The Biology and Conservation of the Fish Assemblage of the Severn Estuary (Csac)
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The Biology and Conservation of the Fish Assemblage of the Severn Estuary (cSAC) D J Bird CCW Regional Report No. CCW/SEW/08/1 © CCGC/CCW date You may reproduce this document free of charge for non-commercial purposes in any format or medium, provided that you do so accurately, acknowledging both the source and CCW's copyright, and do not use it in a misleading context. This is a report of research commissioned by the Countryside Council for Wales. However, the views and recommendations presented in this report are not necessarily those of the Council and should, therefore, not be attributed to the Countryside Council for Wales Report Number: CCW/SEW/08/1 Publication Date: February 2008 Contract Number: SER/4/07-08(0) Project Officers: Dr N Rimington, Estuarine and Coastal Scientist Dr C Newberry, Designated Sites Officer Title: The Biology and Conservation of the Fish Assemblage of the Severn Estuary (cSAC) Authors: D J Bird Restrictions: None Distribution List: Core: CCW HQ Library CCW South & East Region (Cardiff) Library Dr N Rimington, Estuarine and Coastal Scientist, CCW Cardiff Dr C Newberry, Designated Sites Officer, CCW Cardiff Cardiff & Newport Team, CCW Cardiff Charlotte Pagendam, Natural England Others: Dr T Hatton-Ellis, Senior Freshwater Ecologist, CCW Bangor Dr M McMath, Senior Marine Vertebrate Ecologist, CCW Bangor Mr C Dyson, SR Regional Rivers Specialist, CCW Llandrindod Wells Ms A Cooke, Marine Biodiversity Liaison Officer, CCW Pembroke Dock Environment Agency Severn Estuary Partnership Recommended citation for this volume: Bird, D.J. 2008. The biology and conservation of the fish assemblage of the Severn Estuary (cSAC). CCW Report No: CCW/SEW/08/1, 79pp. CCW/SEW/08/1 CONTENTS 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................7 1.1 Scope of the report.....................................................................................................................7 1.2 The Severn Estuary....................................................................................................................8 1.2.1 Physical characteristics .......................................................................................................................... 8 1.2.2 Habitats & communities......................................................................................................................... 9 2 The Fish Assemblage ...........................................................................................................10 2.1 Sampling techniques ................................................................................................................10 2.2 Number of fish species.............................................................................................................11 2.3 Life-cycle characteristics.........................................................................................................13 2.4 Changes in seasonal abundance..............................................................................................19 2.5 Changes in annual abundance ................................................................................................20 3 Anthropogenic & Environmental Concerns .......................................................................23 3.1 Contamination..........................................................................................................................23 3.1.1 Metals................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.1.2 Organic contaminants........................................................................................................................... 24 3.1.3 Endocrine disruption ............................................................................................................................ 25 3.2 Climate change.........................................................................................................................25 3.3 Sediment disturbance ..............................................................................................................26 3.4 The Severn Barrage .................................................................................................................27 3.4.1 Water quality........................................................................................................................................ 28 3.4.2 Intertidal mudflats & sandflats............................................................................................................. 28 3.4.3 Migratory species................................................................................................................................. 28 3.4.4 Turbines................................................................................................................................................ 28 3.5 Industry-related fish mortality ...............................................................................................30 4 Species Dependant on the Estuary ......................................................................................32 4.1 Lampreys (Petromyzontidae) .................................................................................................32 4.1.1 Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus)..................................................................................................... 32 4.1.2 River lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) ................................................................................................... 33 4.1.3 Conservation issues: Lampreys............................................................................................................ 34 4.2 Shad (Clupeidae)......................................................................................................................34 4.2.1 Twaite shad (Alosa fallax) ................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.2 Allis shad (Alosa alosa) ....................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.3 Conservation issues: Shad.................................................................................................................... 36 4.3 Herrings (Clupeidae) ...............................................................................................................36 4.3.1 Sprat (Sprattus sprattus) ....................................................................................................................... 37 4.3.2 Herring (Clupea harengus)................................................................................................................... 37 4.3.3 Conservation issues: Herrings.............................................................................................................. 37 4.4 Salmon & Trout (Salmonidae)................................................................................................38 4.4.1 Salmon (Salmo salar) ........................................................................................................................... 38 4.4.2 Trout (Salmo trutta).............................................................................................................................. 38 4.4.3 Conservation issues: Salmon & Trout.................................................................................................. 39 4.5 Eels (Anguillidae).....................................................................................................................39 4.5.1 European eel (Anguilla anguilla) ......................................................................................................... 39 4.5.2 Conservation issues: European eels ..................................................................................................... 40 4.6 Pipefish (Syngnathidae)...........................................................................................................41 4.6.1 Nilsson’s pipefish (Syngnathus rostellatus)......................................................................................... 41 4.6.2 Conservation issues: Pipefish............................................................................................................... 42 i CCW/SEW/08/1 4.7 Cod fish (Gadidae) ...................................................................................................................42 4.7.1 Whiting (Merlangius merlangus) ......................................................................................................... 42 4.7.2 Bib (Trisopterus luscus) ....................................................................................................................... 43 4.7.3 Poor-cod (Trisopterus minutus) ........................................................................................................... 43 4.7.4 Pollack (Pollachius pollachius)............................................................................................................ 43 4.7.5 Northern rockling (Ciliata septentrionalis) .......................................................................................... 44 4.7.6 Five-bearded rockling (Ciliata mustela)............................................................................................... 44 4.7.7 Conservation issues: Codfish ..............................................................................................................