EA triumph

[andyantiquefly]

Thought I'd put this thread here under other species.
Well it's not often we heap praise on the environment agency and to be honest I'm not 100% sure it's the EA or a thing called the Ribble trust.
As rivers have got cleaner because it of loss of industry both Salmon and Sea trout started appearing in the Calder which is a tributary of the Ribble,the problem was the fish would get as far as an old industrial weir at Padhiam and get no further.
Anyway five years later fish passes have been made at great cost from the weir at Padhiam and then many miles upriver into two smaller tributaries which includes a small river near my house called Colne Water,I've fished it for years for wild brown trout but tonight I caught a beautiful Grayling around a pound a lost a few more,not since before the industrial revolution will this river have Grayling in if they were ever in at all,a few salmon Parr were also found last summer which surprised everyone inc the EA as it's happened quicker than what they thought.
There's still a lot of work to do as so much habitat has been lost due to flooding and bad farming practices but it's amazed me as those Grayling have travelled over twenty miles from the Ribble up the Calder and all the way round the other side of Pendle hill,I know on the Teifi you've witnessed em inhabiting the system,I truly had no idea they would use the fish passes like this to find new ground?

[grey duster]

That is good news.I was born and bred in Widnes.The Mersey was probably the most polluted river in Britain,from chemical and sewage waste.It is unbelievable that salmon are now running the river and in the shadow of the Liver buildings it is supposedly one of the prime spots for catching cod.

[andyantiquefly]

That is good news.I was born and bred in Widnes.The Mersey was probably the most polluted river in Britain,from chemical and sewage waste.It is unbelievable that salmon are now running the river and in the shadow of the Liver buildings it is supposedly one of the prime spots for catching cod.

Yes quite amazing news,I phoned up Fred Higham tonight to tell him about it as he does the Ribble report in the T&S,he was totally amazed himself how these Grayling have travelled so far up n over so many fish passes to colonise this small beck.
One correction I need to make though is that it's nothing to do with EA and all down to the Ribble trust so even though the EA keep banging on about habitat they have done nothing in this story,habitat wise though this small beck has gone downhill with these huge floods filling all the pools,I've also found eels and lamprey recently which have been absent for along time also,anyway I can now fish for Grayling near my door instead of travelling to the Wharfe.

[dave_n]

Great news...most of the really good work is done by rivers trusts.
There is a newish approach called CABA (catchment based approach) which means that the local rivers trusts are the main executors of the plan.
I know the Ribble trust very well (doing some software work for them at the moment) and they are a fantastic bunch of people who really know their stuff.
I get a lot of stats from them regarding habitats and fish movement and the work they have done so far has been astonishing.

[andyantiquefly]

Great news...most of the really good work is done by rivers trusts.
There is a newish approach called CABA (catchment based approach) which means that the local rivers trusts are the main executors of the plan.
I know the Ribble trust very well (doing some software work for them at the moment) and they are a fantastic bunch of people who really know their stuff.
I get a lot of stats from them regarding habitats and fish movement and the work they have done so far has been astonishing.

thanks very much for this reply,so nice to hear of someone who knows about the amazing work being done by the Ribble trust,I've seen them collecting data from the rivers fish passes,no idea how it works but they had an aerial attached to a tree and they sit next to it with a lap top.
They've planted trees and put up lovely signs with pics of otters and fish and birds etc,they've really made a difference on my local stream but even the trust didn't expect Grayling to move up through the systems unimpeded and to colinise this small river,the real crazy thing is Pendle water seems devoid of them and even the Calder only seems to produce the odd big fish so how and why the Grayling knew to travel so far to live in the smaller Colne water is very odd but I'll take it lol.
I'd love to know what the EA do with my £70 rod license fee,they could join up with the Ribble trust and make a difference?

[dave_n]

apologies, only just seen your reply.
Agree, I'd also love to know where the EA money goes with regards to game fish.
All the rivers in England are using this catchment based approach - I suspect a lot of it will also help with the flooding.
It's a simple plan really which says 'stop looking just at the river and look at what feeds the river' - amazed it hasn't been the plan from the beginning.
THE biggest improvement they can make and quite easily is to remove the barriers for migratory fish. Where this has been employed, results are immediate.

Unfortunately the Lune Rivers Trust have agreed yet another hydro on the river near killington!

I was chatting to the lady who runs the Tyne earlier this year and their approach is to remove all barriers.

Sadly that's only part of the problem and removing cormorants is just too difficult due to the powers of the bird fraternity.

What they can do to help is to give smolts safe passage or at least somewhere to hide on their way out!