South Cumbria Rivers Trust Electrofishing - 2017 Report A project funded by CaBA & Natural Course 2 Authors This document was produced by South Cumbria Rivers Trust Jayne Wilkinson: Catchment Planning and Delivery Officer The Clock Tower Business Centre, Low Wood, Ulverston, LA12 8LY Project Funders This project was funded by Defra: Catchment Based Approach and Natural Course (Life Integrated Project). Statement of Ownership All capital items purchased for this project remain the property of South Cumbria Rivers Trust except where agreements state otherwise Disclaimer Whilst this document is considered to represent the best available scientific information and expert opinion available at the stage of completion of the report, it does not necessarily represent the final or policy positions of the project funders or contractors. Dissemination status Unrestricted SCRT Project Manager SCRT’s project manager for this contract was: Mike Sturt, Technical Manager Report completed and signed off Name: Dr Mike Sturt Signature: Position: Technical Manager Date: 26/4/2018 SCRT Project Code SCRT 10-019-16 South Cumbria Rivers Trust Website: www.scrt.co.uk The Clock Tower Business Centre Email: [email protected] Low Wood, Ulverston, Telephone: 01539 530047 Cumbria. LA12 8LY Registered Charity No: 1114682 Company Limited by Guarantee No: 5763380 3 Document 2017 Electrofishing Report Name Y:\SCRT Files\Monitoring\Electrofishing\2017\Results\2017 File path Electrofishing Report FINAL Prepared by Jayne Wilkinson Reviewers Document Plan Comments Date Reviewers Mike Sturt Document Comments content Date 26th April 2018 Reviewers Mike Sturt Technical Comments Review & Edit Date 26th April 2018 Reviewers Mike Sturt Spelling & Comments Grammar Date 26th April 2018 Reviewers Mike Sturt Logos and Comments graphics Date 26th April 2018 Table of Reviewers Mike Sturt contents, List of Comments Tables and Figures Date 26th April 2018 Name & Mike Sturt, Technical Manager Position Final Approval Signature Date 26th April 2018 4 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 7 Methodology .............................................................................................................................. 8 Electrofishing Methodology ................................................................................................... 8 Site Selection .......................................................................................................................... 9 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Calculating the classification ................................................................................................ 10 South Cumbria Overview – 2017 .......................................................................................... 12 Duddon Catchment ............................................................................................................... 15 Coniston and Crake Catchment ............................................................................................ 15 Windermere and Leven Catchment ..................................................................................... 17 Newlands Valley ................................................................................................................... 17 Kent Catchment .................................................................................................................... 18 Winster & Gilpin ................................................................................................................... 18 Bela Catchment .................................................................................................................... 18 Environment Agency Electrofishing Classifications .............................................................. 19 Sources of Error .................................................................................................................... 21 Other Fish Species .................................................................................................................... 22 Eels ........................................................................................................................................ 22 Bullhead ................................................................................................................................ 23 Other Species ........................................................................................................................ 24 Catchment Management ......................................................................................................... 24 Next Steps for 2018 .................................................................................................................. 26 Proposed Survey Sites for 2018 ............................................................................................ 26 Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. 27 References ................................................................................................................................ 28 Appendix I ................................................................................................................................. 29 Appendix II ................................................................................................................................ 31 5 Appendix III ............................................................................................................................... 32 Appendix IV .............................................................................................................................. 33 Appendix V ............................................................................................................................... 34 Appendix VI .............................................................................................................................. 35 Appendix VII ............................................................................................................................. 36 Appendix VIII ............................................................................................................................ 37 List of Figures Figure 1. Map showing the full list of electrofishing sites which were proposed for survey and those which we successfully surveyed during 2017. ............................................................... 13 Figure 2. Salmon Fry abundance as classified under the National Fisheries Classification Scheme for South Cumbria. ..................................................................................................... 13 Figure 3. Salmon Parr abundance as classified under the National Fisheries Classification Scheme for South Cumbria. ..................................................................................................... 14 Figure 4. Trout Fry abundance as classified under the National Fisheries Classification Scheme for South Cumbria. ..................................................................................................... 14 Figure 5. Trout Parr abundance as classified under the National Fisheries Classification Scheme for South Cumbria. ..................................................................................................... 15 Figure 6. The weir on Greenholme Beck .................................................................................. 16 Figure 7. Fish survey on Yewtree Beck (above the tarn) .......................................................... 16 Figure 8. A bucket of Salmon caught during the survey at Browfoot ...................................... 18 Figure 9. Environment Agency National Fisheries Classification for Salmon fry in South Cumbria during 2017 ................................................................................................................ 19 Figure 10. Environment Agency National Fisheries Classification for Salmon parr in South Cumbria during 2017 ................................................................................................................ 20 Figure 11. Environment Agency National Fisheries Classification for Trout fry in South Cumbria during 2017 ................................................................................................................ 20 Figure 12. Environment Agency National Fisheries Classification for Trout parr in South Cumbria during 2017 ................................................................................................................ 21 Figure 13. Relative Eel abundance for South Cumbria at the sites surveyed in 2017. Circles represent relative abundance compared to the legend. Note these figures haven’t been adjusted for density. ................................................................................................................ 23 Figure 14. Relative Bullhead abundance for South Cumbria at sites surveyed in 2017. Note these figures haven’t been adjusted for density. .................................................................... 24 Figure 15. Historic fish density for Bannisdale Beck in the Kent Catchment. .......................... 25 6 Figure 16. Total fish density for Smithy Beck in the Coniston