Last week, on a balmy July evening anglers from the Rossin & Slane District Anglers club hosted a special competition to provide sea trout scale samples for the Celtic Sea trout Project (CSTP). Over 30 anglers fished hard in low water conditions, not only increase awareness amongst members about the project, but also to enjoy some of the lovely pools and runs in the lower reaches of the Boyne sea trout fishery near Oldbridge which the club operates.
On the night Club Chairman Liam Rice said that the club wanted to support the CSTP as much as possible by taking scale samples for the remainder of the season, and, at the same time to encourage club members to enjoy their excellent fishery. The Boyne, a highly regarded salmon fishery, is open for catch-and-release salmon fishing in 2011. Somewhat less well-known as a sea trout fishery, the Boyne is regarded by the INTERREG 4A funded CSTP as one of the ‘priority’ systems for the CSTP which means it will be subject to detailed investigations of its sea trout populations. These ‘priority’ catchments were selected by the CSTP project team on the basis of the quality of their sea trout angling and include the Castletown, Slaney, Argideen and Lough Currane fisheries.
Conditions on the night were difficult due to exceptionally low water after a very dry month, and slightly elevated water temperatures meant that activity was a little slow. Six fish were caught on the night – ranging from 10 ozs to 1½ lbs. After the 11 pm finish scores were tallied and Joe Coleman emerged as the winner. Scale samples were taken from all fish by biologist John Finn from Inland Fisheries Ireland who was there to help out and he even managed to assist in sampling by casting a few of his favourite flies. Further events are planned by the club to assist the CSTP and Liam Rice said that the club would “do all that was possible to provide samples for this very important piece of research. The Boyne deserves to be included as one of the best sea trout fisheries in Ireland and the club will continue to work on improving it.”
Sea trout anglers on the east and south coast of Ireland, the west coasts of Scotland, England and Wales and on the Isle of Man have an excellent chance to win one of the many valuable prizes on offer in a free prize draw by collecting scale samples from any sea trout they catch in 2011. The Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP) is incentivising anglers to take samples of scales from any sea trout they catch over the season in specific “priority” rivers.
Valuable prizes for anglers who send scales samples from sea trout caught on the priority rivers.
A £500 (€582) tackle voucher prize to the angler submitting the most scalesamples from any CSTP priority river in 2011.
Three £350 (€407) tackle voucher prizes to each of the three 3 anglers who return the most scales from priority systems in 2011 within each of other three regions: Ireland (inc NI), Scotland and IoM, Wales, or NW England
Ten £100 (€116)tackle vouchers to be awarded to 10 anglers to be drawn at random from the remaining scale samples submitted. (this includes samples submitted in 2010 and those from non‐priority rivers within the project area)
There are major unanswered questions in the understanding of sea trout, namely:
where do they go at sea and how are their stocks structured and interlinked?
what is their marine ecology (feeding, growth, survival and life history variation)?
what environmental and other pressures are they exposed to?
how do their life histories (and thus fishery quality) respond to environmental variation?
The CSTP intends to provide this missing knowledge and to translate it into fishery and conservation benefits for countries bordering the Irish Sea.
The scales are important samples for this major research project which commenced in late 2009. Interpretation of scales from river and marine caught sea trout will contribute much to understanding some of these questions as they will provide very important primary information for analysis of river-specific life histories and growth rates.The scales will also be used for novel studies including genetic analysis (so called genetic finger-printing) to characterise individual river stocks, and for micro-chemical analysis to identify thefreshwater origins of sea trout and, specifically, to determine their marine feeding areas within the Irish Sea, based on specific chemical signatures deposited within the scales.
Scale collection is difficult because, apart from fish traps, of which there are only three across the whole CSTP area, the sampling of adults in rivers has to be done by angling. This is an extremely important element of the project and anglers are encouraged to participate fully so that sea trout can be better understood which will help to conserve this fascinating migratory trout. Scales from sea trout of all sizes, from the smallest to the largest,over the full extent of the angling season are requested and can be taken easily using the basic scale sampling kit which is provided free of charge (seewww.celticseatrout.com for more details).
The project is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland-Wales Programme (INTERREG 4A). The main project partners are Inland Fisheries Ireland, Bangor University, University College Cork and Environment Agency Wales.
The winners will be chosen based on the scale samples submitted to us before 31st March 2012. The prize draw will take place on the 1st of April 2012. Winners will be contacted directly.
To download you copy of the scale sample poster, click here
The Celtic Sea Trout Project (CSTP) is a European Union, Interreg IV-funded, Ireland-Wales collaborative project looking into the status, distribution, genetics and ecology of sea trout around the Irish Sea. This note briefly outlines progress in 2010 for the many helpers and participants in angling clubs, river trusts and other organisations. More detailed technical accounts will be available in due course.
Project management
Two fulltime Project Officers were appointed under contract in May 2010: one each in Ireland and Wales, to run the sampling and data handling tasks that support the rest of the CSTP. Contractors were also appointed by August 2010 to undertake certain of the specialist tasks (fisheries analysis, life history analysis ad modelling, and hydrodynamic modeling). Formal launch meetings were held in Wales and in Ireland.
Sampling
The CSTP is totally reliant upon effective field sampling to collect data and material from fish (tissues, gut contents, gonads scales etc) for the scientific analysis. For example, the genetics and microchemistry analysis, that will tell us about the mixing and distribution of stocks, requires a baseline of measurements to be made in all the principal rivers around the Irish Sea which are likely to contribute to sea trout stocks. River sampling of juvenile trout for the genetics was the focus of the CSTP team’s work in 2010 and was 95% completed in full using a large scale electro-fishing programme, taking samples from around 80 rivers. Some preliminary marine sampling was also carried out.
A major part of the sampling programme is the collection of scales for analysis of life histories, and growth rates in sea trout. This is particularly difficult because, apart from fish traps, of which there are only three across the whole CSTP area, the sampling of adults in rivers has to be done by angling. Moreover, scale reading and analysis are labour-intensive and time-consuming which limits the numbers of samples that can be dealt with. Accordingly, we have restricted this part of the programme to 25-30 rivers, selected to cover the Irish Sea and where angling catch has historically been large enough to provide the samples. This part of the sampling programme has required extensive liaison with angler groups and distribution of sampling kits and scale envelopes. Several talks on the CSTP were given during the winters of 2008/9 and 2009/10 to clubs and associations across Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England. We aim to collect scales from at least 300 adult sea trout from each of the selected rivers over the two main years of sampling (angling seasons 2010 and 2011). A feature of the scale sampling programme is the need to collect samples from the full size range of sea trout in these rivers to reflect the overall population structure.
The collection of scale samples in 2010 has not gone as well as the juvenile sampling and the returns to date fall well short of the indicative annual target of 150 fish /river (see Figure 1), which includes a small number of samples taken in 2009). Only the Nith and Border Esk in UK and the Argideen, Castletown and Currane in Ireland reached the target levels and most others achieved less than 20%. This was not due to fish shortage because catches were comparatively high last year. A major effort will be made in 2011 to raise awareness and to promote scale sampling by anglers, which will include a valuable incentive scheme.
Figure 1: Scale sample sizes in British, Irish and Isle of Man rivers.
Data analysis
Samples taken in last year’s surveys are being processed at the moment. Genetic analysis at the Universities of Cork and Bangor is now in full swing, and a first look at the base line description should be possible in March 2011. Scale data are being coupled with the extensive and catch statistics to describe variation in the complex life histories of sea trout and to develop analytical approaches that will enable the impacts of environmental pressures to be investigated. Other tasks on marine feeding and distribution modeling and fisheries analysis will start in 2011.
Sampling by anglers in 2011
The CSTP needs the continued support of anglers to collect the required scale samples in 2011. Scales from sea trout of all sizes across the full angling season are requested and can be taken easily once you have the basic kit which we provide. CSTP project team members are available to present talks to your club if required. Contact us through the CSTP website www.celticseatrout.com .
Conditions on the night were difficult due to exceptionally low water after a very dry month, and slightly elevated water temperatures meant that activity was a little slow. Six fish were caught on the night – ranging from 10 ozs to 1½ lbs. After the 11 pm finish scores were tallied and Joe Coleman emerged as the winner. Scale samples were taken from all fish by biologist John Finn from Inland Fisheries Ireland who was there to help out and he even managed to assist in sampling by casting a few of his favourite flies. Further events are planned by the club to assist the CSTP and Liam Rice said that the club would “do all that was possible to provide samples for this very important piece of research. The Boyne deserves to be included as one of the best sea trout fisheries in Ireland and the club will continue to work on improving it.”
