21st Century Fish Stock Management
The Environment Agency has a new high tech way to survey fish in our waters. The old ways of netting a section of river or electro-fishing and counting fish numbers are over.
A team lead by Jake Reeds has pioneered the use of ‘multi-beam’ and ‘side scan’ sonar equipment which they use over the winter months to survey our rivers. Most fish shoal up in winter and are easier to find and count.
The two sonar types work in two ways, when the sonar beam is aimed downwards into the water beneath the boat it picks up fish as shadows against the bottom. The sonar can now be switched to scan sideways across the boat and see the fish in profile.
The side scan sonar being used is a HumminBird Solix 15 and the multi-beam sonar is an ARIS 3000. The two complement each other well, the side scan allows us to see large distances either side of the boat and the multi-beam allows for close range work for identification and measurement of fish.
The equipment can even measure the length of the fish and thus Jake can get a good indication of weight and age. The sonar can scan hundreds of fish in a shoal as the boat drifts along a river stretch.
This great tool allows Jake to monitor fish stocks and find over Wintering locations as part of his fish management role.
This data is passed onto angling clubs for the benefit of anglers.
To see the equipment in use and see the survey results – Bream Survey Video on our TV page
To see the huge Roach shoals in the Several Fishery and in Spalding take a look at the Roach Survey Video on our TV page
Jakes work is just part of what your rod license fees pay for and we thank Jake and his team for sharing his knowledge on fish behaviour and for providing us with his results.