to the sea. I think I enjoyed every fishless day, despite wind, snow or blazing sun, probably because I am stupid, possibly because salmon have such wildness or "quality" that there is pleasure in even trying or hoping to catch one.

Every salmon in our rivers, even if raised initially in a hatchery, has been tested against the vastness of the ocean and its dangers and mysteries. To have survived a journey to the arctic as a smolt, to have passed the ocean's test, imbues salmon with a quality that no hatchery fed trout can ever match.

I do not want to sound elitist. The point I am trying to make is that wild fish provide us with a gold standard for quality in fishing. If we lose this we might start to think that an artificially fed brown trout, released weighing over 20lb and caught within 12 hours represents a great achievement.

To not have salmon in the Avon would diminish the value of the river, not just financially, but in a more important way. It would be like the Scottish Highlands without golden eagles, a diminished lesser place.

If the salmon is an icon, a measure of wildness in a river, then I think their presence should matter to all Avon fishermen. Their loss would diminish the river and in a subtle way diminish the "quality" of the other fish. Would anyone respect a 2lb roach artificially fattened up in a pond if compared with a 2lb roach from a river pure and wild enough to hold salmon?

This winter I will enjoy trying to catch wild chub, pike and roach from the Avon. My pleasure will come from the fact they are a worthy challenge requiring skill, not whether they are huge fish. I may go trout fishing in a stocked lake, but I will not kid myself as to what my catch represents.

My saddest moments will be seeing anglers who do not value the Avon and its fish. People who may let what should be our greatest mixed fishery, our greatest marker of what is good or valuable or of "quality" in fishing, be lost without a fight.

I will hopefully retire in 24 years and have more time to fish. If my retirement will offer only bloated stock fish in little ponds it is a dismal prospect.

For the present I am already anticipating 1st February 2005 by tying flies, sorting tackle and dreaming about the magical first pull when a salmon is hooked. I may sometimes despair about preserving, let alone improving, the Avon, but I have my retirement to consider so I cannot give up!

Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust tag fitted to seatrout

Michael Twitchen

Contravention of the European Habitats Directive Exploitation of the salmon (salmo salar) stocks of failing UK SAC. rivers by the Republic of Ireland drift net fishery.

Do you remember this? It was under this heading that, in July 2002, we lodged our complaint with the E U Commission against the Irish Government. Nearly 2½ years ago! Much has happened since then. Our complaint has been through inertia, closure, re-instatement, examination, submission, rebuttal, secret exchanges, doubts, re-examination, questionnaires, conferences, claims and counter claims, hope, despair, excitement and anger.

The related documentation stands 15 inches high. Irish Ministers have changed, as has the European Commissioner for the Environment. (Now M. Stavros Dimas. Commissioner for the Environment, European Commission, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium should you wish to drop him a line).

Much of the current activity, and it is a very high level of activity, surrounds a few principle questions. For example, Are Britain's salmon in need of further conservation? Does what happens in the Irish sea impact upon British Rivers and to what extent? And requests for reams of supportive data. Intense discussions are taking place in the Commission as I write.

We are not alone. When we first complained we were immediately supported by the Wye Usk Foundation whose Director; Stephen Marsh-Smith lodged their own complaint on behalf of the cSAC river Wye.

We received vociferous and written support from many sources; not, I fear the Environment Agency or MAFF (now Defra). Orri Vigfusson was and is generous with his advice and support and many in Ireland as well.

Latterly the momentum has increased dramatically. Our friends in the SWRA have lodged their own complaint, as have the Eden Trust on behalf of their own rivers.

Most importantly, and the value of this action cannot be overstated, a number of Irish cSAC rivers have lodged complaints against their own Government. These relate to fish in their territorial waters being killed by their drift nets to the detriment of their protected cSAC waters. How strong is that?

Our Irish friends have also united in this common cause and formed an alliance, (an eponymous body called 'Stop Salmon Drift Nets Now'. www.stopnow.ie), to take domestic and international political and public relations action. It is proving very effective. I do recommend the web site to you.

In August I began a letter writing campaign to English M E P's, particularly in the South and West.

Our member, Eric Lipscombe joined us in the effort with his own very effective personal letters as a constituent and 'interested party'.

This further broadened when WSRT and Wye Usk combined to approach all Welsh MEP's and Ian Gregg of the Eden Trust and Andrew Whitehead of NASF UK contacted Northern and Scottish members respectively.

There has been considerable, positive action by some who have written directly to the commission and the EU Parliamentary Fisheries Committee.

This initiative is 'work in progress' with possible meetings with MEP,s and with the relevant EU committee being discussed.

So: Your complaint is very much alive. We are determined and very well supported by many who share our conviction. Watch this space.

Brian Marshall.

The North Atlantic

It is easy to forget the massive contribution salmon restoration gains from the moratoria on fishing in the North Atlantic feeding grounds.

The continuing agreements brokered by Orri Vigfusson with Iceland, the Faeroes and Greenland, whilst conserving thousands of fish, are not set in tablets of stone. They demand continuing skilled management and above all paying for.

With so much justifiable concentration upon the funding of the North East buy out, Northern Irish netting interests and provisions for a potential Irish buy out it is easy to lose sight of the $250,000 annual compensation payment to Greenland for example. Every salmon fisher, by trap, net or rod benefits from these moratoria on both sides of the Atlantic. Without funding they will cease.

Orri Speaks to Federation od Irish Salmon & Sea trout Anglers (FISSTA)

I am always grateful for an invitation to FISSTA´s annual meeting and I am delighted to be here. This time I am pleased to say that I have travelled in an optimistic frame of mind.

There are two reasons for why I feel more cheerful. The first is the good season that has been enjoyed by all the areas where the salmon stocks are protected by NASF agreements, both on the northern feeding grounds and as the fish make their way home to their native rivers. Iceland, Canada and Scotland have had their best salmon runs for the last 20 - 30 years.

It means that all our work is beginning to pay off. It is absolutely necessary that we continue these agreements because inter-governmental treaties and talking shops are not going to do it for us. But it does cost a lot of money and finding it is far from easy.

I must remind you that, thanks to NASF, Irish salmon have been protected on their feeding grounds off Greenland and the Faeroes for the last 15 years. But that has been achieved with the aid of other people's money. Ireland has only contributed towards the costs in one of those 15 years - and naturally that was the private sector. And of course the drift netters, by far the greatest beneficiaries of our work, have contributed absolutely nothing. I mention it because NASF will soon be appealing for donations to continue those agreements. I hope we can count on tangible support from Ireland.

Some of you naturally may ask - but has Ireland benefited from the NASF buyout? The answer is yes indeed it has. When we started buying out the high seas quotas 14 years ago, Ireland share of the world catch was 14%. Now few years later, Ireland share has nearly doubled and currently runs as 25%- 27% of the world catch!

Having diverted briefly from my original path I must tell you that my second reason for optimism is the fact that we finally forced the Irish Government into retreat. They have stopped finding reasons for the continuation of the nets. Stopped talking. Stopped issuing bullshit scientific theories. Stopped consultations.

Instead, they are busy trying to avoid practical participation in the democratic processes to which they are a party. They are using all possible -- and some impossible --arguments to avoid accepting Ireland's commitments under the international treaties that apply to salmon and the environment.

It is quite unacceptable that the economic review your government commissioned from the Farrel Grant Sparks consultancy has been prevented from reaching the public eye - just as publication of the Indecon Report was delayed. I fear that the authors are being pressurised to deter them from publishing their true findings.

No doubt many of you met and gave evidence to the FGS consultancy. Do you feel they listened to you?. I came to Dublin three times in good faith and offered them the details of some of the world's best managerial policies and principles. When I met with the consultants I asked if they were independent and free of any political shackles and if they could freely publish their findings. They said 'Yes'. Now I want to see that this has been allowed to happen or I shall demand my money back!

I want to tell you a little about our international scientific review team. Recently the NASF team met with the Lough Agency to review the salmon management of the Foyle District. To my astonishment we were presented with a spawning escapement model that is intended to show that it would be counter-productive to have more than 10.000 salmon going into the river system and that the draft and driftnets are necessary to prevent a spawning disaster.

A quick review of the facts by our team showed that at least 100.000 - not 10.000 fish - were actually needed to make this a fully healthy river system. We have therefore asked for complete details of the information and science on which the model used by the Lough Agency is based. Our experts will audit that data and in due course we shall publish our findings.

We would like to do the same for the spawning models used by the Republic of Ireland. We have the greatest of respect for your top scientists, Paddy Gargan and Martin O' Grady, both highly respected in international circles, But these so-called scientific models have to be built round so many subjective political assumptions that they are full of loopholes. We need to get our experts to subject them to very critical scrutiny. We must look at every detail, even those that may seem of little consequence, and expose the discrepancies that are caused by the need to follow a bad political agenda.

We must not let the Minister for the Marine forget that this autumn his predecessor, Mr Ahern, was blaming the drift nets for the shortage of potential spawners and demanding that anglers put back every salmon they caught. It was the drift netting supremo himself speaking and to my mind it was the best argument yet why the nets had to go and it came from those who have previously denied anything was wrong. This official admission of the destructive effects of drift netting needs to be paraded and hammered home at every opportunity.

Our efforts to use the EU Habitats Directive against the drift netting at last seems to be bearing fruit. Thanks to the ingenuity of Brian Marshall, chairman of the Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust in Southern England, who discovered that the directive was intended to protect salmon from Special Area of Conservation rivers and candidate SAC rivers this campaign has steadily grown in strength.

It began with the Wessex Salmon lodging a formal complaint in respect of the Hampshire Avon. Urged on by Brian, other areas in the UK and now Ireland have also lodged complaints. Brian, who is leading the campaign, is grateful to those of you who have done this and says there is no doubt that the combination of these complaints has raised the temperature in the Commission and that he is very optimistic that the Irish Government will continue its retreat! To help fuel the fire every English and Welsh MEP has received detailed letters from their local constituents asking for their involvement and fishery representatives from all the UK political parties are calling on both the EU Commission and Parliament for action.

Brian believes the Dublin authorities are now on the back foot. They have denied your Irish complainants and the Wessex Trust any sight of their defence so they obviously believe they may be called before an EU court. After Dublin's rather pathetic initial defence a new complaint was raised by the Commission itself. Now Irish representatives are pleading that there is no scientific proof that sea fishing impacts upon river stocks! Brian is grateful for all those who have given him data and says that on a daily basis he is now sending reams of information and data in answer to questions from Brussels. He tells me: Watch this space!

Meanwhile, we have been pursuing the rights that the UN Law of the Sea Convention gives to Ireland's neighbouring salmon countries. The Convention says that the stakeholders of any nation from which migratory stocks originate should be allowed to take part in managing those stocks when they are in the waters of another country. Clearly that covers the management of salmon from Europe and the UK while the fish are off the Irish coast.

Nearly two years ago we drew the Irish Government's attention to the Convention and demanded the right to share in managing the drift nets on behalf of a coalition of NASF supporters from Spain, France, Germany and Britain. The Irish Government agreed to the validity of our claim and promised to co-operate with us. Then, as appears to be standard policy when difficult issues arise, it quietly shelved its offer of co-operation and even refused to answer our letters. A few weeks ago I was in Dublin and complained about our treatment to the Irish Ombudsman. I am pleased to tell you that he has told the authorities in Dublin that they are in the wrong and that they must resume discussions with us.

I am sure I do not need to tell you how pleased we at NASF are at the Stop the Drift Nets Now campaign and the fact that Irish angling has got its act together and buried the old and very rusty hatchets that seemed to divide you. You probably don't know that at a NASF policy conference in the south of England last Spring we agreed that Ireland needed a United Front if the Berlin Wall around the government's support for drift nets was to be demolished.

The stop the Drift Net Now Campaign has the full support of NASF. The campaign was launched in remarkably short time and it is working well. I wish to pay a very warm tribute to Niall Greene and all those in FISSTA who have worked so hard to bring this about. Our congratulations and thanks also go to the far-sighted individuals and officials of all the other bodies who shared in the launch of this new body. It now seems that everybody in Ireland's private sector with interests in salmon angling now agrees that the drift nets are the real enemy and that so long as they exist everything else is of very little consequence. Let that be our war cry until this long battle is finally won. -

ORRI VIGFÚSSON November 14, 2004

100 gardai seize files in fishing fraud inquiry.

Computer files and fishing vessel logbooks have been seized in fishing ports on the west coast as part of a Garda inquiry into allegations of fraud in the fishing industry.

Thus began an article in The Irish Times on the 18th November 2004.It goes on to detail the areas involved in the search for evidence of wrong doing. Most of these are involved with pelagic and demersal fishing but interest has been shown in some offices inland where salmon could be the only possible fish concerned.

For the Salmon & Trout Association

John Slader writes:

On the 17th September the Fisheries and Conservation Minister, Ben Bradshaw, announced a relaxation of the licence application process for shooting cormorants which was news very much welcomed by the Salmon & Trout Association. This concludes several years of lobbying by angling and fisheries organisations on the issue, and a few recent weeks of intensive consultation between Defra and the Moran Committee Bird Group, represented by its Chairman, National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives' Terry Mansbridge, and the Salmon & Trout Association's Paul Knight.

The principal points are:

Not surprisingly concerns were expressed by the RSPB but as Paul Knight stated in a letter to the Daily Telegraph; "Under European legislation, salmon, bullhead and eels are designated endangered species and are protected by the Habitats Directive in special areas of conservation, as cormorants are by the Birds Directive, yet the latter still prey on the former unsustainably. Fishery managers do not wish to kill excessive numbers of cormorants, but rather seek to redress the balance between prey and predator in the freshwater environment.

Defra's proposals will give local protection to fish stocks while not impacting dangerously on the national cormorant population, whose conservation status will be closely monitored anyway under these new arrangements."

For further details and an application form to apply for a licence to shoot cormorants see Defra's web site

www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/piscivorous.htm

Parliamentary report:

Britain's 3.9 million anglers have been given another early Christmas present by Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw when he announced in early November that angling would be specifically excluded from the provisions of the Animal Welfare Bill. There had been some concern that the Bill could inadvertently affect angling and commercial fishing and lead to legal challenges.

Giving evidence on 27th October to the House of Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee Mr Bradshaw said:-

"....on fishing and angling, there has been concern expressed that the Bill will threaten commercial fishing and angling. It is not our intention to do that but in response to those representations we do propose to exempt specifically these activities from prosecutions under the cruelty and welfare offence."

Mr Bradshaw's clarification followed strong lobbying from Reading West MP Martin Salter who is also Parliamentary Spokesman for Angling as well as from a number of angling's governing bodies including the Salmon & Trout Association.

Mr Salter said:- "The Animal Welfare Bill is about pets and captive animals. It is not aimed at wild creatures such as fish, nor is it intended to have any impact on the sport of angling. The decision to specifically exclude angling and commercial fishing is most welcome as it will avoid the spectacle of lawyers charging fat fees to try and prove that a fish caught on the end of a fishing line or placed in a keepnet is in fact some sort of temporary pet."

Paul Knight, Director of the Salmon & Trout Association added:-

"We are delighted that the Minister has been able to clarify that angling and fisheries will indeed be excluded from the Bill. This will reassure our members of the Government's continued commitment to angling in acknowledgement of the sport's socio-economic and environmental importance."

Don't bother to go fishing this weekend - All the fish are dead!

They aren't? Okay, so you're lucky this time, but from Isleworth to Battersea on the Thames, the fish are certainly all dead, because their oxygen was taken away in August by 600,000 tons of stormwater polluted with untreated sewage. Unusual event, perhaps, but it happens to a lesser extent 50-60 times a year on the Thames, and on most other UK rivers as a regular occurrence. Who is going to fight on your behalf to stop this happening as a matter of course in the future? The Salmon and Trout Association, that's who!

Do you realise? the Salmon & Trout Association is the only fisheries representation on the Government's Stakeholders' Group for diffuse pollution? Or the one advising them about water price increases over the next five years, so that water companies have the funds to invest in upgrading sewerage treatment systems so that the Thames experience can be resigned to history - for good? Or the Group influencing the delivery of the Water Framework Directive over the next decade, the most important piece of legislation affecting the aquatic environment, and therefore anglers, for years?

Not only that, the Association is also co-ordinating angling's role in a partnership with WWF, RSPB and other conservation organisations to present a united front to Government over the essential requirements to protect and enhance our waterways and still waters, and their dependent wildlife.

Remember, you will not catch fish if they are dead, or just not there because the habitat is so degraded, it cannot possibly support aquatic life.

The Salmon & Trout Association does not fight pollution cases once they have happened; it fights to make sure they will not occur at all in the future.

Research - Water Temperatures

There is no doubt that the combination of low flows and warm water are detrimental to salmonid welfare.

The EA's Chalk Stream specialist, Graham Lightfoot, has designed a research project to investigate structures and activities on the Avon that impact upon water temperatures. David Solomon is carrying out the research which is funded by Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust.

Incidence of Pesticides and Herbicides in Spawning Gravels.

Another of Graham's projects is to explore this area fearing, as we all do, that the presence of such compound must affect recruitment. WSRT have offered their support.

Defra Aquaculture effluent research.

This is on going. We understand an interim rport exists but have not yet seen a copy.

Environment Agency; South Wessex Area R.Avon

Juvenile Salmonid Monitoring

There are now only 6 annual sites on the Avon catchment - Ebble at Stratford Tony, Avon Bridge at Stratford-sub-Castle, Bourne at St. Thomas Bridge, Kings Stream at Westover Farm, Wylye (Butchers Stream) at Wilton and Summerlock Stream at Salisbury.

All other sites on the Avon are now monitored on a 5-year rolling programme. The 52 sites are all semi-quantitative and are therefore fished in a single run or in a 5-minute timed period.

One third of the juvenile salmonid survey is complete.

Knapp Mill

The next stage in the commissioning of the counter was to calibrate and trial the new arrangement during the summer of 2003. This work was progressed, and due to continue in 2004. Unfortunately, due to the theft, of two laptop computers from the 'eel house' this work was postponed. New locks have been fitted, and two laptops acquired (from the EA Information Systems team).

A three-year full time post is now being sought to allow the commissioning and further development of the Knapp Mill salmon counters, with the objective of:

  1. Meeting criteria specified by the Agency's National Salmonid Centre by 2007
  2. The South Wessex Area requirement for reliable long term monitoring of the Avon salmon stocks in order to direct stock management strategy (SAPs).

Gravel cleaning

The Agency has an on-going gravel cleaning programme on the Hampshire Avon catchment. In autumn 2003 we cleaned nearly 3000 m3 of spawning gravels at 12 sites, predominately on the Nadder. 16 redds were later recorded on the cleaned sites. We also carried out a demonstration of gravel cleaning for English Nature and the Avon and Stour Fisheries Association. Volunteers from the Association then carried out gravel cleaning at Breamore Mill, where 5 redds were later recorded. The Piscatorial Society borrowed a set of gravel cleaning equipment and undertook gravel cleaning on the Upper Wylye and Upper Avon.

The sites have been selected for the 2004 gravel cleaning programme. We are in the process of obtaining permissions from the relevant landowners and fisheries interests and work will commence at the end of September. (Gravel cleaning is now complete.)

Acoustic deflectors

In 2004 these were again deployed during the smolt migration period. Deflectors were installed at two locations; Britford (Egremont's) and Dog Kennel Hatches. Following pre-installation checks and the correct positioning of acoustic heads, both sets of equipment were turned on in March. At the end of May they were switched off.

Increased escapement from nets - Catch and release.

In support of the new Net Limitation Order Review published in May 2002 (confirmed by DEFRA in March 2003 and effective from January 2004) nets have committed to total catch and release until 2006. The net limitation order reduces the number of nets from six to four, and lasts for a period of three years.

Escapement from rods - Catch and release.

Rod fisheries have committed to total catch and release until 2006 in support of the new NLO arrangement and catch and release after the 16th June is supported by Tesco. The new net limitation order takes effect on the 1st of January 2004. The Agency's promotion of 100% catch-and release until spawning levels are satisfactory forms part of the ongoing action.

Spawning medium - "Landcare"

Landcare initiatives remain ongoing, financed largely through matched English Nature / Agency funding and DEFRA project bids. A recent bid has been submitted to DEFRA to fund Landcare and increase monitoring to measure success and pilot the proposed new Agri-environment scheme.

As stated in the SAP, there is a great scope to develop this scheme if extra funding can be found. The benefits to fisheries and to the whole river community could be very significant.

Because of resource implications high risk sub catchments are to be targeted individually: Nadder - 2003; East/West Avon - 2004; Wylye - 2005.

Optimisation of flow levels in the lower Avon

AMP 3 provided funding for the Knapp Mill and Matchams investigations into the impacts of abstraction on salmon migration in the lower Avon. Bournemouth and West Hants Water are currently undertaking this work, with a report due by 2005.

2003 Low flow migration issues

In 2003 the lowest flows since 1975 were recorded on the Avon at the Knapp Mill flow gauging station. A number of sites throughout the Avon were identified as having reduced efficiency in allowing the migration of salmon as a result of the very low flows experienced up until the late autumn 2003.

As a result of flow levels falling below 6 m3s-1 at Knapp Mill upstream migration of salmon was seriously compromised. An area operation was mounted to relocate salmon captured in the Mudeford nets upstream of the Great Weir at Knapp Mill. Flows in 2004 remained above 6 m3s-1 at Knapp Mill and thus a similar operation was thankfully not required.

Actions identified to alleviate salmon migration issues were implemented at Bickton Mill in 2003, and are ongoing at Ibsley Weir in 2004.

Water Level Management Plans

Potentially, all life stages of salmon may be affected by such schemes. Salmon habitat and migration requirements must be fully catered for in water level management schemes implemented on the Avon. Ensuring compliance with salmon habitat requirements across a large number of individual pieces of work in support of these plans is a major challenge. However, as the habitat enhancement work at Charford has demonstrated, re-opening carriers and creating nursery habitat for salmon parr can be beneficial.

Ibsley Sluices

Work has continued this year on establishing operating procedures for the sluice structures at Ibsley. In collaboration with the Somerley estate, the three objectives for this work are to allow unobstructed salmon passage between March and November; to improve/ reinstate river habitat upstream of the hatches; and to enable appropriate water level management for agri-environment purposes on the adjacent flood plain. The first objective may have been achieved in practice for the main sluice, but remains to be formalised and linked to all the sluice settings, river flows and levels; there is further work needed on the remaining two objectives.

Fordingbridge

There is to be a major capital Flood Defence scheme at Fordingbridge with construction starting summer 2005. The main element of this scheme is to create a new channel between the Ashford Water and the Midgham Drain and carry out some restoration works to the existing Midgham drain. This gives us the opportunity to help deliver the WLMP for some of the area to the south of Fordingbridge. Fishery concerns are majoring on how to prevent fish entering the Midgham Drain, and if and when they do get in, how to get them out again. The lower end sluice will therefore be sited and designed to minimise access opportunities and we are hoping to install a Larinier fish pass at the top end. Additionally, the Mill at Fordingbridge, historically thought to be a complete blockage to salmon movement up the Ashford, has been restored by the new owner, and we are hoping to arrange a management agreement in order to allow fish passage as part of the scheme.

Downton (North Charford)

The proposed work will be carried out in the Autumn 2004 and is designed to restore the hydrological continuity between the floodplain and the Wick Drain (ex IDB drain) and contribute to achieving sustainable water levels throughout the year.

Weedcutting

This year the Environment Agency has undertaken weed cutting in selected reaches, between Ringwood to Burton during July and August. In accordance with the EA's Code of Practice a 40% cut of river weed was made, based on the long-term average flows, whilst taking into account declining river flows, water levels, predicted rainfall and biodiversity interests in the river and adjacent flood plain. Removing river weed is a means of lowering water levels and enables farmers and landowners to cut grass for winter feed and aftermath graze which in turn creates a suitable sward to attract breeding waders the following spring - if conditions are right. This year's unsettled summer weather caused further difficulties at hay and silage making time. With a gradual move towards ditch restoration through agri-environment schemes and wider water level management, the reliance upon weed cutting in the River Avon, as the main mechanism to support appropriate management of flood plain pastures may start to diminish.

Improve understanding of the mechanisms controlling chalk stream salmon populations.

As stated in the Avon SAP, although we have taken a view on the major factors influencing stocks of salmon in the Avon at present, we will adjust our priorities if necessary in the light of information from future scientific studies. Proposals for future R&D have been developed after discussions between Agency staff in Southern and South West Regions, and include:

Other projects

Hampshire Avon salmon scale project

A collaborative project involving the EA, the University of Southampton and the Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust commenced during the summer of 2004 in order to investigate whether or not salmon scales can be utilised to re-construct aspects of the life history of Avon salmon.

The project involves: Collection and chemical analysis of river water samples; chemical analysis of salmon scales from Agency archives and analysis of salmon scales collected in 2004 from the Mudeford netsmen.

It is hoped that this research may determine:

  1. If the adult salmon sampled originated from the Avon.
  2. If any changes in scale chemistry between historic samples and the 2004 samples are related to anthropogenic factors
  3. The oceanographic locations that Avon salmon migrate to during the marine phase of their life cycle.
  4. The marine diet of the salmon sampled.
  5. Any possible links to changes in population sizes and structure of the Avon stock in relation to the factors under investigation.

Jim Lyons 17 September 2004

Wessex Salmon Smart Wear

Following years of nagging by Brian for a Wessex Salmon Tie we have at last shut him up. First edition corporate clothing arrived at our last committee meeting, organised by Mike Twitchen. Not only ties (silver logo on dark blue) but Fleeces, Sweat Shirts and Hand Towels; all in green, again with a silver logo. Samples, prices and orders at the AGM. They really are very smart.

Wessex Salmon and Rivers Trust, and the editor in particular, are grateful to all those who have contributed to this newsletter or provided information. Opinions expressed and/or statements made by individuals are not those of the committee of trustees collectively unless it is specifically indicated otherwise.