SMALL STREAMS: Contribution to populations of trout and sea trout.
Report of a workshop held at Carlingford, Co. Louth, Ireland on 27 and 28 November 2012 |
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Contents
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Introduction by David Solomon - video (slides with audio) |
1/ The workshop, which was jointly organised by IBIS and the Atlantic Salmon Trust, explored the importance of small streams for salmonids. It originated in a recommendation made by the AST Sea Trout Workshop that more attention should be given to the significance of small streams for sea trout production; while the focus was on trout, both resident and migratory, the role of small streams in the production of salmon was also covered. The workshop was attended by a large cross section of interest groups including fishery managers, fishery scientists, fisheries trusts, angling groups and environmentalists. It is intended that the outcomes of the workshop will feed into the further workshop being organised by the Institute of Fisheries Management on behalf of the Environment Agency, which will consider the importance of small streams for all species of fish.
2/ The workshop took the form of a number of presentations on the first day, with time for questions and discussion; the second day was devoted to a discussion of key issues and research needs. In the course of the discussion sessions participants also provided data on a range of issues. The workshop agenda can be found at www.loughs-agency.org/ibis/ibis-events/kt-workshop-contribution-of-small-streams/. 3/ This report does not attempt to provide a detailed record of all the presentations and discussion. Rather, it tries to pull together the main issues that emerged during the workshop. |
Introduction by David Solomon - powerpoint (no audio)
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4/ The workshop agreed on a number of recommendations for action, principally further research. These are summarised at the end of this report. It reached the following main conclusions:
- There is a case for focusing effort on very small streams (<1.5metres wide). While the workshop was not able to come up with a single definition of what constituted a small stream, it agreed that very small streams were particularly vulnerable, constituted a high proportion of the total stream and river length in many catchments and in most cases little data on them was available;
- more research is needed into the role and importance of small coastal streams in contributing to sea trout numbers at sea;
- the contribution of small fishless streams to the ecology and fish populations of their wider catchment needs to be established;
- while trout should in principle be regarded as a migratory species, there is a need to improve our understanding of migration patterns and to establish the relative proportions of resident and migratory fish within individual populations;
- the linkages between primary and secondary (macroinvertebrates) and fish production in small streams needs to be quantified;
- apart from their importance for fish, the contribution of small streams to overall catchment biodiversity (especially macroinvertebrates) is considered to be high and warrants further research;
- small streams are particularly vulnerable to anthropogenic activities and require close monitoring;
- ways of raising the awareness of the importance of small streams among land managers, conservationists and the general public needs to be explored;
- a better understanding of the ecosystem services benefits provided by small streams will help develop a more convincing case for devoting resources to their conservation;
- developing effective ways of using and retaining volunteers (citizen science) will be critical if progress is to be made in improving the monitoring and restoration of small streams.