Large Brook Duns, Eamont, May 2017 Matt Eastham 2017
REDFA
Annual
Report
Removal in 2017 of another concrete ford blocking fish passage at Low Gardens - the downstream corner of Lowther show ground – Project managed by ERT
Before and After
REDFA visit to UU`s Swindale Beck Abstraction and fish pass
GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE
Paul Davidson Chairman CAA Chairman Adrian Brown D.Chair Eden Owners & Church Commssioners Mike Ashwin Secretary & Treasurer NWATFCC Chairman
Nigel Austin CAA Secretary Jamie Birley PAA Chairman Bob Bradney YFFC Council Bill Candeland BAA Secretary Irene Downing KSDAA Chair Colin Edney KSDAA Secretary John Harper BAA Chairman Bob Milne YFFC Colin Pilmer CAA John Rawlinson PAAS & RFCA chair Adrian Sharpe YFFC
CONTENTS
1 Chairman’s Report 2 Secretary & Treasurer`s Report 3 Year End accounts 4 Angling Reports Carlisle Angling Association Kirkby Stephen & District Angling Association Penrith Angling Association Prince Albert angling Society Yorkshire Fly Fishers Club Borderlines 5 * Skitwath Beck prosecution – future reporting of pollution incidents * Salmon fisheries data - Eden rod Fisheries catch, C&R and earlier years * Avian Predation and Eden Area licence * National C & R Guidelines and Net Limitation Order & Byelaw proposals - “why REDFA is opposing the 100% Mandatory C&R measures, Eden & Nationally” * Dalston Hydro application outcome
6 EFP progress update 7 2018 Events and Meeting dates & Volunteer activities and contacts 8 Eden Rivers Trust report 9 List of REDFA Members 10 REDFA Membership Form
1. Chairman`s report
I can honestly say 2017 has certainly been the busiest year so far since becoming Chairman of REDFA. The many challenges we have been faced with include the Solway NLO, Skitwath Beck pollution incident, Corby Weir and Buckabank Hydro scheme planning application to name a few. The work that goes into these issues is immense and I can’t thank those involved enough for the hard work and commitment they have given yet again over the last 12 months.
Although our recommendations that were put forward to the EA during the steering group meetings for the Solway NLO and byelaw Review seem to have fallen on deaf ears we will continue to try and get a resolution that hopefully will suit all following the recent responses to the consultation. Work on the Eden Fishery Plan has continued throughout the year and I would like to thank our strategic partners, the Environment Agency, Natural England and Eden Rivers Trust. A great number of the projects have been achieved but there still remains many challenges, even more so with the lack of resources we are all faced with. The 2016 River Eden Monitoring Report has recently been released and again I would like to thank all those involved and who provided input.
The year ahead looks like it is going to be another busy year and without the support of our membership it would be an even harder task.
Hopefully we will see some good catches of salmon again this spring and last year certainly produced good numbers from late February into June, sadly the summer and back end continued to show the decline we have experienced over the last few years. With good conditions the trout fishing should hopefully show why the Eden is one of the premier wild brown trout rivers in the country.
Tight lines to all.
Paul Davidson
2. Secretary & Treasurer`s report
Another stretching year for REDFA and those Clubs, Riparian interests and rod fisheries that keep alive our fishing interest. At times it has felt as though we have literally been fighting for survival in what are increasingly demanding circumstances.
The river and its catchment, the river species that flourish or dwindle are all changing quite noticeably and with it the fortunes of our rod fisheries and riparian interests which appear to be more in flux than at any other time.
REDFA has had big demands placed on it this year and worked well and closely with its member interests to secure important decisions to protect our fisheries.
We have again received excellent support from Fish legal and the Angling Trust over two landmark cases in the catchment - the EA Skitwath Beck slurry pollution and Dalston Hydro application on the Caldew.
None of these cases are won without individuals being prepared to intervene and stand up and present their case. The River Eden is fortunate to have people within its Clubs and Association of this calibre who are prepared to challenge accepted thinking at a time when environmental and manmade pressures threaten our sport. A number of persons have and continue to make important contributions to their own fisheries and the wider Eden management of our waters. As Secretary I very much value the support and commitment they have made.
REDFA has maintained and grown its strong member base by focusing on concerns that resonate. Noticeably, as other partner organisations re-evaluate their role in protecting and improving our game fisheries they distance themselves from REDFA`s core agenda and the Association is increasingly thrown onto its own resources. The greater part of our work is achieved on a voluntary footing and for the future we and other grass roots rod Fisheries organisations have to secure permanent funding to cover the essential monitoring and fish protection activities that other environmental and regulatory bodies do not now see as a priority.
Of greater concern to all migratory fisheries has been the passage of the local Solway and National Consultations, with REDFA and its regional Fisheries Consultative NWATFCC well represented and leading the discussions at a national level to introduce new reforms and simplification of salmon stock reporting systems. With this we hope to a see new modelling of river stocks and applied conservation measures that properly reflect a more accurate assessment of river stocks.
As a natural follow on from the well attended REDFA event in 2016 when S&TCUK presented their Riverfly Census studies, key members of the Environment Agencies water quality and monitoring team from Penrith - Andrew Seward and Dan Atkinson provided an informative evenings presentation to REDFA on the scope of their work and how this meets European WFD requirements.
And so into a new year, with new challenges and the added uncertainty of pending Consultations.
None of us know what these will bring, perhaps that`s the beauty of fishing !
All the very best in the season ahead
Mike Ashwin
REDFA Year End Accounts as at 31st October 2017 with earlier year comparisons
Income 2016 - 2017 2015 - 2016 2014 - 2015 2013 – 2014 2012 - 2013
Riparian Owners £2936.00 £2,015.00 £899.00 £389.00 £439.00
Clubs £4750.00 £5,035.00 £4,750.00 £388.00 £388.00
Members £506.00 £450.50 £422.50 £412.50 £402.00
Donations £450.00 £280.00 £5,040.00 £592.00 £5,170.00
Raffle (at A.G.M.) £50.00 £20.00 £75.00
Lowther Show £176.00 £118.00 £141.00 Contributions to Junior Day £670.00 Member (Corby weir contr) £150.00 £300.00 Admin transfer £100.00 . Total Income £ 8,968.00 £ 8,298.50 £ 11,972.50 £ 1,801.50 £ 6,474.00
Expenditure
Honorarium (Secretary) £100.00 £300.00 £350.00
Honorarium (Treasurer) £300.00 £300.00 £300.00
Stationary/Postage £81.84 £166.59
Angling Trust £55.00 £55.00 £55.00 £55.00 £55.00
A.G.M (Food/room hire) £250.00 £250.00 £101.27 £58.95 £112.00 (Printing – Annual reports) £65,00 £85.00
Webpage Management £200.00 £200.00 £200.00 £200.00 £200.00
Corby Weir consultancy £300.00
NWATFCC £100.00 £100.00 £100.00
Cup engraving £8.00 £14.95
Workshops & Venue Hire £125.00 £75.00 £258.00 £90.54 £213.27
Retirement gifts £50.00 £100.00
Lowther Show Costs £65.50 £78.00 £81.09 £72.69 £38.09
Lowther prizes £100.00
REDFA leaflets £40.00 £40.00 £40.00
Junior Day Tuition Fees £629.20 £300.00
Other (Direct debit) £25.00 £120.00
Avian Predation £450.00
Administration - Costs £7,100.00 £9,000.00 £9,000.00
- Mileage £444.50 £317.50 £497.75
- Stationary/post £110.40 £155.64 £232.59
Total Expenditure £ 9,114.39 £ 10,789.14 £ 11,694.90 £ 1,409.02 £ 2,035.90
Surplus ( £146.39) ( £,490.64) £ 277.60 £ 392.48 £ 4,438.10
Angling Trust Grant received - £1893.00 (not included as income and £1574.24 spent on Avian predation equip) ( £318.76 grant balance held in HSBC account) ((9
Account Balances as at 31.10.17 31.10.16 31.10.15 31.10.14
H.S.B.C. £ 355.56 £501.95 £2.992.59 £1, 646.23
Cumberland B.S. £20,021.19 £19,847.47 £19,674.67 £19,417.62 Total balances £20,376.75 £20,349.42 £22,667.26 £21,063.85
ContributionsReport highlights to Junior Day received from: Current expenditure in this last financial year has been managed
and reduced, to balance income revenues that approached Donations gratefully received from :- £9,000 for the year. Considerable demands were placed on James Norris and PAA & CC for REDFA in 2017 to respond to threats to our rod fisheries and consultancy work on Corby weir these were met through the concerted voluntary efforts and improvements
contributions of GPC Officers & Club Member representatives
Carlisle Angling Association 2017 REDFA report.
In 2017 Carlisle Angling Association had a significantly busier year than normal.
A proposed hydro-scheme at Dalston, in the Caldew system had to be addressed and with the aid of REDFA colleagues, The Wild Trout Trust, Fish Legal and others the scheme now finally seems to have faltered as the EA have refused an Abstraction Licence due to the site being part of an SAC. This is being seen as a significant result for all parties concerned.
Carlisle Anglers have contributed significantly to the current NLO and ByeLaw review and it remains to be seen what the final outcome of these reviews will mean for the club. There is great concern within the committee regarding falling ticket sales, with members already implying they will wait and see what happens before purchasing a ticket.
The club has been making use of social media for the first time in its history – it now has its own FaceBook page which seems to be a huge success in promoting the club.
Members have been busy with co-ordinated work parties, including bank restoration, willow trimming, tree planting and new fencing being
installed on CAA waters.
We have a hard core of around a dozen regular volunteers, as well as individuals who carryout work when required.
Canoeists remain a problem with several incidents reported. We are working with Carlisle Canoe club to resolve these issues.
Members have also been monitoring invertebrates and taken part in counts of both Goosander and Cormorant numbers as part of the Area Licence to cull these birds. This photograph shows part of a flock of 60-100 Cormorants that are regularly seen fishing on the river at the top of CAA waters.
The 2017 salmon season got off to a slow start in January and February. However as March and April arrived a significant run of spring fish entered the system. This was probably one of the best spring runs we have had on the Eden system for some years, giving sport for members who ventured out. It was good to see a good number of these fish were into the high teens and some over the twenty pound mark. If only more members would fish, a bigger proportion of the fish taken above CAA waters could be accounted for on our own fishery.
Fish have been taken from most areas of CAA waters, with the bottom beats producing as the water levels dropped towards the end of April.
Settled weather and water conditions in May and June meant fish were still entering the system meaning the top and lower ends of CAA waters fished well. Heavy rain and unsettled water conditions from July onwards meant fishing was limited and there seemed to be a lack of running fish to be seen and beats upstream of CAA were also encountering limited catches
Unfortunately, towards the end of August it was starting to become apparent the autumn run was once again going to be a big disappointment. In fact it would seem it has been one of the worst autumn runs ever. Despite small lifts of water in August and September few fish entered the system and no residents were being seen in the majority of the holding pools on CAA waters and also on beats above CAA.
The sea trout fishing appears to have been mixed. Night fishing in June and July, when you would expect good numbers of fish in the system, was poor. However member’s salmon fishing were catching sea trout on both fly and spinner and good runs were being seen late into the season with sea trout being caught on CAA waters right up to the close of the salmon season.
After a slow start, the trout season on CAA waters in 2017 has been better than the previous. Anglers reported having to fish deep with bugs and nymphs as surface activity was sporadic. When hatches did occur few fish moved to the surface fly. Summer brought the usual hatches of sedge etc. and good bags, both in numbers and quality of fish were taken. It shows how resilient fish can be following poor catches in 2016 following Storm Desmond. As usual, decent numbers of grayling started to show up during the final six weeks of the season but high water during the winter periods meant fishing opportunities were sporadic to say the least.
Nigel Austin, Honorary Secretary, Carlisle Angling Association. Kirby Stephen & District Angling Association 2017 Report
The Club is keeping its head above water which cannot be said for the fish. Despite there being a lot of fly life very few fish were seen rising, especially consistently.
Weather conditions didn’t help during the prime early season months where water levels were low with a cold wind and bright sunshine. The rest of the season was often windy and very wet which did not allow the river to settle. On one occasion 40 – 50 cormorants were seen on a lower stretch in April. The Club will join the REDFA Area Predation Management scheme in 2018-19. A pollution source was discovered and solved.
Training days for the river/feeder becks habitat improvement took place with the help of some members and the Wild Trout Trust. They were joined by other organisations interested in wildlife.
Hartley Beck an important upper Eden feeder beck is now impassable to migration,yet holds a decent number of young trout. This was electrofished by ERT to establish what species were present upstream of a defective fish pass. Money appears to be limit any EA action and a satisfactory solution has yet to be found to improving fish passage.
A bucketful of youngsters from Hartley beck
Fly sampling, predation walks continue. We had a presence and display at Lowther Show and at our local Westmorland Dales Day, also a window display early season at Kirby Stephen Visitor centre.
However the membership remains low and the day tickets dropped 25% IN 2017. Are there any initiatives to encourage older people to start fishing as suggested by James Norris ?
Report by I.M. Downing & C. Edney
Penrith Angling Association 2017 report
The Association were just one member short of reaching 360 maximum adult paying members and achieving sixteen consecutive years of having a full membership for 2017.
Overall the fishing was not as easy as some previous seasons, with conditions generally against the angler. The early part of the season saw mainly low water levels and bright clear skies. These conditions followed a mild winter with few rises in river levels to clean out the rivers, and algae covering the substrate were reported on many stretches much earlier in the year than normal.
Hatches of certain species of fly were not often seen in the concentrations anglers would have liked, particularly in the early season, but evidence of good numbers of adults were regularly found if looked for in the foliage, along with excellent egg counts in the rivers last year. Unfortunately what anglers want regarding hatches is the opposite of what insects want. Anglers want flies to be on the water and visible long enough for fish to feed on them, whereas insects want to emerge to escape and head for land coverage as fast as possible and not be seen by fish or any other predators. Some species may be emerging throughout long periods of the day in good conditions rather than the narrow window of opportunity between poor conditions which is when large hatches can be seen. Unfortunately for anglers the early 2017 conditions suited the invertebrates for many weeks due to stable waters and air temperatures. The skilled nymph and wet-fly anglers fared better than the dry-fly devotee in the early weeks, but the angler had to be a little more patient and careful in those low clear waters and bright conditions, so large catches were fewer per day on many occasions. We have had better starts to early fishing in recent years, but looking further back on some of my own records, March and April of the 2017 season was decisively average.
Parts of May and early June showed good presence of fish stocks in places where earlier months gave an inaccurate perception that fish stocks were lower than they were. Choosing the right times of day to fish was paramount as one day to the next presented very different outcomes. I believe those anglers who fish less than 10 times a year and who selectively chose to go out on those sunny pleasurable days and returned home before the evening may have had a poor season in 2017.
It was encouraging to see an increase in the spread and growth of ranunculus in 2017, which also succeeded to flower in places. This increase occurred in many parts of the river where I have not recorded weed for a very long time, and some parts where I cannot remember ever seeing it before. I recall mentioning this increase of ranunculus to a couple of the scientists at the Freshwater Biological Association at Windermere, and they too had noted improved growths in the Lakes area. I wonder if this increased weed growth was partly due to the exceptional large floods back in December 2015, where filaments of weed from the smaller tributaries (which also had excessive floods) were ripped out and deposited into the receding waters of main rivers. The lack of floods and the mild conditions in the 2016/17 winter allowed these newly rooted weeds to get established. I would guess the increased enrichment within the soil washed off the land in the 2015 flood also helped. Let’s hope they haven’t been washed out from 2017/18 winter unremitting high waters.
Although numbers of fish caught may have been fewer for some members, I’m sure many anglers would have caught a least one good sized fish in 2017. A large brown trout of about 8lb 8oz was caught on the PAA water in 2017 unfortunately a precise weight was not achieved'. It was caught on a dry-fly, and after weighing was safely and justly returned. Some would argue that these large fish predate too much on other fish and therefore should be killed; if that is the case then I should have killed the 10” trout I had back in April with a 5½” fish partly hanging out of its mouth. The fact is all trout eat each other, and although the larger trout may be more cannibalistic, they can also produce many more eggs.
I never obtain a complete record of all of the large fish caught each season, but for the 2017 season I have heard of several over 4lb and many trout over 3.5lb. I am aware of members who have had in the teens of 2lb+ fish throughout the season, and at times some anglers getting two or three of these in a single day. Fish around 10 to 16 inches were the main size, and if you swung a team of spiders many small fish could also be had. However, as already stated, being at the right place at the right time was clearly more important than in some previous seasons.
Although few PAA members fish for the salmon, a fair number were caught this season, particularly in September and October. One member I spoke to on the riverbank had been fishing for them since June, and in fact lost fish in June on our upper beats, whilst another member landed a clean fish in June. The high river levels in the latter part of the season suited the upper reaches, and salmon were found in better numbers on our waters than seen in 2016. This was more than likely due to the better river conditions rather than an increase in numbers in the Eden system. To date not all of the catch returns have been received, but so far 11 members have caught 33 salmon. One of our members had 11 salmon, one had 6 and lost 2 and of the 11 members, two had 4 fish for a single day’s fishing. Only one of the 33 fish was taken for table.
The Association again held a junior event on the banks of the River Eden at Eden Lacy, by generous permission of Victor Gubbins. Twenty two juniors aged 8 to 14 enjoyed a great day coached by 4 professional instructors from ‘Borderlines’, we are hoping to hold this junior event again in 2018.
Andrew Dixon , Honorary Secretary Prince Albert Angling Society – 2017 River Eden report
Our first year at Holme Gate and Crosby beats was on a restricted basis, open only to PAAS members who had a current “working party ticket” and as such was closed to the full membership and we were expecting a modest uptake in rods. How wrong can you be ?
The total number of rod fishing visits for the combined beats was 981, with 52 Salmon caught. 36 on the spinner and 16 to the fly. Only 8 fish were taken, the rest released, giving our catch and release percentage of around 85%. One member Joe Dixon aged 7 will remember his day out salmon fishing with his Dad by catching his first ever salmon. We recorded only 7 sea trout for the year with very few members targeting them. PAAS Game Fishing Officer Karl Humphries showed the way here with his daytime sea trout catches making up the majority of fish. I anticipate more members will fish for sea trout when the full membership has a chance to fish.
How many rods will fish this season when it is open to the full membership is anyone’s guess but I do expect to be busy checking memberships if last year was anything to go by. We will be introducing a catch return for members to encourage more comprehensive recording of trout and grayling catches in the coming seasons.
New fishing at Mains Farm, near Lazonby gives the more serious trout and grayling angler a chance to fish the Middle Eden and as this was restricted to working party tickets only it was lightly fished. The bailiff Peter Clark reporting the water holds some excellent trout & grayling stocks. See the evidence, this fish was over 2lbs taken by myself in April on a size 22 spent olive.
Our beats at Brocklewath and Sykes Foot produced 23 Salmon for the season from 209 rod visits all but 2 fish were released giving a catch and release ratio of over 91%.
Report by Andrew Pease, PAAS Bailiff
The Yorkshire Fly Fishers’ Club
Report to REDFA 2017
It was very much a season of two halves on our Eden systems waters on 2017. While salmon fishing on our lower beats fared well in the early part of the season, before completely falling away back end, the upper beats experienced the exact opposite, a very dry spring and early summer restricting sport considerably before the fish arrived from lower down the system in September and October. Trout fishing suffered at the hands of unpredictable summer weather and the latter half of the season was poor overall. Prior to this however, some excellent sport had been experienced throughout the cool, dry spring although co-ordinated hatch activity seemed to be suppressed throughout.
Lower Eden Beats
Our Lower Eden keeper Mike Grimes concurs with growing opinion that the timing of our salmon runs is shifting. Increasingly, the bulk of sport at Wetheral is to be had in spring and early summer with some magnificent fish caught last year by rods prepared to adapt tactics to suit the variable conditions. Several spring fish of over 20lbs were released including a fresh-in 26lber caught on a floating line by Lizzie Mitchell on 28th April and Simon Kaye’s 20lber of the 29th March. Earlier that month Adrian Sharpe had a day to remember, returning a trio of fish at 22lb, 18lb and 9lb.
Steady sport continued up until mid-August, after which only a further eight salmon were caught before the season closed on 15th October, an extremely disappointing back end to an otherwise reasonable season. In total, 68 fish were caught (all on fly and all returned), 42 of which came before the end of July.
Sea trout sport was good through May and early June, and brown trout sport held up ok although grayling – in keeping with all our Eden system waters – seem to be extremely thin on the ground at present.
A fine Wetheral springer for Adrian Sharpe
Upper Eden Beats
An extremely dry spring adversely affected migratory fish sport on our upper Eden beats. By the end of August, only 39 fish had been returned. The situation then improved considerably with an influx of fish moving upstream to bring decent back end sport for our rods and a further 95 recorded during the final six weeks of the season. Presumably these fish had been holding up lower down the system as the majority were quite stale and lower beats weren’t reporting much happening at all, despite plenty of water.
A total of 134 fish landed represents a decent effort for 2017, although admittedly the number of rod hours on our beats was considerably up on 2016. All but a single fish returned to the river and the majority (128) were caught on fly. A 72/62 split between cocks and hens and an average weight of around 11lb.
Pete Jones with a nice fish from Viaduct beat
Trout and Grayling Fishing
The cool and extremely dry spring led to near drought conditions on our Eden and Eamont beats and sport seemed to take a few weeks to get going. Spring large dark olive and March brown hatches – in keeping with recent seasons – were sporadic and localised up until the latter part of April when some heavy pulses of grannom and more co-ordinated iron blue, large brook dun and olive upright hatches, resulted in good sport for anglers turning up in the right place at the right time. Good numbers of large Perla stoneflies were noted too, particularly on the lower Eamont. During this period, several members reported fruitful sessions with many trout between 2-3lb caught and odd ones over the 4lb mark.
The Lyvennet fished well at times, with hatches of Ephemera vulgata being heavy enough at times in May and June to bring fish up to appropriate mayfly patterns – a rare treat for us fishers of northern streams.
A fish of 3lb 1oz caught in May on the Eamont.
Steady sport continued up until the middle part of June when a seemingly endless sequence of low pressure fronts led to unsettled river levels, wet and windy conditions, and a marked downturn in the consistency of hatches and resulting captures. The general theme for the latter half of the season was one of frustration with rising trout and grayling hard to come by and even normally reliable nymph and wet fly tactics failing to produce much more than patchy sport at best.
Of concern is the apparent decline of grayling numbers on the Eden – possibly easy targets for the ever-increasing number of cormorants we have witnessed in recent years?
Invertebrate monitoring at several sites across our waters returned abundance scores of similarly acceptable levels to recent years, although anecdotally the consensus remains that co-ordinated hatch activity has become somewhat unreliable and the opportunity to fish dry fly, limited as a result. Nevertheless, our monitoring returns speak of fairly stable invertebrate populations and an upholding of general water quality within the catchment.
Predator control and bankside maintenance has continued routinely with both Mark and Mike working hard to sympathetically maintain access and suitable fishing conditions on our various beats. Natural England licensed cormorant quotas have been met, although to arguably no positive effect, and we continue to participate in the periodic bird counts.
Matt Eastham YFFC
“ Borderlines” activities 2017
It has been very noticeable as the years have rolled on, that Borderlines are doing more projects in south-west Scotland, probably ninety percent now, as opposed to projects in Cumbria, especially on the river Nith catchment area. February 2017 was the launch of the incentive “The Nith Young Anglers Club” - http://www.river-nith.com/nith-young-anglers-club
There was funding found for a lasting project, making each day on the water free to participants and removing certain financial barriers. They would try their hand at all disciplines of fishing, from the salt water on the beaches, coarse fishing on lakes and fly fishing on both still water and river. On average there were twelve youth attendees each trip, both boys and girls who were also accompanied by their parents. It soon became obvious that the enthusiasm from the children was rubbing off on the parents along with some bonding and after a couple of sessions they too also joined in and since some have taken up fishing themselves and joined clubs!
What are the benefits from these sort of projects? As an example the river Ness are very involved with the sort of things that we do at Borderlines and have indeed increased their membership for the club - http://www.invernessanglingclub.co.uk/news/news-2016
It is not rocket science, if we are to have a thriving fishery system on the Eden, clubs, associations, fisheries etc with healthy membership numbers along with the knock on effects like retail etc, we need to invest not only in our youth but also in the adults, some who have given up in the past and some that would like to take it up.
Borderlines are involved in the opening day on the Nith this Monday, there will be some of the Nith Young Anglers there who will be demonstrating their new found talents!
Here is a link to Borderlines 2017 activities - http://www.borderlines.org.uk/?page_id=865
We hope to see more involvement from the Eden fisheries at the Lowther Show this August, it is a showcase for what we have here in Cumbria. Last year was all about getting people into fishing, especially young people and that worked very well with the great assistance from John Norris and Penrith Anglers.
Skitwath Beck prosecution
After what seemed to take an interminably long time the EA were able to bring a successful prosecution at Crown Court, Carlisle against the defendant, Mr Mason of Whitbarrow Farm relating to a slurry escapement from a holding tank during transfer operations in Sept 2015.
Establishing the source of leak proved to be more difficult than would have been expected, as the leakage passed through unusual terrain in the form of sinkholes in the underlying geology in that area. This caused several months of delays in bringing the evidence and charges against the defendant.
The impact on this small/short (3mile) but prolific feeder stream led to an approx 7,000 fish kill comprising trout of all sizes, salmon fry & parr and other species notably stoneloach and minnows.
The fine itself (£1,500 approx) appears insignificant in relation to the damage to the watercourse and efforts by all parties to trace the source and bring the case to court. It should be noted that prior to the court proceedings, £20,000 were awarded to the EA for incident attendance and recovery costs.
The full extent of the incident might have gone unnoticed had it not been for local people with a direct interest in the beck.
REDFA, Penrith Angling Association and ultimately Fish Legal all had a part to play in working with the EA to conclude this action.
Future reporting of incidents at a catchment level
Fisheries and parties connected with the incident share the view that this incident may well be the tip of the iceberg in terms of the smaller lesser incidents around the catchment that largely go unnoticed and that it is apparent that the EA`s restricted resources mean that there is now the expectation that a pollution officer will attend only the more serious Category 1 events where there is a reported fish kill.
With this in mind and with farm and diffuse pollution a high risk in an intensive farming catchment REDFA has agreed at its last GPC meeting that we would put in place a fisheries pollution reporting system.
This would enable individual Clubs and riparian Owners or syndicates to register incidents that are or should be reported to the EA Hotline to be fed into a REDFA Pollution contact whose responsibility would be to collate monthly incident summaries and follow up actions with the EA. This system is in place on the River Ribble and works well as a reference for quarterly EA – REDFA liaison meetings. The REDFA contact will be communicated in the spring. As part of this each Club will be asked to nominate their Pollution contact for their waters.
We believe this is a necessary step to improve our river level monitoring of water quality and get a grip of the reporting events and their severity.
mja. redfa
River Eden – EA rod angler catch 1993 – 2014 and REDFA fishery catch 2015 - 2017 3000 100.00 % Released Retained C & R % 90.00 % 2500 80.00 %
70.00 % 2000 60.00 %
1500 50.00 %
40.00 % 1000 30.00 %
20.00 % 500 10.00 %
0 0.00 %
Year Retained Released Caught % C & R
1993 1307 118 1425 8% 1994 2296 336 2632 13% 1995 1689 397 2086 19% 1996 1469 395 1864 21% 1997 858 371 1229 30% 1998 858 252 1110 23% 1999 575 310 885 35% 2000 724 369 1093 34% 2001 689 433 1122 39% 2002 544 419 963 44% 2003 439 369 808 46% 2004 1653 969 2622 37% 2005 1230 993 2223 45% 2006 884 750 1634 46% 2007 701 706 1407 50% 2008 689 882 1571 55% 2009 598 763 1361 56% 2010 555 877 1432 61% 2011 454 655 1109 59% 2012 361 582 943 62% 2013 191 443 634 70% 2014 96 355 451 79% 2015 97 805 902 89% - REDFA rod fishery figures due to EA under reporting 2016 124 885 1009 88% " " " " " " " " " 2017 111 693 804 86% - provisional REDFA fisheries catch as no EA estimates published
Wetheral → Armathwaite 3 (3) 17 (17) 25 (25) 7 (7) 2 (2) 10 (6) 24 (22) 3 (2) 91 74 81% upstream of Armathwaite 2 (2) 9 (9) 6 (6) 1 (1) 14 (13) 33 (33) 37 (37) 102 102 100% Total rod returns 1 (1) 4 (4) 19 (19) 34 (34) 62 (62) 35 (22) 12 (6) 154 (71) 234 (144) 106 (78) 661 441 67% EA angler rod returns 4 (3) 19 (19) 33 (33) 58 (57) 30 (18) 31 (16) 120 (48) 230 (156) 107 (92) 634 443 70% Eden & Esk Haaf returns 46 192 299 42 579 2014 Rockcliffe → Warwick 1 (1) 5 (5) 7 (7) 9 (9) 20 (16) 12 (7) 142 (94) 58 (44) 68 (51) 322 234 73% Wetheral → Armathwaite 7 (7) 5 (5) 6 (4) 2 (1) 7 (5) 10 (9) 22 (22) 59 53 90% upstream of Armathwaite 1 (1) 5 (5) 5 (5) 4 (4) 16 (15) 26 (26) 22 (21) 46 (46) 125 123 98% Total rod returns 1 (1) 6 (6) 19 (19) 19 (19) 30 (24) 30 (23) 175 (125) 90 (74) 136 (119) 506 410 81% EA angler rod returns 5 (5) 22 (22) 19 (19) 28 (17) 22 (16) 143 (91) 75 (55) 135 (128) 451 355 79% Eden & Esk Haaf returns 58 60 65 20 203 2015 Rockcliffe → Warwick 19 (19) 24 (24) 58 (58) 47 (39) 92 (72) 139 (97) 88 (79) 55 (50) 522 438 84% Wetheral → Armathwaite 16 (16) 30 (30) 71 (71) 20 (17) 9 (7) 47 (44) 10 (9) 6 (6) 209 200 96% upstream of Armathwaite 1 (1) 5 (5) 14 (14) 36 (36) 27 (26) 4 (4) 37 (35) 19 (18) 28 (28) 171 167 98% Total rod returns 1 (1) 40 (40) 68 (68) 165 (165) 94 (82) 105 (83) 223 (176) 117 (106) 89 (84) 902 805 89% EA angler rod returns 17 (17) 61 (61) 124 (124) 83 (61) 105 (74) 151 (110) 109 (92) 47 (42) 697 581 83% Eden & Esk Haaf returns 48 (23) 72 (29) 92 (8) 29 (2) 241 62 26% 2016 Rockcliffe → Warwick 4 (4) 8 (8) 18 (18) 81 (81) 122 (106) 133 (104) 103 (87) 125 (107) 102 (90) 696 605 87% Wetheral → Armathwaite 16 (16) 24 (24) 22 (22) 10 (10) 48 (38) 16 (12) 22 (20) 10 (7) 168 149 89% upstream of Armathwaite 2 (2) 5 (5) 7 (7) 8 (7) 25 (19) 27 (24) 34 (31) 37 (36) 145 131 90% Total rod returns 4 (4) 26 (26) 47 (47) 110 (110) 140 (123) 206 (161) 146 (123) 181 (158) 149 (133) 1009 885 88% EA angler rod returns 4 (4) 12 (11) 46 (46) 88 (88) 96 (73) 130 (95) 97 (77) 138 (127) 142 (134) 753 655 87% Eden & Esk Haaf returns 156 119 84 7 366 2017 Rockcliffe → Warwick 1 (1) 2 (2) 7 (7) 30 (30) 84 (84) 57 (44) 103 (83) 57 (47) 17 (12) 425 362 85% Wetheral → Armathwaite 4 (4) 4 (4) 11 (11) 19 (19) 25 (22) 27 (23) 25 (22) 12 (12) 149 135 91% upstream of Armathwaite 1 (1) 13 (13) 19 (17) 36 (24) 86 (77) 56 (55) 230 196 85% Total rod returns 1 (1) 6 (6) 12 (12) 41 (41) 116 (116) 101 (83) 166 (130) 168 (146) 85 (79) 804 693 86%
( figures in brackets are relesed salmon ) figures in red are provisional estimates 05.11.17 Eden Catchment Bird Count Map ref Map boundaries Goosander Cormorant Merganser Heron Kingfisher Comments
Eden 1 - 5 Old Sandsfield to Grinsdale 45 11 8 2 " 6 - 10 Grinsadale to M6 Bridge 53 9 3 1 Eden Bird Count conditions - ground frost " 11 - 15 M6 Bridge to Warwick Bridge 13 31 2 1 & early mist clearing to bright sunny " 16 - 19 Warwick Bridge to Brocklewath 7 109 1 1 morning. River clear and settled - medium " 20 - 25 Brocklewath to Armathwaite 16 10 3 1 low winter height. " 26 - 30 Armathwaite to Lazonby 2 6 4 Canoeists, walkers and anglers disturbed " 31 - 35 Lazonby to Langwathby 23 13 2 9 3 bird counts & totals on Whins pond, " 36 - 41 Langwathby to Lyvennet confluence 19 20 9 1 Lakeland reservoirs and lazonby estate " 42 - 46 Lyvennet confluence to Appleby bridge 6 2 3 3 waters. " 47 - 51 Appleby to Warcop " 52 - 56 Warcop to Kirkby Stephen 5 4 4 1 A lower than average count with good EDEN mainstem totals 189 215 2 46 14 visibility affecting totals on open waters. Caldew 1 - 5 Caldewfoot to Dalston 10 4 5 1 Evidence emerging from two recent Smolt " 6 -10 Dalston to Caldew Beck tracking studies on the Scottish Dee and Petteril 2 miles - Rickerby Park to Newbiggin Wood Irthing 1&2 BAA Middle & Upper Irthing waters Deveron concluded that In River mortality Eamont 1&2 PAA Lower waters - Whinfell to Pooley Bridge 4 3 3 of smolts during spring migrations from Lowther 1&2 PAA waters - Brougham to Shap Abbey middle and upper river reached to estuary Main Tributary totals 14 4 3 8 1 was in the order of 40 – 70% losses.
Whins Pond 3 2 The principal cause suspected to be avian
Reservoirs Ullswater. Haweswater. Wet Sleddale 2 predation particularly at noted barriers
05.11.17 Bird count - catchment total 208 219 5 56 15 and pinch points. 12.03.17 " " " " 378 457 3 50 6 20.11.16 " " " " 385 351 10 70 13 The Angling Trust and REDFA are 20.03.16 " " " " 326 324 12 21 5 campaigning Natural England (the 08.11.15 " " " " 290 304 5 48 4 licensing authority) and Defra for an 15.03.15 " " " " 364 107 37 2 increased cormorant national quota, 30.11.14 " " " " 435 218 12 67 11 together with the protected species 16.03.14 " " " " 331 195 15 20 3 designation for Goosander to be reviewed
07.03.2004 “ " " " 285 86 4 59 10
National C & R Guidelines and Net Limitation Order & Byelaw proposals “why REDFA is opposing the 100% Mandatory C&R measures, Eden & Nationally”
With both the local Solway (Haaf NLO and River Eden & Border Esk Byelaws) and National (England & Wales) Consultations taking place on migratory stocks, conservation anglers and national conservation bodies may have been surprised at REDFA strong position in opposing proposals for 100% Mandatory Catch & Release. Particularly as REDFA and many of its affiliated Clubs and rod fisheries have worked hard to introduce conservation codes to protect and improve stocks. REDFA has over the course of a protracted two and a half year Solway review taken account of much wider concerns in forming its own restoration strategy of stocks in the catchment.
Most readers of this report who fish for Eden salmon will already be advocates of Voluntary 100% C&R and this is the position REDFA recommends which is consistent with the national Option 4 proposals for rivers classified “At Risk”. It should be noted however that the Eden & Border Esk are actually classified as “Probably at Risk” in the EA`s five year forward 2021 stock status forecast to which a target 90% C & R would apply. But with Natural England undertaking an additional assessment of Eden`s protected Atlantic salmon stock, Eden`s spawning stock has not met the higher criteria of a Special Area of Conservation to exceed Conservation Limit in at least 4 out of 5 years. The river is therefore placed in “unfavourable condition” and requires 100% release of salmon until stocks recover. The earliest this would be is in 2019, if all years exceed CL between now and that time. As a result of the NE Assessment the EA have now proposed a 10 year Eden & Border Esk Byelaw for 100% C & R of salmon – with provision for a midterm - 5 year review.
So why have REDFA not adopted this more precautionary approach ? REDFA and CAA with the support of other rod fisheries introduced Eden`s C&R angler codes and Carcass tagging programs in 2014 to protect stocks with a target of achieving an annual 90% release of rod caught salmon. Over the last three years Eden fisheries have achieved 86 – 89% release rates and with a 1 rod catch to 5 run size spawning stock multiplier the angler retention of catch is approx 2% of total spawning stock escapement. If Mandatory 100% measures are imposed REDFA maintain any small 2% gain in spawning stocks would be far outweighed by other lost benefits that rod fisheries deliver to stocks and the bring to the river catchment. the benefits that rod fisheries provide at little cost to other organisations protects stocks from avian predation, poaching and other river related incidents. If fisheries become unviable through lost angler revenue and have to restructure and curtail their river activities as a direct result of imposed measures, fish stocks will suffer significantly both in juvenile and to spawning stocks.. actual spawning stock and final egg deposition estimates that determine stock status are uncertain for many reasons, not least through rod effort and catch diminishing as a result of :- o recent stock component changes resulting in declining grilse & autumn runs and emergence of more dominant MSW stocks o fewer anglers fishing early season months due to Spring Byelaw restrictions o rods moving to the Tyne where more liberal stocking enhancement policies support stocks and fewer restrictions apply o greater emphasis on fly methods in fisheries which are less effective methods for covering heavy dirty water o the Eden has become more spatey in character with prolonged periods of low water conditions and fast rising dirty floods followed by levels that quickly fall that discourage anglers EA rod catch data has become unreliable in recent years and other comparative data that was available to support stock health assessments are being withdrawn - failure of Corby counter data to provide salmon specific counts, Caldew counter/trap decommissioned, No smolt count studies, partial Redd counting, incomplete and questionable juvenile survey site data sets. major concerns have arisen with the EA`s predictive forecasting of stocks, in 2015 none of the 14 Northwest Rivers stocks were correctly forecast and in 2016 only 2 of the 14 were correct. Nationally the river forecasting is running at only 20% correct. REDFA and NWATFCC (the NW fisheries Consultative) is engaged in discussions with the EA over future alternate stock models to improve accuracy. REDFA & NWATFCC are also in dialogue and detailed discussions over the use of a number of river variables that are applied to determine egg deposition estimates – notably individual run size multipliers, post C&R mortality, composition of female and 1SW/MSW component in the age-weight scale tables for fecundity estimates. a lack of a clear coherent strategy to restore stocks – the actions required to address significant losses to stocks in other life cycle stages have not been identified and brought forward as part of the National 5 Point Plan announcements to run with rod & net fishery proposals. the financial impact in lost revenues to fisheries and other related businesses including tourism is predicted to be significant. This has not been assessed in the consultation proposals and conservation case. REDFA estimate migratory fishery incomes will fall to 70% of current revenues and 50% of visitor sales in the first year of mandatory measures being applied. REDFA and ELIA (Border Esk fisheries) have submitted joint and final conservation proposals that will limit rod kill to 1% of spawning stocks and promote Voluntary 100% C & R in their catchments
REDFA and ELIA (Border Esk fisheries) have submitted joint and final conservation proposals to the Solway consultation that will limit rod kill to 1% of spawning stocks and promote Voluntary 100% C & R in their catchments and have asked that the EA & NE give careful consideration to these before determining the new measures that will apply in the Solway 10 year review.
Dalston Hydro proposal for the River Caldew at Buckabank weir
Although only a relatively small 40KW scheme the developer`s application for siting a Hydro scheme at Buckabank on a weir and fish pass that was highlighted as a structure impacting on the natural functions of the river was controversial to say the least. That the tributary was a failing SAC & SSSI waterbody where the weir and reaches upriver where under consideration for future restoration works appeared to have gone unheeded.
CAA and REDFA worked closely with other partners including Fish Legal, Eden Rivers Trust and the Wild Trout Trust to make strong and effective objections both at the Abstraction licensing and Planning application stages.
The Environment Agency through its final Habitat Regulations Assessment rejected the Abstraction application and Natural England were minded to advise the planning authority (CCC) that they could not recommend the proposed application in its protected environment.
All in all a very good outcome and credit to those concerned in intervening at short notice and presenting a good evidence case to challenge an application that was ghosting through planning and originally advertised as “ a pipe connected to an underground chamber” !
7. REDFA & Eden 2018 events
March 11th - Eden Bird Count June/July - Junior Angling events – dates to be confirmed August 11th & 12th - Lowther Show & Fishing Island November 4th - Eden Bird Count
REDFA 2018 Meeting dates
February 13th - GPC February 27th - AGM April 10th - GPC & Election of Officers June 26th - GPC October 17th - GPC Agenda, Minutes and notes of the above are viewable at www.edenfishing.co.uk
For more information on any of the content discussed in the ERT report below please contact: Eden Rivers Trust,
Telephone: 01768 866788
Fish surveys & River Restoration: [email protected]
Crayfish, invertebrate and invasive non-native plant surveys: [email protected]
Eden Rivers Trust 2016 Monitoring Summary
Electrofishing
Our electrofishing was focussed within 4 sub-catchments in 2016 (Fig.1).
Target sub-catchments In 2016, Electrofishing for Salmon and Trout Fry numbers was mainly undertaken across the Rivers Petteril, Leith and Helm Beck sub-catchments. Our aim in these sub-catchments is to be able to detect large scale changes in river health using fry numbers, and we use our standard five-minute surveys to achieve this. We ran some very basic statistical tests on our existing trout fry data to assess the number of sites we would need to survey on each river in the year to reliably detect change from the previous year. (Trout fry data is far more reliable due to the salmon’s migratory habit.) Other fish species, such as numbers of Bullhead and Stone Loach were also recorded. This data can help us identify pressures as these species have particular habitat/water quality demands just as salmonids do. For example, Bullhead are found in areas of clean substrate and well oxygenated water that is also suited to salmonid spawning habitat.
The order of change to be detected is quite large - whole density classes across the whole river (e.g. shifting from generally “poor” to generally “fair”) – but with a large enough number of sites to be able to confidently say there is a genuine difference between years. Key features of this method are that sites must be picked randomly (“stratified random sampling”) and that common sense must still be used when interpreting results: they tell us there is a difference but not why that difference occurs.
River Restoration Strategy (RRS) Monitoring has continued on the River Restoration Demonstration sites at Barnskew and Thrimby where work was carried out in 2013 to restore natural river processes and diverse habitat that results from such. Fully quantitative electrofishing surveys were again completed in 2016, (see results below.) Monitoring has also started on a River Restoration site at Wood House on the Leith, where a section of river will be allowed to naturally re-establish its course. This restoration site aims to increase the diversity of habitat, both aquatic and terrestrial, but also to improve water quality (see results below.)
Demonstration Test Catchments A fully quantitative electrofishing survey was completed on Morland Beck at the Demonstration Test catchment, (DTC) site. This survey is carried out alongside the water quality and flow data collected by Lancaster University and will provide some ecological data on the in stream habitat to the monitoring sites.
For more information about the Demonstration Test Catchments please follow the link: http://www.edendtc.org.uk/
Results Our 5 minute timed surveys on the Petteril and Helm Beck showed no significant change in Trout or Salmon fry numbers, to what we would have expected, compared to previous recent year’s results. Although there is no significant statistical change, numbers of salmon fry have dropped and no salmon fry were present in the Petteril or Helm Beck catchments. To understand this change we can assume the flooding in December 2015 may have washed out a significant number of redds and combining that with the recent low numbers of adult salmon returning to the Eden will contribute to low numbers found in 2016. A significant impact of modifying and
River Eden Annual Monitoring Report
Significant change was however noticed in Trout fry numbers on the Leith (Fig.4c). Since previous results captured in 2013, results in 2016 showed a substantial decrease of Trout fry, although numbers of Parr were more resilient. As mentioned above, we can assume a combination of exceptionally high flows, a lack of channel sinuosity and the diversity of habitat that results from such are all contributing factors to that change. Also data had not been collected in River 2014 and 2015 so the decline may Petteril have been steadier and not ‘significant’. Salmon fry and Parr numbers remain low in this catchment but are what we would have expected. We are investigating River Leith options for improving fish passage within the Leith. If achieved then we may begin to see more salmon in the River catchment Lyvennet Helm Beck
Miles 0 2.5 5 10 15 20 ´
Restoration Work on Lyvennet at Kemplee, is producing results which we are witnessing as follows :-
an increase and diversity in river habitat (now has spawning, juvenile and adult habitat) Flood resilience (for fish and land) – Floods don1t just scour everything out of reach. Better connected flood plain – again, reduce in channel scour and downstream flood benefits. All the projects are being monitored and results will be written up once a sufficient data set is gathered.
REDFA Membership 2016 - 2017 20 Riparian Owner Members 6 Club Memberships Harrison & Arter (Grinsdale & Beaumont) ( 12 individual affiliated members ) James Carr (Holmegate & Crosby) Charles Ecroyd ( Low House) Brampton Angling Association Church Commisioners ( John Harper & Bill Candeland ) Eden Owners Association Carlisle Angling Association Tim Fetherstonhaugh ( The College) ( Nigel Austin & Colin Pilmer) John Garnett (Park Broom) Kirby Stephen & District Angling Association Ian Gregg (Life Member) ( Irene Downng & Colin Edney) Victor Gubbins (Eden Lacy) Penrith Angling Association John Harris (Brackenburgh) ( Jamie Birley & Andrew Dixon) Jane Hodgson (King Garth) Prince Albert Angling Society Richard Aldridge (Cargo) ( Andrew Strickland & John Kirby) Nick Marriner (Warwick Hall) Yorkshire Fly Fishers Club Giles Mounsey - Heysham (Castletown) (Adrian Sharpe & Nigel Madden) Ken Pallister (Haggwood) Jane Pollock (Winderwath) 3 REDFA Officers Mike Sandison (Paul Davidson, Adrian Brown, Mike Ashwin) Myles Thompson (Nunwick Hall) Serena Williams – Ellis (Garden of Eden & Lazonby)
61 - Individual Members
W. Addison Irene Downing Nigel Madden Tim Bacon John Dumont R. Mather Marion Baldwin Matt Eastham M. Metcalfe Ron Baldwin Charles Ecroyd Bob Milne Dave Bateman Gordon Evans Clive Mitchelhill Jamie Birley G.P. Ewings G. Naylor Ian Bedson (Trust) Glyn Freeman J. Naylor A. Bell Brain Gent James Norris W. Blake & Son James Gubbins Neil Parkinson Chris Bowman Nico Gubbins Mr & Mrs Perry Bob Bradney (Life Member) Victor Gubbins John Rawlinson Sandy Bradney Mike Harrison Ross Tony Britton (Life Member) Goerge Holmes Alan Sephton Ian Bullough Warwick Ivill Adrian Sharpe M & H Calvert Geoff Johnston Julian Shaw Dr J.E. Carty Simon Kaye P. Stevens G.D. Cawley Alec Kelly Mark Strong Raymond Clark Derek Kelly Ben Tinnion Terry Cousin Nick Lloyd Harold Tonge (Life Member) Tom Dias (dec) James MacLaren Ian Whitfield (Life Member) Dr P.F.M. Wrigley
RIVER EDEN & DISTRICT FISHERIES ASSOCIATION - Membership Application & Payment
New members are welcome to join – please complete the subscription form and return by post to :- Mr Mike Ashwin, Secretary REDFA, The Barn, Skirwith, Penrith, Cumbria CA10 1RH
The subscription rates are set out below are for the 2017 - 18 season and the annual renewal date for membership is the 1st November
Member Name………………………………………………………………………………………………………………... Address……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………Postcode……………………………………. Email address………………………………………………………………………………..
Instructions to your bank to pay by Direct Debit :- Please pay the Subscription and/or donation for the sum of ………………………………………………. £…………………. to RIVER EDEN & DISTRICT FISHERIES ASSOCIATION, HSBC Bank PLC, PO Box 5, 29 English Street, Carlisle, Cumbria CA3 8JW Sort Code 40-16-22 Account No 71414658
Name & Address of Member Bank details
To:- The Manager, …………………………………………………………………………Bank/Building Society Address …………………….………………………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………………Postcode…………………………… Name (s) of Account Holders ………………………………………………………………………………………. Sort Code ……………………………………. Account No ………………………………………………………… Signature …………………………………………………………. Date ………………………………… The first payment being made immediately, and on first day of November in every Year until further notice from me in writing, and debit the amount/s paid to my account.
Alternatively by cheque to :- River Eden & District Fisheries Association
REDFA 2015-16 subscription rates :- Riparian Owners - Scale A £250.00 - “ B £150.00 - “ C £100.00 Individual £10.00 Clubs with salmon, sea trout & trout waters £5.00 per full time member Clubs with trout & occasional migratory species £3.00 “ “ “ “ Associated commercial activity £ by donation