EU LIFE CASS Conference

There was a very interesting conference at Battleby yesterday (ongoing today) looking back at progress and acheivements from the multi-million pound EU LIFE Conservation of Atlantic Salmon in Scotland project, managed by SNH. All the major river boards were represented, as were a number of research organizations and other government agencies.

There were two things of relevance to our TWCP project, both connected with woodlands.

Firstly, Mark Bilsby, Fisheries Director on the Dee, gave a very interesting account of habitat restoration works and atempted to cost such work in terms of £ per additional returning adult fish acheived. Although no-one asked too many searching questions on the methodology, it was a very interesting exercise. Coppicing of dense tree cover (see below) had the most beneficial effect in terms of £ spent per additional fish, at £2.50 per fish. Other measures such as buffer strips, clearing obstacles and improvement of in-stream habitat costed £7- 25 per fish, all probably lower than expected. These figures certainly give some focus to habitat works, and we will certainly now re-double our efforts on the coppicing-type work, below.

The picture here is of fenced buffer strips, the majority of which was carried out in the middle stretches of the Dee, and initiated by yours truly in his previous job about three years ago.

Secondly, there was an interesting presentation on acid run-off from conifer plantations in Galloway, and how sacrificial boxes of salmon eggs were used to measure acid episodes as illustrated by the % mortality. It strikes me that this might well be applicable in the Dochart catchment.