FISH 133 Spring 2019

Edition 133 / Spring 2019
The Quarterly
Magazine of
Fisheries
Management
Fisheries
on the Edge
The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish | A Living Fossil the Lungfish
Living at Extreme Depth | More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems | Remembering Simon McKelvey
+ more

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Front cover: Fishing for Patagonian toothfish in the South Atlantic © Tony Fitzsimmons MSC
Design: POLAR 10 www.polar10.com
Fish 133
Inside this edition
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8
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34
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42
48
50
52
View from the Chair
The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish
A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
Living at Extreme Depth
More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean
by 2050
Climate Change and Freshwater
Ecosystems
Remembering Simon McKelvey
The Paul Coulson BLOG
IFM News
Breaking News
Book Review
Members and their fish
Editorial Team:
Lawrence Talks, Steve Axford, Peter Spillett,
Paul Coulson, Iain Turner, Valerie Holt, David Bunt
IFM
( Institute of Fisheries Management )
PO Box 679, Hull, HU5 9AX
Tel: +44(0)845 388 7012
E-mail: info@ifm.org.uk.
www.ifm.org.uk
Find us on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter (@IFMFish)
If you would like to contribute to
FISH please get in touch.
The theme for this edition
of FISH is Fisheries on
the Edge, which not only
provided me with an
opportunity to look at the
amazing world of fish but
also to feature two of the
biggest environmental
issues of our age: climate
change and plastics.
This edition starts with an article that looks at the
plight of the Patagonian toothfish, which all too
clearly illustrates how industrialised fishing has the
power to decimate fish stocks through its ‘gold
rush’ mentality to exploiting the world’s oceans
and the impact that it can have on wildlife. It
also illustrates the influence of consumers, the
exposure of albatrosses being killed by their
thousands and the importance of regulation,
certification and cooperation.
Sticking with unusual fish, I have written an article
on lungfish, which have always fascinated me for
they look prehistoric and are slightly mysterious.
In perhaps a first for FISH, my son Charlie has
contributed a section on how fish evolved to
breathe air.
The next article explores fish living at extreme
depth and how in 2014 the Mariana snailfish
was discovered living at 8,145m in the depths
of the ocean.
Plastic and climate change are two of the biggest
environmental challenges of our age. Having
recently been involved in a beach clean in north
Cornwall, the task of tackling plastics in our
environment is huge, with literally trillions of
fragments of plastic polluting the environment.
Climate change also seems a daunting issue.
Radical transformative changes are needed to
restore and protect nature and we all need to
step up.
Finally, we remember Simon McKelvey who sadly
passed away last December.
If you would like to contribute to FISH please
get in touch.
Lawrence Talks - FISH editor
fish@ifm.org.uk
Fish 133
3

View from the Chair
View from
the Chair
Different habitats
Some of you will know that I’m a keen cyclist.
As well an environmentally-friendly form of
transport, it’s a great way to keep fit, socialise
with fellow cycling friends and travel at a pace
that allows you to appreciate your surroundings.
I am fortunate to live in Somerset, between the
Mendip Hills and the Somerset Levels, which
have a wonderful network of quiet roads to
enjoy either hills or flats from which to view the
environment. Whilst reports often give bad news
of steady habitat loss and decline in biodiversity,
the Somerset Levels and its many nature reserves
has been a real success story with increases in the
diversity of wildlife and birds in particular.
By the time this has been published I will
(hopefully!) have completed a 1,100km cycle
tour through Spain. Starting in Bilbao, travelling
through the foothills of the Pyrenees and ending
in Barcelona, I will enjoy a new set of views and
appreciate that diverse country and habitats in
a completely different way, and complete a
cycling challenge that surpasses anything I’ve
done before.
River restoration
I attended the River Restoration Centre conference
in Liverpool at the end of April. The amount of
energy, enthusiasm and sheer numbers (350
delegates) at the conference was inspiring – it was
good to understand the amount of work going
on around the country on, for example, natural
flood management (NFM) and rewilding schemes,
which will also aim to improve biodiversity and fish
populations. Most inspirational was the keynote
presentation by Prof. Colin Thorne of the University
of Nottingham. Colin spoke of the experiences of
20 years of river restoration and future prospects.
He described seeking to return habitats to as
close as possible to pristine states (‘Stage Zero’)
and spoke of the many techniques (and cost)
being used for natural flood management and
river restoration. He described how beavers can
provide natural flood management and associated
biodiversity for virtually free. However, with a
different perspective, beaver dams are unpopular
with many farmers and salmon fishermen.
Sad news
In December we learnt the sad news of the death
of Simon McKelvey, Chair of IFM Scottish Branch
and Director of the Cromarty Firth Fishery Board.
An obituary is published in this edition of FISH.
As well as through the IFM, I had the pleasure of
knowing Simon personally. As a friend of a friend
in my village in Somerset we shared a memorable
evening two years ago when he attended my
village’s annual beer festival (well – the early part
of the evening is memorable!). Simon was great
fun and an infectiously enthusiastic fisheries
manager. He added value in all that he did
and is sadly missed.
Politics
IFM is not a political organisation, except to
seek to influence policies and legislation for the
environment and fisheries. However, it is difficult
not to be moved by or take a view in our current
political climate in what is certainly the most
tumultuous in my lifetime. The following are my
personal views and not IFM policy.
With more twists and turns than a twisty turny
thing (Blackadder 1986), it is impossible to know
where our country is destined. As I write, an early
4

Tory Leadership contest has started with Boris
currently a clear favourite. I’m no fan (except from
hosting ‘Have I Got News for You’) and despite
his popularity amongst ‘grass roots’, common
consensus is that he is a divisive character. So, it’s
difficult to see how he would unite a divided party,
let alone a country. At the same time the country
recently went to the polls for European Parliament
elections in May. The electorate is rallying against
Parliament incompetence at delivering Brexit and
the clear ‘leave’ or ‘remain’ parties are taking
support away from the mainstream parties.
Nigel Farage is a darling once again with his
new Brexit party.
What is clear is that there is a seismic shift in the
country’s politics and there will be major changes
in Government leadership and Cabinet by the
autumn. It is almost inevitable that Michael
Gove will no longer be Environment Secretary.
My opinion and observation is that he has
been the most effective Environment Secretary
I’ve experienced in my 35 year career, taking
a personal steer to the 25 Year Environment
Plan and its many spin-offs, such as promoting
enhancements to Natural Capital. I hope that the
momentum of the past two years will stick and
provide a legacy and that we will see a lasting
commitment to environmental improvement.
50 th Anniversary
So, IFM is 50 years old (or young, if you’re
glass half full!). We’ll be remembering this in
every IFM event in 2019, with, as usual, the
Annual Conference being the most significant.
We’ll reflect there how far IFM and fisheries
management has come in the past 50 years and
try to predict what the future might have in store.
I hope to see you there.
As ever, your views on anything IFM or fisheries
management are appreciated and you are
welcome to contact me direct at
chairman@ifm.org.uk.
With best wishes.
David Bunt | IFM Chairman
View from the Chair
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The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish
The Plight of
Patagonian Toothfish
© Tony Fitzsimmons MSC
Lawrence Talks takes a look at this mysterious fish
from the South Atlantic.
The Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus
eleginoides) is a large deep-sea predator that
gets its name from the region where it was
discovered (Patagonia, South America) and its
strong, pointed teeth.
It grows up to 2 metres in length and 100kg (220
pounds) and lives for up to 50 years. It inhabits
temperate deep water (28° to 55° South), from
50 metres down to 2,500-3,000 metres, where
they hunt other fish, squids, and crustaceans.
They are known to be the occasional prey of
deep-diving mammals like sperm whales and it is
estimated that it comprises up to 98 percent of
the elephant seal’s fish diet.
Patagonian toothfish become reproductively
active when they reach 70 to 95cm at between
8-10 years old. Its fecundity is relatively low,
with each female fish producing between
48,000 and 500,000 eggs per spawning season.
Reproduction is via broadcast spawning, where
several females release their eggs and several
males release their sperm into the water column
at the same time. This method increases the
likelihood that eggs will become fertilized and
increases the genetic variability in the population.
Its resilience is very low, with the minimum
population doubling time being 4.5 to 14 years.
The Patagonian toothfish occurs in the Exclusive
Economic Zones (EEZ) of southern Chile and
Argentina, and sub-Antarctic islands under the
sovereignty of Australia, France, New Zealand,
South Africa and the United Kingdom.
The long life span and late sexual maturity of the
Patagonian toothfish however, make it highly
vulnerable to overfishing.
8

The white gold rush
Patagonian toothfish, with their buttery white
flesh and a mild, non-fishy flavour were seen as
ideal fish to exploit, though their appearance and
name was seen as less appetising so they were
rebranded as Chilean sea bass, Chilean grouper
and black hake. In Japan it is known as mero.
In Chile it is known as bacalao de profundidad or
merluza negra.
With this ‘rebranding’ of the Patagonian toothfish,
it wasn’t long before it was gracing the tables of
upscale seafood restaurants around the world.
With demand and prices surging, the white gold
rush began in earnest.
In the mid-1980s, industrial fishing fleets from
Spain, South Korea and Japan, which had
overfished their national waters and depleted fish
stocks in Chilean waters, then joined in the rush
to target the Patagonian toothfish.
By 1994, fishing for Patagonian toothfish spread
to the coast of Argentina. Illegal, or pirate, fishing
for toothfish was rampant. In some areas up
to 90 percent of the total Patagonian toothfish
catch was being taken by illegal, unreported, and
unregulated (IUU) long-line fishers. In 1997 the
estimated illegal catch of Patagonian toothfish
was around 70,000 tonnes with a value of over
$500 million.
Different tactics were being used by illegal traders
to introduce illegally caught toothfish into the
United States market, including: mislabelling;
laundering illegally caught toothfish through the
Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic
Marine Living Resources’s (CCAMLR) own Catch
Documentation Scheme; using ports with lax
controls and dubious flag states; tampering with
the Vessel Monitoring Systems; misreporting
catches (i.e., claiming that catches were taken
on the high seas, even though they were caught
in CCAMLR waters); exploiting gaps in the chain
of custody; and trans-shipment of the fish at port
and at sea.
The fish on your dinner plate may be
an endangered species
In a report by Oceana in 2016, it was not
uncommon to find threatened and endangered
fish being passed off as either from legitimate
sources or passed off as other species in markets
around the world.
The authors found fraud at every level of the
seafood supply chain, from distribution to retail.
One in five of the more than 25,000 samples
tested was found to be mislabelled, on average,
and researchers discovered fraud in every area
studied except one. In the United States on
average 28 percent of fish were labelled as
another fish with fish labelled snapper, grouper,
and salmon being the least likely to actually be
those types of fish. In Europe, hake and sole
were mislabelled the most. Sixteen percent of
the fish mislabelled as other species were found
to have some level of conservation risk.
The edge of collapse
© Tony Fitzsimmons MSC
From the early 2000s catches of Patagonian
toothfish began to collapse as the stocks
were being over-exploited by both legal and
illegal fishing.
As the fishery floundered, the foodservice
industry began to have second thoughts and
the US based ethical supermarket chain Whole
Foods Market halted sales and more than 700
US chefs joined forces with environmental groups
on the “Take a pass” campaign. Toothfish was
now off the menu.
The fishery was killing albatrosses
and petrels
The Patagonian toothfish fishery uses longlines,
which were killing an estimated 100,000
albatrosses each year. The frozen bait used
by the fishery floated on the surface until it
thawed and the birds dived to take the bait,
became hooked and were then dragged below
9
The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish

The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish
© Tony Fitzsimmons MSC
10

the surface as the line sank. Previously healthy
populations of albatrosses and petrels were
becoming threatened. Their plight even attracted
the attention of Prince Charles, who wrote to
the UK’s then environment minister, Elliot Morley,
saying: “I particularly hope that the illegal fishing
of the Patagonian toothfish will be high on
your list of priorities because, until that trade is
stopped, there is little hope for the poor
old albatross”.
The tide begins to turn
© Tony Fitzsimmons MSC
In 2003, the Coalition of Legal Toothfish
Operators (COLTO) was established to work
with governments to eliminate illegal fishing
for toothfish and to promote sustainable
toothfish fisheries.
In 2004, The Agreement on the Conservation
of Albatrosses and Petrels treaty was signed
and committed South Georgia and others to
decreasing the numbers of seabird deaths
caused by longline fishing. To achieve this, lines
were weighted to make them sink faster, and set
only at night, when they’re harder to see, and in
winter, when birds are not breeding. As a result,
the number of albatrosses accidentally caught by
the fishery each year fell from several thousand to
single figures.
In the same year, the South Georgia fishery,
became the world’s first toothfish fishery to be
certified as sustainable to the Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard after the fishery
introduced a series of measures, including:
licensing vessels and excluding unlicensed ones,
controlling landing sites, barcoding catches to
prevent illicit sales and introducing measures to
reduce bird deaths.
Having seen the benefits that MSC certification
brought to South Georgia, other fisheries soon
followed suit. In 2010, the Ross Sea toothfish
fishery became certified, and was joined two
years later by both the Macquarie Island and
Heard Island and McDonald Islands fisheries.
For David Carter, whose organisation Austral
Fisheries operates the fisheries: “The MSC
process has driven real improvements in the
management of toothfish in the Southern Ocean.
Certification has not only helped us to reach new
consumers with our product, it has facilitated
terrific conversations with policymakers,
commercial partners and stakeholder groups,
ensuring a positive future for our fisheries.”
In 2013, the French toothfish fishery SARPC
(Syndicat des Armements Réunionnais de
Palangriers Congélateurs) also became certified,
and was joined a year later by a sixth: the
Falkland Island fishery.
In South Georgia, the fishery successfully
reduced albatross mortality to zero. For Oli
Yates, Albatross Task Force Programme Manager
for BirdLife International, “to have achieved and
maintained minimal bycatch is enormous credit
to the management standards of the fisheries
department and the dedication of the local
company to implement seabird friendly measures.
Conservation successes like this are evidence
that seabird bycatch can be tackled across entire
ocean basins - and MSC certification allows the
fishery to demonstrate this success to the world.“
Chasing down the last of the pirates
In December 2014 the Bob Baker, operated by
the environmental organisation Sea Shepherd,
gave chase to the Thunder, which was an
infamous pirate fishing vessel that had netted
the owners more than $60 million from
illegal catches.
It was to be the start of what would become
the longest pursuit of an illegal fishing vessel
in history. The Bob Barker doggedly pursued
The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish
11

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The Plight of Patagonian Toothfish
the Thunder for almost 19,000km across three
oceans, enduring pack ice, icebergs, huge waves
and a near collision. Several months later the
Thunder met its end in the seas off Sao Tome
and Principe, close to where the equator and the
prime meridian meet. All hands were rescued,
but while the captain may not have gone down
with his ship, the prospects of the pirates did.
With organisations willing to go to the very ends
of the earth to protect the toothfish, the risks no
longer outweighed the rewards. Today, none of
the so-called “bandit 6” of pirate vessels remain
active. Indonesian authorities blew up the last,
the Nigerian-flagged Viking, in March 2016.
Toothfish back on the menu
In 2017, well over 50% of the global toothfish
fishery was certified. With illegal fishing at its
lowest recorded level and seabird mortality
virtually eliminated, consumers are warming to
toothfish once more.
The MSC’s Chain of Custody Standard has been
instrumental in this transformation. Through
the use of secure at-sea labelling, supply chain
monitoring and DNA testing, the Standard has
helped restore consumer confidence in toothfish
by ensuring that dinner plates are free from
illegal catch.
Final comment
The plight of the Patagonian toothfish illustrates,
all too clearly, how industrialised fishing has the
power to decimate fish stocks through its ‘gold
rush’ mentality to exploiting the world’s oceans
and the impact that it can have on wildlife.
It also illustrates the influence of consumers,
the exposure of albatrosses being killed by their
thousands and the importance of regulation,
certification and cooperation. At the heart of
sustainably managing fish stocks a number of
core elements come to the fore: strong inter
-governmental cooperation, resourced and
active regulation, robust evidence, good science
and a collaborative approach with industry.
If these elements fall away, I fear for the future
of this strangest of fish in the depths of the
southern oceans.
13

A Living Fossil, the Lungfish

A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
Australian lungfish
A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
by Lawrence Talks
Lungfish have always fascinated me, for they look
prehistoric and are slightly mysterious being able
to survive for a number of years in dried up river
and lake beds. I remember visiting Sparsholt
College in Hampshire many years ago and seeing
an African lungfish sullenly curled up in a fish tank
waiting for its next meal. I wonder whether it
is still alive?
Lungfish are members of the subclass Dipnoi.
They are a sister group to the Coelacanths
and to the early lobe-finned fish, which gave
rise to tetrapods. All these fish have paired
appendages, fins or limbs, attached to a pelvis or
shoulder by means of a single bone, the femur or
humerus. This enables them to move their fins
like land animals move their limbs.
An amazing species
Lungfish are the only living fish that have both
lungs as well as gills. Their lungs are in fact a
modified swim bladder, which they can use to
breath. They need this because they live in
small lakes and rivers that sometimes dry up.
When this happens, these fish don’t die, but they
can survive in the mud, for up to four years by
using their lungs to breathe and adopting a
state of aestivation, which is a type of
prolonged dormancy.
They are prehistoric creatures that actually
evolved from four-footed land animals. Several
fossils of lungfish have been found in India,
Europe and the United States. The ancient
lungfish were possibly spread throughout the
planet but several of the lineages became extinct
when the Laurasia, Gondwana and Pangaea
tectonic plates broke apart.
Currently there are eight species of lungfish, six
of them in Africa, one in South America and one
in Australia.
15

16

A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
African speckle-bellied lungfish
17

A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
African lungfish
Catching lungfish
The most primitive lungfish to exist today is the
Australian lungfish, which can grow up to 6ft
long. The Australian lungfish has a thick fleshy
body covered in scales and short stout fins.
In contrast, the African and South American
lungfish have wispy and long fins that work as
sense organs and their appearance resembles
an eel. Bizarrely the South American lungfish can
actually drown in water as its gills are not very
well-developed and it often comes to the surface
to breathe in air. If somehow it fails to reach the
surface, it will drown.
The Australian lungfish on the other hand has
very well-developed gills and breathes mostly
through its gills. Only when the water becomes
stagnant and the proportion of oxygen in water
becomes low, it comes to the surface to breathe
using its swim bladder.
Lungfish are omnivores by nature feeding on
plants as well as snails, frogs and several other
small fish.
18

Surviving droughts
During serious droughts, African and South
American lungfish dig down into the mud. As
they do this they chew up wet mud and debris to
take on moisture, whilst ejecting the rest through
their gills. Whilst boring through the mud they
leave a small hole for breathing. Once it reaches
the desired depth, it then secretes a special type
of mucous layer all around itself, which as it dries
up forms a thin transparent cocoon in which it
estivates or adopts a dormant state.
The lungfish ensures that it is aligned with the
small hole, which it has left, to allow it to
breathe. The soil above can harden and become
extremely dry but the lungfish continues to
live in a dormant state with its nose pointing
upward towards the hole that was created
while burrowing. In this state, the lungfish can
wait out the entire drought, which can last for
many months and some African lungfish can
actually live up to four years in that state.
During this dormant state, its metabolic rate
drops significantly and the required energy for
surviving comes from the breakdown of its
own muscle tissues.
A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
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A Living Fossil, the Lungfish
When rain comes and the soil becomes soft, the
lungfish comes out of its hibernating state and
re-emerges.
Threats to lungfish
Like most species of fish, suitable habitat is key
for their survival. In Australia there are concerns
that dams have drowned out the shallow slow
flowing plant-rich water that they depend on,
to spawn and feed in. Non-native species such
as tilapia are known to predate on its eggs
and young. Climate change is also likely to
cause increased stress to already stressed
water environments.
How fish evolved to breathe air
Charlie Talks looks at how fish evolved to
breathe air.
One miracle that seems to baffle even the
competent scientist, is how did complex organs,
such as lungs, evolve from simple life forms.
In reality, the answer is all around us. Just by
looking at modern primitive species, it is possible
to see the development of gills to lungs from
when the first amphibians evolved 370 million
years ago in the Devonian period, to the
present day. In many ways, the evolution of
tetrapods is one of the most monumental
evolutionary events in the history of life, in fact
lungfish are considered homologous to all lungs
of higher vertebrates. But why did these aquatic
organisms need to evolve in the first place, surely
there was enough oxygen present in the water
of oceans and rivers? At the time however,
the growth of terrestrial plants meant that dead
organic matter washed into rivers and into the
sea, promoting algae and therefore allowing
bacteria to thrive, using up much of the
dissolved oxygen. This is similar to the effect
of eutrophication of a small pond, but
to a much larger scale, ultimately resulting in a
lower concentration of dissolved oxygen.
The air, however, has a much higher partial
pressure of oxygen than in water, allowing
for organisms with higher metabolic rates to
develop. This allowed the eventual evolution of
endotherms, such as mammals. Being able to
breathe air also provided a selective advantage
to early lungfish and tetrapods as they could
swim in shallower water, evading predators and
obtaining nutrients of their own.
As with many organs, the lungs seen in early
dipnoans (lungfish) and later in amphibians
evolved from another organ with a different
original role, the swim bladder in fish is primarily
a hydrostatic organ, allowing a change in density
of the fish as air enters or exits the cavity. This
allows fish to move up and down in the water
whilst maintaining equilibrium, much like a
submarine letting in or pumping out water to
move vertically. In some species of fish, the
swim bladder has folds in its membrane, which
is thin and is highly vascular, to allow transfer of
oxygen to a dense network of capillaries. This
was originally to allow the release of oxygen
from oxyhaemoglobin into the swim bladder
to increase its volume, and the subsequent
absorption of oxygen back into the bloodstream,
decreasing its volume. The capillary network
and folded membrane paved the way for the
development of the lungs, with the evolution
of alveoli and other characteristics found in
modern terrestrial organisms. Now dipnoans
had the ability to breathe in air and in water,
hence the meaning of dipnoan in Greek is
‘double-breathing’.
As ideal as breathing air sounds, it does have
its drawbacks. At 20ºC the water solubility of
carbon dioxide is 28 times greater than that
of oxygen, therefore in water, carbon dioxide
removal doesn’t prevent a problem, but this
would lead to severe respiratory acidosis in
normal ventilation. As a result a new exchange
surface, skin, would be used to remove CO 2
in amphibians. Since amphibians have no
ribs or diaphragm, ventilation was achieved by
swallowing air, carried out by rising the buccal
cavity floor. Increases in efficiency in ventilation
and gas exchange in more advanced organisms
have since dealt with these problems, allowing
a plentiful supply of oxygen. This allows birds to
fly higher, terrestrial mammals to run longer, and
more complex brains to develop; this adaptation
truly changed the course of life forever.
20

Neptune Rake started development in 2014.
Calum Gordon, director of Splash Gordon ltd realised there was a real need for such a tool to clear ponds
and lochans of emergent weed and detritus. The rake is used at Shell Oil’s St Fergus gas terminal to keep
their 1-acre fire pond clear of weed, it is also used at Dumfries House plus many other large estates.
It takes just 10 minutes to set up the system, bolt the rake together, lay out gather rope to far shore,
attach the winch to a suitable tree or ground anchor.
The rake is sat on the float and the float is pulled to any area of any sized water body, it is easily deployed
by pulling on both gather rope and winch rope, the rake slides off the float and lands on the lake floor. The
winch is then used to haul the rake across the lake floor.
The off-set tines of the rake force weed to zig zag up through the rake and jam, weeds are up rooted and
cropped at their base, the rake also gathers detritus and sludge. The winch hauls the loaded rake right up
onto dry land, two men then simply tip it forwards to dump the weed then set it back on the float for the
next haul. Mobile pond life has to opportunity to return to the pond un harmed.
Catching lungfish

Living at Extreme Depth
Living at
Extreme Depth
by Lawrence Talks
In the deepest depths of the oceans it is
pitch-dark, the water is freezing cold with
temperatures between -1 and 4 o C and the
pressure is a crushing eight tonnes per
square inch, which is about a thousand
times the standard atmospheric pressure at
sea level. Yet animals somehow survive in
this most extreme environment.
22

This combination of pressure and cold has
strange effects on animals’ bodies.
All animal cells are surrounded by fatty
membranes, which must stay liquid to transmit
nerve signals and shuttle materials in and out of
cells. But under these conditions, they would
solidify. So deep-sea animals must adapt their
membranes to keep them liquid. They do this
by having lots of unsaturated fats – the group
of chemicals that includes vegetable oil - in
their membranes. These remain liquid at low
temperatures and keep the membranes loose.
It’s not just cell membranes. Pressure also has a
crippling effect on proteins, the huge molecules
that do much of the work in our cells, such as
breaking down food for energy. To function,
proteins must be free to change their size and
shape, for instance becoming larger.
This is difficult under pressure. To enable this
deep-sea animals collect small organic molecules
called piezolytes in their cells. These piezolytes
bind tightly to water molecules, which gives the
proteins more space and stops water being
forced into the proteins’ interiors and distorting
them. The deeper an animal lives, the more
piezolytes they tend to have in their cells.
One piezolyte, TMAO, gives fish their ‘fishy’ smell.
TMAO increases with depth, so deep-sea fish
taste fishier than shallow fish. But there’s a limit
to this. As animals take in more piezolytes, their
cells become saltier. Around 8,200m down, it
has been calculated, the cells would be as salty
as the surrounding water. Any more piezolytes
and seawater would rush into their cells,
bursting them.
World’s deepest fish
In line with this, an expedition in 2014 discovered
the world’s deepest fish living 8,145m down.
The new record-holder is the Mariana snailfish
(Pseudoliparis swirei), which lives at depths of
up to about 8,000 metres (26,200 feet) along the
Mariana Trench near Guam. The snailfish has a
bulbous head, partly transparent body and
no scales.
Snailfish are found at many different depths in
marine waters around the world. In deep water,
they cluster together in groups and feed on tiny
crustaceans and shrimp using suction from their
mouths to gulp prey. However, little is known
about how these fish can live under such intense
water pressure.
Exploring the deep
A handful of researchers have explored the
Mariana Trench, but few comprehensive surveys
of the trench and its inhabitants have been
completed because of its depth and location.
To catch specimens of the snailfish, traps with
cameras on were dropped to the bottom of the
trench. It can take four hours for a trap to sink to
the bottom.
After waiting an additional 12 to 24 hours, the
researchers sent an acoustic signal to the trap,
which then released weights and rose to the
surface with the help of flotation. That allowed
scientists to catch fish specimens and take video
footage of life at the bottom of the ocean.
23

More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
24

More Plastic than
Fish in the Ocean
by 2050
by Lawrence Talks
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation
published a report in 2016, which stated
that, “In a business-as-usual scenario,
the ocean is expected to contain one
tonne of plastic for every three tonnes
of fish by 2025, and by 2050, more
plastic than fish (by weight).” The
statement grabbed the headlines and
while there is some dispute about the
maths, the scale and impact of plastic
in the ocean is a huge and concerning
environmental issue.
© Dustan-Woodhouse-675082-unsplash
25

More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
Worldwide plastic production
Plastic production has increased twentyfold since
1964, reaching 311 million tonnes in 2014. It is
expected to double again in the next 20 years
and almost quadruple by 2050.
Despite the growing demand, just 5% of plastics
are recycled effectively, while 40% end up in
landfill and a third in fragile ecosystems such
as the world’s oceans.
Much of the remainder is burned, generating
energy, but causing more fossil fuels to be
consumed in order to make new plastic bags,
cups, tubs and consumer devices demanded
by the economy.
Decades of plastic production has already
caused environmental problems.
The report says that every year “at least 8 million
tonnes of plastic leak into the ocean – which
is equivalent to dumping the contents of one
rubbish truck into the ocean every minute.
If no action is taken, this is expected to increase
to two per minute by 2030 and four per minute
by 2050.
Plastics in the environment
Beach strewn with plastic debris
In 1997 the sailor Charles Moore, whilst
traversing the ocean between Hawaii and
California, discovered the now infamous ‘Great
Pacific Garbage Patch’ in one of the world’s five
main subtropical gyres or circulating systems
of ocean currents. At its core it is believed to
be around 1 million square kilometres across
and the UN’s environmental programme warns
that it is growing and is now visible from space!
In 1997, Moore saw bottles, bags and bits of
26

polystyrene. But, what really worried him, and
has occupied campaigners and scientists ever
since, was the vast soup of tiny plastic particles
swirling around below the junk.
Larger items such as plastic bags and
discarded fishing gear can be a threat to
sea life such as turtles and seals, which
swallow them or get tangled up in them.
These larger items through the impact of
the sun, waves and sea water breakdown
into microplastics and the process
also releases toxic chemicals into the
environment which may be digested by
fish and end up in the human food chain.
Research released in 2015 estimated
that there are already more than 5 trillion
pieces of plastic floating in the seas,
many just 5mm across. The plastics
dumped in the environment may never
completely degrade but instead fragment
into smaller particles called microplastics.
Microplastics, which range in size from 5mm to
10 nanometres, come from a number of sources.
One culprit is ‘nurdles’, the raw plastic pellets
shipped around the world for manufacturing,
which can get easily lost during transportation
(in 2012 a typhoon spilled millions from a ship in
Hong Kong). Recently, the spotlight has been
on so-called microbeads, tiny plastic balls found
in some cosmetic facial scrubs and toothpaste
(many governments, including the UK’s, have
moved to ban them). Like microfibers, the
threads from synthetic clothes lost during laundry,
and rubber debris from vehicle tyres, these tiny
pieces of plastic are too small to be filtered out
of our wastewater systems, and huge quantities
end up in the sea. But it is the single-use plastics
for packaging, more than a third of everything
we produce, that present the greatest problem.
While many plastics don’t biodegrade, they do
photodegrade, UV exposure eventually breaks
all those plastic bottles and bags down into tiny
pieces, which, in common with microbeads and
fibres, potentially leach toxic chemical additives,
PCBs, pesticides, flame retardants, put there by
manufacturers. These tiny particles look like food
to some species, and research has found that
common plastics attract a thin layer of marine
Beach strewn with plastic debris
algae, making them smell like nutritious food.
In July 2015, a team at the Plymouth Marine
Laboratory released a film they had captured
under a microscope showing zooplankton eating
microplastic. Given that these tiny organisms
form a crucial part of the food chain, the
implications are shocking. Research published
in the journal Science found that juvenile perch
actively preferred polystyrene particles to the
plankton they would normally eat. While most
plastic has been found in the guts of fish, and
would therefore be removed before eating,
some studies have warned that microplastics,
particularly at the nanoscale, could transfer from
the guts to the meat (and, of course, we eat
some species of small fish and shellfish whole).
There is also growing concern about toxins
associated with microplastics concentrating
in the tissues of marine animals. Some
commercially important species have been found
to contain microplastics. In 2011 in the Clyde
in Scotland, 83% of Dublin Bay prawns, the
tails of which are used in scampi, had ingested
microplastics; so had 63% of brown shrimp
tested across the Channel and southern part of
the North Sea.
In 2016, GESAMP a joint group of experts on
the scientific aspects of marine environmental
protection, published the second part of its
global assessment on microplastics. It confirmed
that contamination has been recorded in tens
of thousands of organisms and more than
100 species. In response, the European Food
Safety Authority called for urgent research,
citing increasing concern for human health and
food safety “given the potential for microplastic
pollution in edible tissues of commercial fish”.
In the face of such widespread contamination,
the outlook seems bleak.
More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
27

More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
Whale made of plastic waste Tomso Norway © Lawrence Talks
A need for change
Plastics are not just causing huge problems for
the natural world, the financial loss is also vast.
Globally economies miss out on an estimated
$80 billion to $120 billion a year because of
plastic waste.
Ellen MacArthur, who broke the record for the
fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe in
2005, says fundamental reform is needed.
Her vision is for a “new plastics economy” in
which the industry, governments and citizens
work together to ensure that plastics never
become waste and cut the leakage into natural
systems. “Linear models of production and
consumption are increasingly challenged by
the context within which they operate, and this
is particularly true for high-volume, low-value
materials such as plastic packaging,” she said.
Solving the problem will not be easy, especially
as the industry is under pressure to produce
more to meet growing demand from emerging
markets. Bioplastics are currently more
expensive to make than the petro-alternative,
and recycling systems are inefficient.
One part of the solution is to rethink the way
goods are packaged, cutting the demand
for plastic. Water-soluble film, for example,
can be used to wrap small items. Hard-torecycle
plastics such as PVC and expandable
polystyrene could be phased out.
Manufacturers could redesign plastic items so
they can be reused better, and rethink their
production methods to make recycling easier.
More products could be made out of plastics
which can be composted on an industrial scale,
including rubbish bags for organic waste and
food packaging for outdoor events, canteens and
fast food outlets.
There is a need to embrace the concept of ‘the
circular economy’ where industry moves towards
products that maximise recycling and re-use.
Perhaps the shock of finding plastics returning
to us on our dinner plates will help to bring that
message home.
For 40 years society has looked to recycling to
deliver a silver bullet to plastic waste. But after
four decades of effort, just 14 percent of plastic
packaging is collected for recycling. Recently we
have seen increased attention and investment
on cleaning up the plastic that leaks into the
environment, with new technologies and large
scale community campaigns. People around
the world are changing how they shop, eat and
live day to day, in a bid to tackle the crisis. Yet
28

it is an unfair battle, and all these efforts will be
for nothing if ever more plastic continues to be
landfilled, burned, or leak into our environment.
Put simply, we cannot recycle or beach-clean our
way out of the plastic pollution crisis, we must
move upstream and tackle the flood at its source.
In October 2018, more than 250 organisations
signed the New Plastics Economy Global
Commitment, which calls for action to eliminate
the plastics we do not need, and stresses the
need for innovation to ensure the plastics we
do need can be circulated easily and safely –
keeping them in the economy and out of
the ocean.
The commitment is built around the principles
of a circular economy, a different approach
to economic development where waste and
pollution are designed out, products and
materials are kept in use and natural systems
are regenerated.
To deal with plastic waste and pollution will take
a fundamental shift in our relationship with this
iconic material, requiring actors from across the
system to play a role. Businesses representing
20% of all plastic packaging produced have
signed the Global Commitment. They include
well-known consumer businesses such as
Danone, H&M group, L’Oréal, Mars Incorporated,
PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Company and Unilever;
major packaging producers such as Amcor;
plastics producers including Novamont; and
resource management specialists Veolia
and SUEZ.
Breakthroughs in material science, product
design and recycling technology will be critical
– research is therefore a key component of
the transition, and universities, institutions
and academics have endorsed the Global
Commitment. Financing these innovations at
an early stage, along with providing capital for
substantial new infrastructure to collect and
reprocess plastic, will also be vital. More than
a dozen financial institutions managing assets
in excess of $2.5 trillion have endorsed the
commitment, and more than $200 million has
been pledged by five venture capital funds to
create a circular economy for plastics.
Equally important are policymakers, who must set
the enabling conditions, incentive structures and
product regulation. Twelve governments have
already signed. NGOs and civil society will play
a crucial role in building broad-based momentum
for solutions. The commitment and its vision of
a circular economy for plastic are supported by
the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and have
been endorsed by the World Economic Forum.
Achieving agreement between businesses
and policymakers on tangible, time-bound
commitments constitutes an unprecedented level
of collaboration in the challenge of addressing
global plastic pollution. The commitment
provides a common vision and charts a course
for all stakeholders to follow and in the process
create long-term resilience and generate new
business and economic opportunities for
communities across the globe. It means the
question is not whether a world without plastic
pollution is possible, but what we will do together
to make it happen.
Get involved
Adopt a beach and
organise a clean-up with
the support of the UK’s
leading marine charity.
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS)
is appealing for people to become part
of the solution to the litter
problem that is engulfing UK beaches
by adopting a beach and leading a
clean-up and survey during this year’s
Great British Beach Clean (20th-23rd
September 2019).
During last year’s event, volunteer
cleaners picked up over 600 items of
litter for every 100m of UK coastline
surveyed. Just short of 15,000
volunteers took part – double the
number in 2017.
Becoming a Great British Beach Clean
organiser couldn’t be easier - find a
beach you want to clean - sign up and
register it on the MCS online system -
and MCS will provide you with all the
help you need to get going.
www.mcsuk.org/beachwatch
More Plastic than Fish in the Ocean by 2050
29

Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems
Climate Change and
Freshwater Ecosystems
By Valerie Holt.
30

Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems
What is climate change?
‘A change in global or regional climate patterns,
in particular a change apparent from the mid to
late 20th century onwards and attributed largely
to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels’.
‘The climate change phenomenon refers to
seasonal changes over a long period with respect
to the growing accumulation of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere’.
Two definitions of climate change but one refers
only to carbon dioxide and in reality greenhouse
gases can be water vapour, which acts as a
feedback, carbon dioxide (minor but important),
methane (less abundant but more active),
nitrous oxide (often related to soil cultivation) and
chlorofluorocarbons (industrial but regulated)
Impacts on freshwater
All very complicated and several studies show
many different impacts, so the whole picture
can be quite muddled. Needless to say that the
impacts on freshwater can be very damaging.
A study by Imperial College, London states
that freshwater constitutes only 2.5% of the
total global water stock and only 0.3% of this
water is available in rivers and lakes. This is so
much smaller than the marine water stock but
freshwater is so important for biodiversity and
ecosystem services crucial to humans. The use
of freshwater for aquaculture is on the increase
and this puts more pressure on the ecosystem
but also raises the question of how sustainable it
will be if temperatures rise.
The World Wide Fund for Nature estimates
in their Nature’s Living Planet index that from
the 1970s there has been an 81% decline in
freshwater species populations.
The warming of rivers and lakes will have an
effect on fish species, with cyprinid and percid
fish becoming more dominant and salmonid
species declining to a point where populations
could collapse. This is especially so in shallow
lakes where there is no thermal stratification. In
Ireland, for example, Lough Neagh supports cold
water species, often referred to as glacial relics,
such as Atlantic salmon, Arctic charr and pollan
that could be displaced by non-native species.
In lakes, the higher temperatures will also bring
about increased growth of phytoplankton and
will accelerate growth causing higher levels of
eutrophication. This could see a change in the
distribution of sensitive species by migration
to cooler locations and possibly extinction for
others. Non-native species will probably extend
their range of distribution and this includes fish,
plants and invertebrates. In rivers, species will
move to upstream areas and will upset the fine
balance of species composition.
Wetlands are particularly sensitive habitats
and provide a home to a large range of aquatic
and terrestrial species. Bogs and fens tend to
be peat-based, and as such contribute to carbon
dynamics. Any changes to temperature or
nutrient levels, or in the quantity or quality
of water supply will change the character of
the habitat and this will not only affect
species survival but will alter the benefits to
human communities.
One study carried out in Germany looked at the
effect of carbon dioxide on water fleas. These
are eaten by small fish, which are prey to larger
fish and other species. Any changes to this food
source could influence an entire lake ecosystem.
The fleas can sense chemicals given off by
fish and thereby avoid being preyed on.
The study showed that high levels of carbon
dioxide interfere with the nervous system of the
fleas and blunt their ability to sense predators.
Similarly a study of minnows, by University
of Winnipeg, showed that fish swimming
in water rich in carbon dioxide did not respond
as quickly to alarm signals released by
other minnows as in water with lower levels
of carbon dioxide.
Others issues relate to human health and the
spread of disease-bearing insects, such as
mosquitoes. A spokesperson from the British
Pest Control Association, said: “In terms of the
Asian tiger mosquito, it is particularly important
that this pest does not get a toe-hold in the UK
as it is a species of concern. They can transmit
debilitating and even deadly viruses, including
Chikungunya and Dengue fever.”
There are yet other issues such as flooding and
storms that are increasing and all these can have
a deleterious effect on freshwater ecosystems.
32

Climate Change and Freshwater Ecosystems
In Europe the Water Framework Directive was
expected to bring aquatic ecosystems back to
good ecological status, and in some cases this
has been achieved. However the Directive did
not take any account of climate change impacts.
A lot of information is available on the
Climate Change and Freshwater website.
http://www.climate-and-freshwater.info/climate_
change/wetlands/
Many studies are being carried out all over
the world on the effects of climate change.
In the UK, this year, the UK’s Environmental
Audit Committee has launched a new inquiry
into invasive species and the impact of
climate change.
The Environmental Audit Committee Chair, Mary
Creagh MP, said: “Climate change means that
invasive species are migrating to the UK where
we’re witnessing a dramatic rise in range and
numbers. These are plants, fish and insects
that pose a threat to our indigenous wildlife
and human health, and are already costing our
economy almost £1.8 billion a year.”
Urgent need for action
Climate change is a massive threat to the natural
world and it is very important that scientists and
policy makers work together to move urgently
from identifying problems to finding solutions.
Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate
activist has been inspiring climate strikes around
the world. Extinction Rebellion has raised public
concern about the climate crisis to record levels.
These protests do seem to be making an impact.
The UK Government announced on the 12th
June that greenhouse gas emissions in the UK
will be cut to almost zero by 2050, under the
terms of a new government plan to tackle climate
change. Prime Minister Theresa May said there
was a “moral duty to leave this world in a better
condition than what we inherited”. Cutting
emissions would benefit public health and cut
NHS costs, she said. Britain is the first major
nation to propose this target - and it has been
widely praised by green groups. But some say
the phase-out is too late to protect the climate,
and others fear that the task is impossible.
What is clear is that climate change is the most
serious environmental issue of our age and time
is running out.
Photo by Dlanor S on Unsplash
33

Remembering Simon McKelvey
Remembering
Simon McKelvey
By Andrew McKelvey,
Alastair Stephen and
Professor Neil Metcalfe.
On the 2 nd of December 2018, Simon McKelvey
passed away peacefully at Raigmore Hospital
with his family by his side.
The eldest of four brothers, Simon McKelvey
was born on the 17 th June 1962 in South Shields.
Growing up, he spent many of his summers with
his parents in the Lake District; a formative period
that sparked his love for mountain climbing and
the natural world that was further encouraged
by his father.
Before studying BSc Zoology at Newcastle
University, he spent his rebellious teenage years
discovering his passion for motorbikes and
The Rolling Stones, passions that
never wavered as he grew older.
After working for Gateshead
Council in the Derwent Walk
Country Park, he relocated with
his young family to the north of
Scotland in 1994. Taking a position with the
Cromarty Firth Fishery Board, he eventually
became its director in 2004. Through this, he
worked tirelessly, enabling the protection and
management of wild salmon and sea trout stocks
in the rivers running into the Cromarty Firth.
Although his job was intended to be restricted
to managing the fish stocks of the River Conon
and the Cromarty Firth, Simon’s influence and
knowledge meant that he affected policies
and management programmes on a Scottish
scale. Simon had been voluntarily involved with
the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) for
the past 18 years and had been the Chair for
Scotland for the past 9 years. During this time,
the Scottish branch of IFM developed a water
bailiff training course where none had
previously existed.
‘Simon left a lasting
and inspiring
impact on
everyone he met’
The Scottish Government has recognised this
initiative and no one in Scotland can hold a
warrant card without having passed this course.
This has professionalised the bailiff force that
works with the Police to stop and prevent illegal
poaching activities and protect Scotland’s
wild salmon stocks. Without Simon’s tireless
enthusiasm and professionalism this initiative
would not have come to fruition.
Simon had also been involved since 1997 with
the Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre
(SFCC) which was set up to collect vital fisheries
related data in a professional manner and
develop protocols to enable fishery management
to be underpinned by scientifically credible data
on a regional and national scale. Simon has
chaired the SFCC for a number of years and it
is in no small part due to him, that the SFCC
is now seen as one of the linchpins in the
developing new central Fisheries Management
structure in Scotland.
Simon encouraged collaborations with scientists
from a range of institutions both in the UK (in
particular Marine Scotland and the University
of Glasgow) and abroad (Norway and USA in
particular), with the general aim of
finding out how salmon populations
were regulated. He took the long
view, recognising that some of
the experiments might not lead to
immediate applications but would
still provide valuable information
in future. One characteristic of Simon was
that he made things happen: he was endlessly
supportive and enthusiastic, even when these
experiments caused significant disruption and
extra work for him and his team, and even when
they involved carrying bags of frozen salmon
carcasses up into the hills so as to fertilise the
small streams in which the young salmon live.
Whilst much of his career involved organising
the ‘bigger picture’ of fishery management, he
never lost the personal input that inspired so
many people he knew. Towards the end of his
life, with his wife Lynn, he began organising a
junior angling club which not only helped young
people to learn how to fish, but also helped
them understand the importance of proper
management, conservation and sustainability
of fish stocks.
34

Remembering Simon McKelvey
His love for his Scottish surroundings, combined
with the countless trips to meetings around
the country, led him to begin his endeavour to
climb every Munro. He would often get up at
5am, drive for three or more hours, climb to the
summit, climb back down and then drive the
three or more hours back home. One Munro
became two, two became 10, before suddenly
he had climbed 220.
Simon’s love of exploration spilled into his love of
interesting beer and whisky. Never content with
the ordinary, he would seek out often unusual,
but always interesting Belgian beers or small,
independent craft beers. When he wasn’t out
sea kayaking, riding his Ducati, or climbing a
mountain, he could be found with his friends,
sampling incredible beers and listening to
fantastic music until 4am.
Simon left a lasting and inspiring impact on
everyone he met, whether in a personal or
professional context. His calm, methodical,
level-headed professionalism gave way to his
warm sense of kindness and his wicked sense of
humour, something anyone that had the pleasure
of meeting him will attest to.
Simon leaves behind his wife, Lynn and his five
children, all of whom are blessed to have had
him in their lives. Inheriting his wonderful sense
of exploration, curiosity and determination,
they will ensure that the 62 Munros that he left
uncompleted will not go uncompleted for long.
35

The Paul Coulson BLOG
The Paul Coulson
BLOG
36

Another Grand Tour
Holmfirth, Manchester, Sheffield, Warrington,
Edinburgh, Colchester, Grantham, Loughborough
(three times), London and Warwick have all
been graced with my presence over the last few
months. The tour has included everything from
zander to carp with a bit of electric fishing,
weed control and a fishing show thrown in for
good measure.
Starting at the beginning, we held the largest
specialist workshop to date, with the IFM and
Environment Agency Aquatic Weed Control
Workshop in February. Over 130 delegates from
across the north of England, and as far south as
Nottingham and Derby, made the rather windy
journey to Holmfirth for the day. I am pleased to
say that those who battled against the elements
had a thoroughly informative day, which hopefully
gave them all the knowledge they need to be
able to manage problematic aquatic plants in
their waters.
During the following weekend, Mike Lee and I
were on the road again, this time we headed to
Manchester for the Northern Angling Show at
Event City.
We were very pleased to be asked to join the
Environment Agency, Canal and Rivers Trust,
Cefas (Centre for the Environment, Fisheries
and Aquaculture Science) and The Angling Trust
in Info Corner again. Just like last year, it was
another really useful couple of days, which kicked
off with the largest queues I have ever seen on
the Saturday waiting to get in. I was very pleased
to have exhibitor wrist bands so we could walk
straight in.
After a very busy first day, I’m not sure the
organisers were overly pleased with the Premier
League on the Sunday, as the show clashed with
the Man United versus Liverpool game, and, as
you can probably imagine, the crowds started to
drift away just after lunch so they didn’t miss the
kick off.
Following the Northern Angling Show, I was on
the road again to finish the second round of the
IFM’s Fishery Management Workshops that we
deliver on behalf of the Environment Agency. The
last three were held in Sheffield and Warrington in
the north and at Marsh Farm in Godalming in the
south. As always, they were very well attended
with representatives from clubs and fisheries from
across each region.
I am pleased to say that following the success of
both the weed control and fishery management
workshops, we have been asked to run another
series of events this coming autumn and winter.
The venues and dates for these will be released
shortly so please keep an eye out if you are
interested.
In between the workshops we held our annual
IFM Certificate and IFM Award field course
weekends. These are for students enrolled on
the IFM Certificate or Award Courses (as the
name suggests) and take place at Rempstone
Village Hall. There is a full write up in the training
report, so I won’t go into too much detail here
except to say they were both action packed
weekends and this year it never snowed, which
was a bonus!
At the end of March, I was very pleased to attend
the Fishery Management Scotland Conference
in Edinburgh. Aside from the rather depressing
news on the returning salmon numbers, which
I’m sure you have seen in the mainstream press
since, it was a really interesting day with some
excellent presentations. I joined the session
on predation and it was interesting to see the
range of predators and associated management
strategies that are in place to try and protect
salmon at their various life stages. The one
predator that didn’t get a mention however, was
the otter, but it appears they just aren’t as serious
The Paul Coulson BLOG
37

The Paul Coulson BLOG
a threat when compared to seals, cormorants
and the saw-billed ducks.
On the subject of predation (did you see what I
did there?), I was also asked to attend the recent
Zander workshop convened by The Angling Trust
and Canal and Rivers Trust at the Canal and
Rivers Trust offices in Warwick. The aim of the
workshop was to garner the views of the various
stakeholders in the room and to come to some
agreement on a way forward for the management
of this non-native species. As you can imagine
there were some very differing views in the
room and I think there will need to be further
conversations before a consensus is reached.
At the end of April, I visited Essex University
where I gave a talk on fish survey techniques
and demonstrated electric fishing to a group
of freshwater biology students. Due to an
unforeseen diatom bloom on our chosen water
we quickly had to change location and ended up
surveying the university lakes. This turned out
to be a good idea as there was a wide range of
species from eel to gudgeon in them as well as
some very big rudd and a couple of nice carp,
which the students were amazed to see. We did
get some very interesting looks from the other
students as we walked around the campus in
waders and splashed about in the lakes!
Double Celebration
I know, I know I don’t look a day over 30, but
yes, I reached the ripe old age of 40 in February.
I celebrated with a long weekend in London with
friends and the purchase of some Just for Men
and an industrial size tub of anti-wrinkle cream.
I did also receive a lovely David Miller picture
from Natalie and plenty of alcohol, which helps
to numb the pain of being old.
Talking about the winter league it all ended rather
limply for Mike and I. This is partly James’s fault
as he decided to make an appearance a few
days before one of the matches and we agreed
it was probably for the best if Mike sat that one
out! We then both missed one due to work
commitments and that was that, no silverware for
us this year. I did manage to pick up a few quid
on the match when I went it alone as I won my
section (by default) and finished third overall so it
wasn’t a complete disaster.
I haven’t done much else on the fishing front as
time has being a bit short lately, plus it has taken
the local waters a while to get going with the
changeable weather we have had. I am aiming
to get out a bit more over the coming weeks so
hopefully I will have something to report, or if not,
I will have some good excuses lined up.
The Nettle Files
So, we went to Crufts.
I was hoping that we would
take Nettle and be able to
swap her for a different dog,
or even a stuffed toy, but
apparently that’s not what
it’s about. What I can say is
that if you are into dogs then Crufts is well worth
a day out. It is MASSIVE and we didn’t manage
to see all of it in a day. We came home with lots
of new chew toys and treats for Nettle, which
apparently didn’t taste as nice as the new oven
glove or Noah’s watch which she destroyed
shortly after. She has also dug up Natalie’s new
strawberry plants, which makes a change from it
being something of mine or the children’s.
On a positive note my fish tank is coming along
very nicely.
I am pleased to say
we have recently had
a new addition to the
IFM family as Mike Lee
and his lovely wife Liz
welcomed their son
James into the world.
All is going well and we
are hopeful that James will be able to cover for
Mike on this year’s winter league once his bread
punch skills are up to scratch.
Tight lines.
Paul Coulson - Director of Operations
paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk
07960 939 836
38

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“Learning from the
Past to Inform the Future”
This year we celebrate fifty years of the Institute of Fisheries
Management. At this historic milestone, the Institute felt the
time was right to dedicate the Annual Conference to review
past success, the current state of fisheries and fish populations
and a forward look at challenges and opportunities facing the
industry, from environmental and socio-economic change,
to technological development.
Join us for three days of presentations, posters,
field trips, networking and birthday celebrations
(there may even be cake!)
Conference sessions will focus on
• Tagging and telemetry
• Fisheries hydroacoustics
• Recent and future advances in technology
• Fish passage
• Re-wilding the aquatic and riparian environment
• Governance and economics
• Environmental challenges
• Historical perspectives in fisheries management

IFM 50 th Anniversary Conference
Nottingham Conference Centre
October 8 th – 10 th
The Annual Dinner will be held in the grand
surroundings of the Nottingham City Hall.
We will also spend an evening afloat on the
River Trent for the poster and networking event
The Midlands Branch, and all at the Institute,
look forward to welcoming you to
Nottingham in October
Registration now open on the website
www.ifm.org.uk

IFM News
IFM News
Event Date Location
IFM Big River Fish Hunt 2019 June 16 th UK Wide
50 th Annual Conference
Learning from the Past,
to Inform the Future
October 8 th – 10 th 2019
Nottingham Conference Centre
and the annual dinner will be
held in the Council House
For further details on up and coming events: www.ifm.org.uk/events
Some reflections from Dr Peter Spillett,
IFM President
Brexit blues
As I write this two thirds of the way through May,
the current impasse on the Brexit process has
meant little news or progress on the Agriculture or
Fisheries Bills, both of which of course will impact
on the activities of the IFM. The expectation
is that they will not be returning for the Report
Stage until after a Brexit deal has been agreed –
your guess when is as good as mine!
Plenty of activity, however, at the Environmental
Policy Forum (EPF) where much of the focus
has been on trying to influence the forthcoming
Environment Bill. A multi-sector group has been
set up, including EPF members such as IEMA
(Institute of Environmental Management and
Assessment) and CIWEM (Chartered Institute
of Water and Environmental Management) to
engage with Defra and other bodies to help
steer the draft legislation.
As a result, the group has met regularly with
Defra every two weeks and discussed, inter alia,
introducing objectives and establishing a process
for setting targets and milestones in the Bill, nonregression
of existing environmental standards,
flexibility on outcomes, improving the status of
the proposed Office of Environmental Protection
(OEP) and advocating a common and consistent
approach amongst the four UK administrations.
In terms of timing, the Bill was originally expected
in June/July but it is now thought to be in the
autumn. One other current uncertainty of course
is the contest to take over the Conservative Party
when Theresa May steps down.
Since Michael Gove has played such a leading
role as Environment Secretary in the drafting
of the Bill and production of the 25 Year
Environment Plan, there are concerns over future
progress should his role change.
Of course the proof of the pudding is in the eating
– we will need to see what eventually appears
in the Bill to work out whether all this lobbying
has been effective. The group are cautiously
optimistic though; they’ve met with Gove
personally, they’ve met with Philip Hammond and
the Treasury and also had separate discussions
with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The group’s approach has been labelled the
Broadway Initiative (see FISH 132) and has the
full support of this Institute.
Moving on to more domestic matters at the
England Fisheries Group (EFG), consultations
on the close season came to an end. As
has been the problem all along, the lack of
scientific evidence one way or another makes
any proposed change to the status quo rather
problematic.
At the last meeting in February Katie Whitlock
reported on the Environment Agency’s Coarse
Fish Strategy, the aim of which is basically to
42

improve fish populations. The strategy was
well received and much of the discussion that
followed was on the best way to communicate
the messages to all the relevant stakeholders.
The Environment Agency has further plans to
produce strategies on eels, salmon and sea trout,
and trout and grayling.
A similar debate followed Tom Sherwood’s
presentation on an updated Angling Strategy.
What with concerns about the decline in numbers
fishing and reductions in rod licence income,
the focus was on how effectively to deliver the
actions and recommendations of the strategy.
I’m sorry to end this short report on a sad note
but I couldn’t finish without commenting on the
tragic loss of Simon McKelvey last December.
His passing at the young age of 56 is of course
a tragedy, first and foremost to his family and
friends, but also for Scottish fisheries, the wider
fisheries world and the IFM. Simon played a
major role in the development of the Scottish
Branch and had been a stalwart supporter of the
Institute for many years. I’d particularly like to
pay tribute to his nine years as Branch Chairman
and also to the role he played and the work
he put in on the Scottish Wild Fishery Reform
Process. Unfortunately the Scottish Government
didn’t implement all the recommendations,
but the changes that have been made and the
continued improvements are a credit to Simon
and his colleagues’ efforts.
I like to remember Simon when he opened the
Annual IFM Conference in Edinburgh back in
2012. The theme of that excellent event was
evidence-based fisheries management, the
lessons of which were used in the Wild Fishery
Reform. As Scottish Branch was hosting the
conference it was a pleasure to be able to spend
quality time with Simon – a really nice bloke and a
respected fisheries professional.
Peter Spillett
IFM President
IFM influencing policy
Over the last year the IFM has produced a
number of responses to consultations on:
• the Defra 25 Year Environment Plan
• the Welsh National Marine Plan
• the 2nd iteration of four English Marine Plans
took place early this spring (NW, NE, SE, SW)
• the Fisheries White paper
• “Net Fishing Management for Estuaries,
Harbours and Piers in Dorset, Hampshire and
the Isle of Wight”
• The coarse fishing close season
In the last year, a policy statement was produced
on monitoring as well as one on the hot topic
of beavers, both of which can be found on
the IFM website. There are a number of IFM
policy statements in development on: fish
health and disease, tidal power and lagoons
and invasive species. In addition a number of
policy statements are to be developed, notably
on: diffuse water pollution, flow regulation
management (which will be developed following
the Specialist Conference), hatcheries, rewilding,
small waterbodies, eel, and plastics effect on fish
and the environment
The IFM is active in working in partnership with
others and has been joint signatures, as part of
LINK, to the following topics: wildlife crime, lead
shot, single-use plastics, and agriculture.
A vast number of people have helped in making
these replies and positions notably: Steve
Colclough, Steve Axford, Jim Lyons, Chris Mills,
Ted Potter, Nigel Milner, Ian Welby, Alex Scorey,
Richard Noble, Rob Clark, Karen Twine, John
Foster and Barry Byatt
Miran Aprahamian
Director of Policy
IFM Membership news
IFM News
By now you should have all had your renewal
letters and a great many of you have already
renewed your membership for which we thank
you for your continued support of the Institute.
43

IFM News
44
If you haven’t renewed yours yet, then it’s very
easy to do so. The easiest way is to set up
a direct debit with your bank and that way
your membership automatically renews at the
beginning of each year without you having to do
anything. You can always renew at any time by
logging on to the website and renewing online
and alternatively you can send us a cheque if
you prefer.
One thing is very important though and that is to
keep your contact details up to date, without this
we can’t keep in touch and you may not receive
FISH magazine or our newsletters.
Each year we get several renewal letters sent
back to us as the member has moved away
without giving us their new contact details, so
please just take a few minutes to check that we
still have your current details, thank you.
Iain Turner
IFM Development and Membership Officer
IFM Training Report
Throughout the spring the IFM Training Team run
a number of practical courses for people enrolled
on our various courses as well as delivering the
workshops for the Environment Agency and
electric fishing training.
We kicked things off with the IFM Certificate
Course weekend in March which we once
again held in the village hall in Rempstone near
Loughbrough. The weekend sees the students
cover a number of subjects with both theory and
practical sessions to keep them entertained.
On the Saturday we visited Epperstone Park
Hatcheries where the students were able to help
with netting and grading some ponds as well as
carrying out some electric fishing on the
Dover Beck. The Sunday saw us tackle a large
gravel pit in search of some pike and large carp
using fish finders and electric fishing kit from
boats.
Moving into April and we held the practical
weekend for the Environment Agency staff
enrolled on the IFM Award course. Much as with
the certificate weekend we break up the days
with talks, visits and practical sessions. This
year we visited Roy Marlow at the Glebe and
Makins on the Saturday afternoon. This allows
the students to be able to compare and contrast
the fishery types and management strategies
used. It is also great to be able to speak to the
owners and get their views on the complexities of
managing modern coarse fisheries first hand.
On the Sunday, following some excellent talks
from Ryan Taylor and Chris Williams of the
Environment Agency and Jake Davoille of the
Angling Trust, we undertook a stock assessment
for a local angling club. We were ably assisted in
this pursuit by Jon Wall. Following both netting
and electric fishing we had gathered quite a
catch including one of the largest chub any of
us had ever seen which weighed in a couple of
ounces under six pounds!
Mike and Paul ran another sold out electric
fishing course in April, which once again saw a
nice mix of people attending. Following a day of
theory and an exam the trainees went out into the
field for some practical demonstration, which for
this course was on the Rothley Brook just outside
of Loughborough. We continued our specimen
hunting with some monster gudgeon that were
as big as your hand and some very nice roach
and dace. For a stream you can jump across in
most places it was surprising to see such
quality fish.
Paul has also delivered an electric fishing course

will be followed by another course for the newly
formed River Holme Connections group back
in Yorkshire.
IFM News
Certificate success
Following the exams in January, we are
pleased to say that a bumper crop of students
successfully completed the course. Many
congratulations to everyone below. We hope to
be able to report on even more success after the
next set of exams in June.
• Ian Doyle
• Christopher Cooper
• Roger Hughes
• John Audsley
• Nicholas Garbutt
• Christiana Christoforou
• Dennis Allen
• Hannah Robson
• Ioulianos Pantelides
• Jon Warman
• Mark Mulqueeney
• Maria Sofokleous Olympiou
• Laurence Leonard
• Theodora Nicolaidou Shamma
to the Grantham Anglers who manage 14 miles
of the River Witham. Following a lot of hard
work by the river keeper and club members they
are now slowly decreasing the number of trout
they stock in a bid to become a sustainable wild
fishery. They have decided to get themselves
trained in electric fishing so that they can begin
to monitor their stock levels and make an
assessment on where they may need to make
some positive interventions.
Paul and Mike will be putting the miles in over the
summer as they are travelling across to Ireland
to deliver our first electric fishing course over
there on behalf of the Inishowen Rivers Trust, this
• Simon Balderstone
• Kevin Wright
• Raphan Batty
Ian Wellby
Director of Training
45

IFM News
News from the London and
South East Branch
The Branch has held three informative and
well-attended evening meetings at King’s College
this year and had an excellent visit to Billingsgate
Fish Market (starting at the crack of dawn!) led by
Robert Embery (Inspector) and Steve Colclough.
In February, Carolina Pinto (Ultimos Refugios Inst,
Brazil) described her pioneering partnership and
community-led work on the River Blackwater
evaluating the sustainable and cost-effective
effects of wood on habitats, flood risk and fish
and other biota. Maria also discussed how this
initiative led to the first Loddon Rivers Week in
2012 and an innovation award for the first river
restoration in Espirito Santo in Brazil.
Dominic Martyn (Environment Agency Catchment
Based Approach Support Group/Rivers Trusts)
presented an interactive discussion in March
on the 2019 Year of Green Action. He led
the audience through a snowballing story of
successful programmes working with communities
to build relationships, capacity, capability
and resilience through integrated catchment
delivery, reconnecting people with nature and
expanding successful approaches to natural flood
management.
Our April meeting focussed on reintroducing
beavers to England. Graham Scholey
(Conservation Technical Specialist, Environment
Agency) presented a critical review of the
benefits and potential conflicts associated
with reintroductions, including those relating to
wetland habitat creation and flood management
and to fish and fisheries. He outlined the role of
the Environment Agency and the current trials
and research in which it is involved, leading to
discussion of possible next steps and the future
status of beavers in England
Our next meeting is on October 3rd, the Annual
Sherry Evening, our prestigious annual social event
at King’s College. Further summer and autumn
events are being arranged, including a Thames
Foreshore Archaeology visit on 29th August,
Thames TideFest on 3-5th September and our
AGM on 5th December, so get in touch with our
Branch Secretary if you aren’t on our mailing list!!
News from the South West Branch
The Southwest branch held its AGM in Taunton
last month which was shortly followed by a
fascinating talk by Andy Don from the Environment
Agency on eel trapping and tracking in the Azores.
The event was really well attended with several
more events planned over the coming year,
(please see the branch page on the website for
more details).
The next event is Thursday 1st August when we
will be holding a screening of the Patagonia film
‘Artifishial’ – please see the website branch page
for more details.
News from the Southern Branch
A joint event with the Southwest branch is planned
for the summer, please see details on the branch
page of the website. The branch will also be
hosting the Annual Conference in 2020 and
preparations for this are well underway. If you
want to get involved in organising this or want to
help with the branch, then please get in touch with
Iain Turner.
Brian Knights
46

Branch Contacts
If you want more information on IFM activities
in your region, please contact the branch
secretaries through the email addresses below:
IFM News
East Anglia:
Andy Sadler
andrew.sadler@environment-agency.gov.uk
Ireland:
Robert Rossell
Robert.Rosell@afbini.gov.uk
London & South East:
Steve Colclough
srcifm@gmail.com
Midlands/Lincolnshire:
Ryan Taylor
ryan.taylor@environment-agency.gov.uk
North West:
Paul Coulson
paul.coulson@ifm.org.uk
South West:
Iain Turner
swest@ifm.org
Southern:
Iain Turner
iain.turner@ifm.org.uk
Scottish:
Lorraine Hawkins
lorraine@riverdee.org
Wales:
Emma Keenan
emma.keenan@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk
Yorkshire & North East:
Mike Lee
michael.lee@environment-agency.gov.uk
47

Breaking News
Breaking News...
How fish and shrimps could be
recruited as underwater spies
Sea lampreys help medical advances
Reported on the BBC’s website on 7th June
2019. We have a long history of trying to
use animals as spies, weapons and warning
systems, but the latest plans to use marine
organisms as motion sensors may be the
strangest yet.
When a beluga whale was spotted wearing
a harness recently, some speculated that it
had been trained to spy for the Russian army.
Norway finds ‘Russian spy whale’ off coast.
That’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. Ever
since the 1960s, the US Navy has been training
dolphins to detect mines and help rescue lost
naval swimmers. Russia’s been known to do
the same. And sharks, rats and pigeons have
been enlisted over the years as eavesdropping
devices, with mixed results.
The latest project from the US Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa)
aims to improve military intelligence by using a
range of aquatic creatures - from large fish to
humble single-celled organisms - as underwater
warning systems.
“We’re trying to understand what these
organisms can tell us about the presence and
movements of all kinds of underwater vehicles in
the ocean,” says Dr Lori Adornato, programme
manager of the Persistent Aquatic Living
Sensors (Pals) project.
Sea lampreys are a parasitic fish that could
help scientists develop new treatments
targeting brain tumours, brain trauma, and even
dementia, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-
Madison and the University of Texas at Austin
found a way to turn sea lamprey molecules into
drug delivery mechanisms that directly reach
brain tumours, succeeding where many other
cancer treatments fail.
Sea lamprey immune systems, although similar
to humans, produce small molecules called
VLRS in place of antibodies. It was these
VLRS molecules that the researchers used to
deliver drug treatments to the brain. The team
first vaccinated lampreys to find the VLRS that
service the extracellular matrix of the brain.
Not so fish friendly festival
A new study from the University of Miami has
found that high sound levels from Ultra Music
Festival 2019 caused ‘a significant stress
response’ in fish swimming in waters near the
festival’s site, similar to the stress levels that they
would experience if they were being chased by
a predator.
During the festival, which took place in March,
they conducted tests on toadfish at the hatchery
and also monitored decibel levels in their tanks
and the surrounding waters. On 6th May,
the university issued their first official findings,
stating that the high volume levels caused
toadfish to experience a ‘4-to-5-fold increase in
48

lood cortisol, their main stress hormone, during
the first night of the Ultra Music Festival.’
“The stress response was higher than what
would be experienced when being chased by a
simulated predator and similar to when hearing
bottlenose dolphins, a toadfish predator,” said
Danielle McDonald, professor of marine biology
and ecology at the UM Rosenstiel School, in a
statement.
‘Piranhas’ found in Doncaster
fishing lake
Tests are being carried out on two suspected
piranhas found dead in a Yorkshire fishing lake.
The razor-toothed fish were found by local
anglers at Martinwells Lake at Edlington, near
Doncaster, a popular walking and fishing spot.
Experts said it was virtually impossible for
piranhas to survive in cold English open water.
Doncaster Council, which owns the lake, said
the fish may have been pets that had been
dumped in the water. A spokesman for the
authority said the dead fish have been taken
for examination.
49

Book Review
Book Review
Understanding Aquaculture
By Jesse Trushenski
– A review by Paul Coulson
I think it is fair to say that aquaculture is going
to have to expand quite significantly in the
near future if we are to meet the nutritional
requirements of a growing population, and whilst
better management of marine and freshwater fish
stocks could limit this growth it may not be able
to keep pace.
This is where this book is really useful. It is a
great introductory guide to aquaculture and is
an ideal resource for those studying fisheries,
aquaculture, natural resources management,
environmental policy and food science, as well as
those with a passing interest in the process.
It answers a number of the key questions we
often ask, and get asked, about fish produced
this way, such as: Are farmed fish safe to eat?
Are wild fish more nutritious? Do fish farms
pollute the environment? Is farmed salmon full of
antibiotics? And more.
The book is wide ranging and doesn’t just
concentrate on production in one country or
even continent and in doing so it looks at a
number of species from carp to salmon.
As someone who has spent time on fish farms
and dabbled with both pond and re-circulation
systems, I found it very interesting and I’m sure
it would be a valuable resource for students
and personnel working across all sectors of the
aquaculture industry.
Understanding Aquaculture
Author: Jesse Trushenski
Publisher: 5M Publishing (1 March 2019)
Hardcover: 268 pages
ISBN-10: 1789180112
Price: £45.00
50

Fish and eel pass design, fabrication and
installation, including full CAD capabilities
Tidal gate fish passage mitigation, including design,
fabrication and installation of bespoke dampers
and spring retarders
Fisheries assessments and surveys, including
PHABSIM studies, electro-fishing, quantitative
mapping, advanced quantitative experimental
design, migration and barrier studies
Fisheries monitoring and R&D, including
pit-tagging, DIDSON/ARIS & camera monitoring,
telemetry studies, field-based experiments and
product development
Fisheries impact assessments of hydropower
installations and appropriate mitigation measures
In-house civil construction design and project
management
Unit 1 Shinners Bridge, Webbers Way, Dartington, Totnes, Devon, TQ9 6JY
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Members and their FISH
Frank Partington with a stunning 2lbs 10oz roach
caught near Leigh, Lancashire
Do you have a picture of
yourself with a fish?
If so FISH would like to hear from you.
Send your images to: fish@ifm.org.uk