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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by NERC Open Research Archive Article (refereed) - postprint Winfield, Ian J.; Berry, Richard; Iddon, Henry. 2019. The cultural importance and international recognition of the Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus populations of Windermere, UK. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 This version available http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/521363/ NERC has developed NORA to enable users to access research outputs wholly or partially funded by NERC. Copyright and other rights for material on this site are retained by the rights owners. Users should read the terms and conditions of use of this material at http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/policies.html#access This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Hydrobiologia, 840 (1). 11-19. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3814-6. There may be differences between this version and the publisher’s version. You are advised to consult the publisher’s version if you wish to cite from this article. Contact CEH NORA team at [email protected] The NERC and CEH trademarks and logos (‘the Trademarks’) are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. 1 The cultural importance and international recognition of the Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus 2 populations of Windermere, UK 3 4 Winfield, Ian J. 1 *, Berry, Richard 2 & Iddon, Henry 3 5 6 *Author for correspondence 7 8 1 Lake Ecosystems Group, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Lancaster Environment Centre, Library 9 Avenue, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4AP, U.K. (e-mail [email protected]) 10 11 2 Richard Berry Film & Photography, Kendal, Cumbria, UK 12 13 3 Henry Iddon Photography, Thornton-Cleveleys, Lancashire, UK 14 15 Abstract 16 17 The Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus populations of Windermere, England’s largest natural lake in the 18 Lake District of north-west England, have been studied since the 1940s. However, the species’ 19 cultural importance has a much longer history and these populations have been fished since 1223. 20 As early as 1660, Arctic charr were exploited in a high-profile commercial net fishery and greatly 21 enjoyed by locals and in a ‘potted’ form by wealthier members of UK society. However, overfishing 22 led to substantially decreased catches and commercial netting was stopped in 1921. Local fishing for 1 23 Arctic charr persists to the present as a small recreational plumb-line fishery using artificial lures. 24 These fishing activities and resulting catches have long held great cultural interest for the local 25 community and visiting national and international tourists. The cultural importance of the Arctic 26 charr populations of Windermere has recently been the subject of national media interest that 27 culminated in a 2017 documentary film highlighting environmental issues facing the Arctic charr and 28 also celebrating the role of this iconic species in the cultural life of Windermere. In addition, 29 international recognition of the Arctic charr populations of Windermere also contributed to the Lake 30 District becoming a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2017. 31 32 Key words 33 34 conservation; ecosystem services; environmental management; fisheries; overfishing; public profile 35 36 Acknowledgements 37 38 We thank many CEH colleagues including Janice Fletcher and Ben James for their work in the field 39 and laboratory over recent decades within numerous scientific projects which have advanced our 40 understanding, management and appreciation of the Arctic charr populations of Windermere. 41 Graeme McKee of the Environment Agency and the Arctic charr anglers of Windermere have also 42 made substantial contributions through their operation of the Windermere Arctic Charr Anglers’ Log 43 Book Scheme and we thank them for allowing us to use their data. Liz Davey of the Environment 44 Agency kindly provided useful information in relation to Windermere Reflections. We are also 45 grateful to the Freshwater Biological Association for their joint stewardship of the Windermere long- 46 term data sets and to Carol Davies, Rachel Roberts and Brian Fell of Kendal Museum, Museum of 2 47 Lakeland Life & Industry and Brian Fell Sculpture & Metalwork, respectively, for helping us into the 48 world of cultural importance and recognition. Finally, we thank Steven Barber for his kind 49 permission to use his photograph of the magnificent Arctic charr sculpture at Ambleside. 50 Components of the research and other activities underpinning this story were funded by 51 Environment Agency, Lake District National Park Authority, Natural England, Natural Environment 52 Research Council, United Utilities and Wildsmith Hotels. 53 54 Introduction 55 56 The Arctic charr Salvelinus alpinus (Linnaeus, 1758) is one of the most widely researched fish species 57 in the world (Klemetsen, this volume), with much of this long and detailed study being driven 58 ultimately by the cultural importance of this highly edible salmonid for the many human 59 communities with which it shares extensive circumpolar northern habitats. These communities 60 include some in the UK, where the Arctic charr is relatively widespread in Scotland but extremely 61 restricted in distribution in England, Northern Ireland and Wales. In England, all native populations 62 are restricted to the Lake District where they persist in just eight lakes including Windermere 63 (Maitland et al., 2007; Ferguson et al., in press). Given this relatively limited national distribution 64 and a range of environmental threats facing the species, the Arctic charr is listed as a UK Biodiversity 65 Action Plan Priority Species which affords its populations some degree of protection from direct and 66 indirect impacts. Nevertheless, the Arctic charr is also fished recreationally with a low intensity in a 67 small number of UK water bodies (Winfield, 2016). 68 69 The lake of Windermere in the Lake District National Park of north-west England (Fig. 1) provides a 70 range of ecosystem services to approximately 17,500 individuals resident in its local communities 3 71 and to many of the approximately 16M national and international tourists that visit this National 72 Park each year (Clarke & Anteric, 2014). Nevertheless, like many temperate lakes around the world, 73 Windermere also faces significant pressures from eutrophication, climate change, sedimentation, 74 and species introductions (Maberly & Elliott, 2012). Harnessing such cultural importance to deliver 75 improved environmental management was recently a major driving philosophy behind Windermere 76 Reflections, a GBP1.7M Landscape Partnership Scheme funded by the UK Heritage Lottery Fund 77 running from 2010 to 2014. This ambitious project sought to conserve and enhance the 78 Windermere catchment by both direct, practical, short-term interventions, and by promoting longer- 79 term attitudinal and behavioural changes in residents, businesses and visitors, encouraging 80 engagement and a sense of responsibility through interpretation, education and training (Clarke & 81 Anteric, 2014). The Arctic charr played an important role throughout this innovative project by 82 offering an excellent and highly relatable example of the ways in which environmental threats can 83 impact lake ecosystems. Consequently, ‘Albert the Arctic charr’ played a visible role in promotional 84 literature and other activities used during the lifetime of Windermere Reflections that still persists in 85 the form of two cameo appearances illustrating effects of eutrophication and sedimentation within 86 the entertaining and educational ‘Windermere Song’ (www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_VAMHJjQJU, 87 accessed 11 June 2018). 88 89 From a global perspective, the fundamental and applied scientific literature on members of the 90 Salvelinus genus is immense in terms of both historical duration and volume as considered by 91 Klemetsen (this volume). However, specific considerations of the interactions of such fishes with 92 human societies are remarkably rare. It is now over 30 years since Johnson (1984) provided a novel 93 philosophical perspective on such interactions, but the vast majority of subsequent Salvelinus 94 studies have remained firmly focussed on either fundamental biology and ecology or fisheries 95 management. The persistence of this approach is despite an increasing need for scientists to 4 96 communicate their findings to wider society and to demonstrate their tangible benefits (Winfield, 97 2010; Kuehne & Olden, 2015). In contrast, many of the recent activities at Windermere described 98 above have embraced a more society-orientated approach and here we present an overview of the 99 cultural importance of the Arctic charr populations of this iconic lake and the ways in which they 100 have recently contributed to its management and international recognition. Before these wider 101 issues are covered, however, it is appropriate first to review briefly the considerable scientific 102 studies of the Arctic charr populations of this lake. 103 104 Scientific studies 105 106 Windermere has been subjected to over 75 years of continuous scientific study, with much of the 107 ecosystem aspects of this work up to 2012 being described by Maberly & Elliott (2012). In terms of 108 the lake’s fish populations, work on Arctic charr by Winifred E. Frost undertaken from the 1950s to 109 the 1980s has been widely and repeatedly recognised as ground-breaking