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Which river characteristics provide better habitat for young salmon and trout?

Key points Salmon and trout populations are declining, perhaps partly because of changes to their freshwater habitats.  Understanding which river characteristics provide better habitat for young salmon and trout can help river managers to maintain healthy populations of these fishes. This study ...

Bullhead

Bullhead Every so often you come across a plant or animal that looks as if it might be in the wrong place. When I first saw a bullhead (Cottus gobio) on a fish survey in a stream near the coast of Anglesey, I thought it was a marine goby that was terribly lost. The bullhead is a member of the spi...

Electro-fishing and parr tagging on the River Frome

Each September, our fisheries team catch, weigh, measure and tag over 10,000 salmon parr. A process called electro-fishing, in which an electric current is used to stun the fish so that they can be caught in nets, is what makes this huge endeavour possible. The tagging of a significant proportion...

Atlantic mackerel

Trout Life History Project

Salmon

Salmo salar The Atlantic salmon is found in the northern Atlantic Ocean and in rivers flowing into it. It is an anadromous migratory fish species, which means the method of the fish's breeding cycle is for the adult fish live in the sea but migrate to freshwater to spawn. Juvenile fish live in fr...

Autumn migrant parr

Since the installation of the main river PIT tag detection system, monitoring of downstream moving juveniles is continuous. This has facilitated the observation and first quantification of a significant autumn downstream migration of parr. Although the partial migration and autumnal habitat shift...

Poole Harbour salmon research

We are working in collaboration with the licensed salmon nets in Poole Harbour to study the survival of salmon that are released from net fisheries. Fish have been both PIT tagged and tagged with acoustic pinger tags and released at the netting site. The research is in its early stages but we hav...

Trout

Trout Life History Project  Brown trout at Loddington  The winter ecology of brown trout  Which river characteristics provide better habitat for young salmon and trout?  Were there fewer young salmon and trout in 2016?  What effect do beaver dams have on brown trout?  Stocking rivers with adult ...

Adult salmon counting on the River Frome

Data on adult movement are collected by a Scottish Hydro-Electric (SHE) Mk Xb resistivity counter. The counter is connected to three stainless steel electrodes mounted 450mm apart on the Environment Agency venturi gauging weir at East Stoke (NGR SY 867868). The electrodes monitor the electrical r...