restocking rivers

brianiac

Howdy -
I'm am interested in possibly helping cultivate/restock a river that flows through some farmland i own. Its the ward river- tributary of the broadmeadow river that flows through Swords. The portion that flows through my land is approx 300m long, and maybe 4-6mt wide, and approx 1 inch less than wellie height deep currently! it seems to have a consistent flow to it and its pretty quick by my reckoning without any areas that flow noticeably slower than others. I havent had it too long but havent noticed any fish at all in it - though maybe i wasnt looking in the right place. I did notice a heron hanging around at the tail end of last year and figure they'd only hang around if there was something to eat but maybe they went hungry.

Does anyone have any idea of how to go about it? Are the Inland fisheries board of any use? I just want to see a bit of life in the rivers and wouldnt be doing it for fishing myself - though i would be delighted if it encouraged some fish eating wildlife around, or was possible to fish it myself.

So specifically - are there any agencies that would be interested in helping? Are there any internet/book resources to help with this? Generally does it involved a lot of money - ie are there significant earth works that would be done, or expensive for placement of fish habitat into the river? Are there simple things i could be doing like growing fish-food plants in the river or along the river edges?
ta

Bogwoppit

Contact the ifi, they're generally pretty good.

They'll probably recommend some in stream rehabilitation work such as planting in the margins, ensuring plenty of clean gravel in the bed and possibly some well placed wooden structure for deflecting flows and creating different habitats.

Stocking should only be considered as a very last resort, most likely there are some wild fish in there that will come on with some help.

the evasion_kid

If its the river I'm thinking of,it does contain a population of small brown trout.

gumbo1

The ward river has been dead for a few years now, that is with very very few fish in it, be they minnows to wild browns. Pollution would be the biggest fear followed by poaching, I belive it was pollution that the culprit a few years back that led to a big fish kill and it never really came back from that. It could turn out to be very expensive to you if you do restock it and then find its been netted in the dead of night!!

Tweed

If you put in some big rocks maybe deepen the river in places to create some nice places for fish to lay you should see improvements. I'd contact the fisheries board before doing any of that however.

As regards stocking there is no problem with doing that. If you google "ifi fish farms" the first page will lead to info on purchasing trout and fishery management.

Ipso

As mentioned above, a lot can be done to improve habitat (aerating the water, removing sediment, creating channels).
The Wild Trout Trust in England do some interesting reshoration projects.
I think it was in Montana a while back where they stopped stocking and concentrated on habitat restoration and they had excellent results.
http://www.upstreamdryfly.com/gallery-album.php?album=35

whelzer

Was at a talk (probably up in Galway Fly Fair) by Wild Trout Trust guy, where it was stated that stocking a river does nothing in the long term. The stockies will not have the genes to survive those particular conditions. The long terms survival rate is very, very low. As mentioned above habitat improvement is key - "if you build it they will come"....

Lucena

I have to agree with all of the above. Here in France the approach is to improve the physical quality of the river and banks by:

- Planting trees (or letting them grow naturally) to provide shade to keep water temperatures down (possibly not an issue in Ireland), to stabilise the river banks and the root systems can provide hiding areas for the fish.
- Re-meandering and/or widening rivers that have been straightened or transformed into a concrete channel in the past, providing a more natural environment.
- Weir destruction where possible, fish ladders otherwise. If fish can't make their way upstream, the river won't be repopulated naturally after a pollution event.

The quality of the water also needs to improve first. This can mean making sure domestic waste water is properly treated, industries aren't regularly or even occasionally polluting, that farmers aren't spreading slurry too near the river, there's no run-off from silage or manure.

Once all of the above are sorted (no small ask by the way), the presence of fish is pretty much guaranteed.

Having said that, there are some fishing clubs that release fish into the rivers, either because their members want to capture a lot of fish or through a misguided effort to recolonise the river when the physical conditions aren't optimal.

Bio Mech

You could do an invertebrate sweep to get an idea of the health of the river to start.

The species spread would give you an indication of what the potential to support fish is. You could also sweep a landing net along the margins to see if you pick up any minnow or small brown trout.

brianiac

Thanks for all the replys - I have fired off an email to the IFI and will wait to see what they think. creating an environment for the fish to re-establish themselves was my principle aim - ultimately theres no point putting fish into habitat that has no food for them to eat! As someone whos knows nothing about fish, i don't know what types of fish might be in such a river let alone their life cycle, habitat requirements, foods they eat etc. thanks for the replys - reassuring to hear that relatively simple measures can help. If anyone knows of a book detailing these measures clearer than a reply on a message boards can do I'd be delighted to hear!

fiacha

What is your farmland bordering the river used for ? Establishing even a strip of native wildflowers along the river will increase the insect population, which will benefit the fish.

Somebody already mentioned the Wild Trout Trust. There are plenty of documents on their website covering the topic. It should keep you busy for a while

Also, fair play to you for looking to take on the project.

brianiac

Great site! loads of reading and the kind of thing i was looking for.
Its being grazed for cattle but preceeding me its arable crops on both sides. I did notice the river running brown during heavy winter rains a few months ago but is running clear at present. Will encourage some wildflowers and fence off the edge better initially then take it from there. Will let yis know should anything interesting transpire - thanks!

Ipso

What kind of bottom is there; gravel, clay etc

Mr Bumble

The legend is that the Broadmeadow system was one of the best sea-trout rivers in Europe once upon a time but I've never heard any detail on that. Every year someone catches a few salmon, you'll see it on the returns. Seems to be recovering according to links below which include a fishing guide who seems to live near the river.

http://www.yourforum.ie/ashbourne/roundup/articles/2012/04/30/4010236-broadmeadow-river-thriving-again/

http://www.epa.ie/licences/lic_eDMS/090151b2802e82a5.pdf

brianiac

Ipso wrote: »

What kind of bottom is there; gravel, clay etc

Well certainly silty in parts but gravelly in places too, with bare bedrock of some sort as well. Having looked at those videos on the Wild trout trust website there seems to be some obvious improvements i can make to the riverscape to encourage a bit of diversity and habitat but will let things settle after that...i wont be stocking it with fish myself i think!

pullandbang

We did a major job on a short stretch of river last year. It was the Trimblestown River, a tributary of the Boyne. We did get grants towards it and it took a fair bit of planning followed by a lot of hard work.

You can have a look at this video of the project. It's about 8 mins but near the end we have some footage of fish underwater.

brianiac

Good stuff! you placed a number of large boulders at various points - intended to 'scour' out the bed to create clean gravel? I'm not too sure i'd be stretching to hiring a jcb but would contend with putting in some clean gravel for spawning purposes if required. i think the main thing with my stretch is to create some habitat within the river for the fish to hide in, and edge cover for the bank. lack of habitat might be the biggest problem tbh. this will be a longer term project anyway - I have the book coming from the wild trout crowd in the UK and will have a perusal of that before doing anything...

Zzippy

Stocking will probably not be permitted. The policy now is not to stock hatchery fish into rivers with wild fish, based on scientific advice, except in exceptional circumstances.

Habitat work will be of most benefit - if the river needs it. You should definitely get professional advice before doing anything - if you interfere with river habitat without permission you may have some problems - contact IFI for advice. In the worst cases, incorrectly done habitat work can cause flooding of neighbouring land, leaving you open to legal action.

The Ward River is known locally as the Jacko, when we were kids it was full of minnow and small trout. Haven't seen it in a few years, but I did hear that salmon had spawned in the lower reaches near Balheary a few years ago. Habitat work to improve spawning and nursery habitat could even encourage salmon to use it.

the evasion_kid

Zzippy wrote: »

Stocking will probably not be permitted. The policy now is not to stock hatchery fish into rivers with wild fish, based on scientific advice, except in exceptional circumstances.

Habitat work will be of most benefit - if the river needs it. You should definitely get professional advice before doing anything - if you interfere with river habitat without permission you may have some problems - contact IFI for advice. In the worst cases, incorrectly done habitat work can cause flooding of neighbouring land, leaving you open to legal action.

The Ward River is known locally as the Jacko, when we were kids it was full of minnow and small trout. Haven't seen it in a few years, but I did hear that salmon had spawned in the lower reaches near Balheary a few years ago. Habitat work to improve spawning and nursery habitat could even encourage salmon to use it.

I got six different species in it last year minnow,stickleback,small trout,eels and flatfish and some kind of suckerfish

Zzippy

the evasion_kid wrote: »

I got six different species in it last year minnow,stickleback,small trout,eels and flatfish and some kind of suckerfish

It was also reputed to hold a lot of perch in the small impoundment upstream of the park (think it's an old mill). 30 years since I was up there so no idea if it's even still there...

the evasion_kid

Zzippy wrote: »

It was also reputed to hold a lot of perch in the small impoundment upstream of the park (think it's an old mill). 30 years since I was up there so no idea if it's even still there...

I've seen guys fish it whilst I was driving over the bridge were it enters the estuary,its a nice looking bit of river there I'm reckoning sea trout make a go at it there.

Zzippy

the evasion_kid wrote: »

I've seen guys fish it whilst I was driving over the bridge were it enters the estuary,its a nice looking bit of river there I'm reckoning sea trout make a go at it there.

Sea trout and mullet there

dodderangler

Zzippy wrote: »

Stocking will probably not be permitted. The policy now is not to stock hatchery fish into rivers with wild fish, based on scientific advice, except in exceptional circumstances.

The tolka and dodder holds a good stock of wild fish in it but the river gets stocked with trip loofa before each season

fiacha

dodderangler wrote: »

The tolka and dodder holds a good stock of wild fish in it but the river gets stocked with trip loofa before each season

I think he was referring to stocking fish capable of reproducing, not the triploids.

Ipso

Zzippy wrote: »

Sea trout and mullet there

Has anyone fly fished for mullet? They are supposed to put up a good fight.

Base price

OP, as a youngster I successfully fished brownies in the Ward and Broadmeadow to a 1lb.
In those days both rivers held plenty of juvenile trout and eel.
Unfortunately due to circumstances both rivers don't have the stock that they used to have. However of the two rivers that flow into the Swords/Malahide estuary, then I reckon the Ward river system is by far the healtest due to upper stream farming practices.