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 |
page 8
|
Contents
on previous pages
|
on this page
|
29/
Given
the scale of the task involved in monitoring small streams, the workshop
recognized that it would be essential to make use of enthusiasts and volunteers
(so called citizen science). The Flylife Partnership’s Anglers Monitoring Initiative
provides a good example of the use of volunteers, drawn largely from angling clubs,
to monitor invertebrate communities, and this is an approach that could be
extended to other forms of monitoring. Key issues will be defining clearly the
tasks to be undertaking, providing training, recording data in a uniform and
consistent way, monitoring results and providing ongoing support and, not
least, ensuring the long term viability of schemes (which will depend on
retaining the enthusiasm of volunteers). It will also be important to establish
links with other interest groups, such as ornithologists, botanists and
terrestrial entomologists, as well as interested members of the general public
such as hill-walkers. The latter, for example, could report invasive plant
species. The workshop agreed that the
greater use of citizen science to monitor small streams provided a promising
way forward, and one that should be pursued.
Note: The UK-Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF) ( http://www.ukeof.org.uk/ ) was launched in 2008 in response to the long term issues that surround environmental monitoring, observations and surveillance. It has recently published a guide giving advice on how to develop, implement and evaluate citizen science projects to study the UK's environment, covering many of the issues identified by the workshop This states, inter alia, that ‘the value of citizen science in helping to meet the need for environmental monitoring and to address the challenges outlined within the emerging governmental biodiversity and environment strategies is widely recognised.’
30/ The UK-Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF) ( http://www.ukeof.org.uk/ ) was launched in 2008 in response to the long term issues that surround environmental monitoring, observations and surveillance. It has recently published a guide giving advice on how to develop, implement and evaluate citizen science projects to study the UK's environment, covering many of the issues identified by the workshop This states, inter alia, that ‘the value of citizen science in helping to meet the need for environmental monitoring and to address the challenges outlined within the emerging governmental biodiversity and environment strategies is widely recognised.
Note: The UK-Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF) ( http://www.ukeof.org.uk/ ) was launched in 2008 in response to the long term issues that surround environmental monitoring, observations and surveillance. It has recently published a guide giving advice on how to develop, implement and evaluate citizen science projects to study the UK's environment, covering many of the issues identified by the workshop This states, inter alia, that ‘the value of citizen science in helping to meet the need for environmental monitoring and to address the challenges outlined within the emerging governmental biodiversity and environment strategies is widely recognised.’
30/ The UK-Environmental Observation Framework (UK-EOF) ( http://www.ukeof.org.uk/ ) was launched in 2008 in response to the long term issues that surround environmental monitoring, observations and surveillance. It has recently published a guide giving advice on how to develop, implement and evaluate citizen science projects to study the UK's environment, covering many of the issues identified by the workshop This states, inter alia, that ‘the value of citizen science in helping to meet the need for environmental monitoring and to address the challenges outlined within the emerging governmental biodiversity and environment strategies is widely recognised.
Research
Research is needed:
It will be important to record and map the impacts of climate change on small streams, including cumulative impacts, and that there is a clear need for national repositories of climate change information
FOOTNOTES
[1]
A comprehensive programme, provisionally titled Life History Optimisation in Trout in a Changing Environment, should be developed, to explore the factors that influence the life history strategies that trout adopt, together with the ways that climate change might affect them
[2]
A GIS linked inventory of sea trout rivers should be developed, with supporting information on the size of the resource, and once the system is operational it should be taken up throughout the British Isles
[3] The Workshop agreed that more should be done to establish the social and economic importance of sea trout and sea trout fisheries. In particular, more work is needed on the ecosystem services value of these fisheries. It recommended that a seminar or workshop, attended by the appropriate experts, should be organised to take this forward
Research is needed:
- on the movement of immature salmon and trout, within and out of small streams;
- on the role and importance of coastal streams in contributing to sea trout numbers at sea;
- to improve our knowledge of the macroinvertebrate communities and productivity of small streams, their significance in terms of overall catchment biodiversity and of the contribution made by aquatic macroinvertebrates from headwater streams to salmonid diets. The use of stable isotope analysis for the latter should be explored;
- to improve understanding of trout migration patterns, and to establish the relative proportions of resident and migratory fish, within individual populations, as part of the study of life history choices in trout recommended by the Sea Trout Workshop, and for research into simple, and cost-effective ways of doing this;
- to ascertain, using genetic analysis, population structures of migratory and resident trout within catchments, including small stream.
It will be important to record and map the impacts of climate change on small streams, including cumulative impacts, and that there is a clear need for national repositories of climate change information
- It will be important to record and map the impacts of climate change on small streams, including cumulative impacts, using appropriate indicators and that there is a clear need for national repositories of climate change information.
- Ways of raising the awareness of the importance of small streams among land managers, conservationists and the general public should to be explored.
- The development of a GIS based inventory of sea trout rivers should be extended to cover small streams in order to quantify their contribution to catchments and display location in relation to potential pressures.
- Consideration should be given to the development of specific guidance on the management and restoration of small streams; this should take account of the potential role that farmers and other land mangers could play.
- A better understanding of the ecosystem services benefits provided by small streams would help develop a more convincing case for devoting resources to their conservation, and work on this should be taken forward at the further workshop recommended by the Sea Trout Workshop.
- Greater use of citizen science to monitor small streams provides a promising way forward, and one that should be pursued.
FOOTNOTES
[1]
A comprehensive programme, provisionally titled Life History Optimisation in Trout in a Changing Environment, should be developed, to explore the factors that influence the life history strategies that trout adopt, together with the ways that climate change might affect them
[2]
A GIS linked inventory of sea trout rivers should be developed, with supporting information on the size of the resource, and once the system is operational it should be taken up throughout the British Isles
[3] The Workshop agreed that more should be done to establish the social and economic importance of sea trout and sea trout fisheries. In particular, more work is needed on the ecosystem services value of these fisheries. It recommended that a seminar or workshop, attended by the appropriate experts, should be organised to take this forward