5th June 2010 – Anglian Branch Workshop Day
Water Weed – Time to Get Inventive
On Saturday 5th June IFM Anglian Branch held a practical workshop day at Stradsett Estate in Norfolk. Twenty delegates from fisheries and angling clubs attended the event from across the Anglian region. The title for the day was ‘Water Weed – Time to get Inventive’, with a mixture of talks and practical demonstrations making an interesting day.
Anglian Branch Chairman Andy Sadler kicked off proceedings with an introduction to aquatic plants in fisheries and how the rest of the day would go.
This was followed by a highly informative and interesting talk by Chris Bell, a Technical Specialist in Fisheries, working for the Environment Agency. This talk covered a range of aspects, including the basics of the nutrient cycle and factors that effect weed growth.
Following Chris’s talk the delegates descended to the estate lake, where they were split into two groups. The first group were involved in a lake assessment. Why was there so much aquatic plant life present (however not as much as in previous years!)? The impacts on the lake, such as cattle erosion and bird life, with geese in particular being identified as a problem (hundreds were present on the lake all day). The group also looked at the settlement pond at the inflow to the main lake. This was discussed to understand what its job should be, if working correctly, to assist the main lake.
The second group were involved in a hands-on aquatic plant identification session, with aquatic biologist and consultant Dr Barry Howard. Samples of aquatic plants were collected from the lake and examined in close quarters, giving delegates a chance to identify plants accurately.
After each group swapped over and had a chance to sample each session, lunch was held back at the estate lodge, during which further queries were being answered about how to deal with excessive plants. Before heading back down to the lake after lunch, Chris Randall, Technical Specialist of the Environment Agency, described the correct use of the ‘Bradshaw Bucket’ which was on site for all to view. This is a heavy duty tool for clearing weed that attaches to a digger. Chris then answered several questions, with subjects including the disposal of weed once it had been removed from a lake/river.
The group headed back to the lake to view demonstrations of physical and mechanical methods of weed removal. The first by specialist weed cutting boat, which worked up and down the lake for all to see. Chain scythes and weed nets were also used, displaying the positive and also the negative aspects of their use on a fishery.
Back at the estate lodge, the final talk of the day was provided by Ash Girdler of AGA Group, who specialise in fishery management and aquatic consultancy. His talk covered what angling clubs and fishery owners can do to try to cope with excessive aquatic plant growth in their fisheries. This was a to-the-point talk dealing with the issues Ash has come across in the past on projects he has worked on. It also offered suggestions for the delegates on how to cope with problems with aquatic plants. A query came up about the use of ultrasonics in fisheries, with Ash more recently using this method to clear algae from lakes.
So, the end of a fantastic day with Andy summarising what had been covered in a productive and enlightening event. Much information was also passed on to the delegates that attended. Unfortunately there are no short term fixes to the problems highlighted on the day. The long term management of fisheries is needed, so to deal with problems with excessive aquatic plant growth.