It really works!

By Dr David Summers of the Game Conservancy Trust

The study commenced in 1993 on the River Piddle in Dorset on the Tolpuddle fishery belonging to Richard Slocock, REFFIS Secretary. There we initially experimented with techniques such as building weirs, coppicing trees, creating cover structures for trout and cleaning spawning gravels. However, it soon became apparent that the habitat at Tolpuddle was very good relative to much of the River Piddle, where, cattle had free access to the banks, and consequently, vegetation was eaten down, leaving little cover for fish. Further to this, cattle even eat the weed in the river and push the banks in, making the river wider, shallow and silty.

To demonstrate how easy it might be to restore such habitat, in the autumn of 1994 we created a sequence of new pools in a badly damaged tributary. Then, in the spring of 1995 a fence was erected. By the summer of 1995 the change was astonishing! The bankside vegetation had made a remarkable recovery and the stream was narrow and fast with a clean gravel bed. On electro-fishing in the autumn we found that numbers of wild brown trout had increased about six-fold in the improved areas, whereas in sections, which had been, left unfenced, numbers had hardly changed. Since that time, numbers of trout have continued to increase throughout the Piddle thanks particularly to a very generous grant towards fencing work given by Wessex Water plc to many owners of fishing rights along the River. Wessex Water has also taken steps to improve low flows caused by abstractions.

Further to the success of the River Piddle work, in conjunction with Dr Nick Giles and Associates, we have commenced similar studies on the River Avon at Malmesbury and on the River Wylye in Wiltshire to see if habitat restoration is as successful on larger rivers.

From the work we have done so far I believe there is tremendous potential to improve opportunities for fishing in Britain through habitat restoration. If you would like to do it yourself then I suggest you obtain Helping Fish in Lowland Streams, from The Game Conservancy's Sales Centre at Fordingbridge, price £3.50 inc. p&p.

The Game Conservancy Trust. Fordingbridge. Hampshire. SP6 1EF

THE WILD TROUT SOCIETY

A YEAR OF PROGRESS, writes Mike Weaver

(WTS Chairman)

The Wild Trout Society, the organisation created to provide a powerful united voice for all who love wild trout, completed its first year on 1st March 1998 - a year in which the society made rapid strides towards achieving its initial objectives, and which culminated with the publication of its first Yearbook.

The rehabilitation and improvement of wild trout habitat is at the forefront of WTS activities and the first project at Amesbury on the River Avon was completed in October 1997. A 400yd stretch was re-profiled to reduce the width, increase flow and depth, and to restore the pool/rifle sequence. The Game Conservancy will monitor the success of this joint project with the E.A. and Salisbury & District Angling Club through regular surveys.

The first phase of a wild trout project on the Duchy of Cornwall fishery on the upper Dart system started on the 15th March 1998 with the introduction of voluntary catch-and-release on three tributaries and a slot limit on the West Dart. The aim of the project is to restore the middle sized and larger trout, which many experienced Dartmoor anglers believe to have declined. Funding is now being sought for a major study into one of these streams, looking at issues like spawning gravels, invertebrates, acidification, erosion and the impact of livestock levels, with a view to producing a blue-print for managing fragile moorland fisheries.

Early in 1998 the WTS announced The Famous Grouse Wild Trout Society Conservation Award for excellence in the field of wild trout management and conservation. The award with a prize of £2000, is open to angling organisations, individuals, owners and managers, and will be made to what the independent panel of judges considers the best wild trout project on river or lake. The presentation will be made at a dinner sponsored by the Arundell Arms Hotel.