Friday, 03 May, 2002

John Sheard discusses experiments to save fish from being washed away as flooding becomes a winter norm.

A MONTH ago, writing about the arrival of the first swallows, I lamented the decline of fly life on rivers where these myriad insects and their larvae make up the base of the food chain for fish and aquatic birds.

This week, having paid my £60 fee for my salmon and trout fishing licence (three times more than the course fishing charge!) I received by way of a thank you a glossy magazine called Reel Life, produced by the Environment Agency to inform anglers of what the Men from the Ministry are up to on our behalf.

Lo and behold, there was an article saying the agency was studying the problem and, after much consultation, was hoping to discover the reason for the missing fly life. I hope it doesn't take them too long!

However, what took my interest most was an article on another subject of great concern: the fact that ever-increasing flooding - created, it is said, by global warming - is causing millions of fish to be swept downstream to their doom.

Along with them goes the silt in which the aforementioned insects lay their eggs and the roots of various waterweeds which provide both food and shelter for any fish that survive the floods.

Yet another Doomsday scenario for the poor angler but one which, this time, is being tackled in rivers very close to my heart: our own Wharfe, the Yorkshire Ouse, and the Lune, all of which I have fished over the years.

On the Ouse and Wharfe, engineers have fixed large pipes into the riverbed at angles to the current. At times of flood, these cause a big back eddy in which fish can shelter - and come the spring, a sheltered site where weed can flourish.

On the Lune, Lancaster City Council and a local angling club banded together to build an OSRU - an Offline River Spawning Unit - which creates sheltered water in which fish can breed and spawn: the result, a dramatic increase in the numbers of dace and roach, both of which flourish in fast moving clear water.

So here we have some positive steps taken by man to alleviate some of the damage mankind itself has done. These measures are just in the experimental stage but let's hope that the lessons learned are put into use on other important rivers like the Ribble and the middle reaches of the Aire, which are now beginning to recover from decades of industrial pollution.

Personally, I no longer fish for roach and dace. But to know they are there in growing numbers tells me instantly that their stretch of the river is coming back to full health - and I can't think of any news that gives me more pleasure.

Although it staggers me to have to say this, perhaps my £60 fishing licence fee is being put to some good use after all!