FISH ON THE RADAR

Tagging scheme gives insight into lives of bream and pike

BREAM and pike in some of Britain’s most popular rivers are being tagged and monitored in a project to find out more about the lives of coarse fish.

Harmless acoustic tags that allow scientists to accurately track fish are being deployed in large numbers on the Norfolk Broads as part of an Environment Agency project.

The aim of the work, which is running alongside a PhD study by Emily Winter from Bournemouth University, Fishtrack and Natural England, is to assist with the future management of fish stocks by better understanding their habits and how they respond to particular environmental changes.

EA Fisheries technical specialist, Steve Lane, told Angling Times: “We have been catching, tagging and releasing fish and learning about where they forage and spawn, what areas of the Broads they are using and when, how they react during storm surges, and what influence salt plays in tidal areas.”

Rivers included in the project are the Bure, Ant and Thurne, which have all suffered fish kills from tidal surges in the past.

Local anglers have been helping by catching fish for the project, which will enable the team to track the subjects for up to three years after being tagged.

The scheme, which is partly funded by EA rod licence money, plans to tag more than 130 fish on the Broads, and signals from the acoustic devices will be picked up by 45 receivers dotted around the system when fish swim within 300 yards of them.

Similar projects have been run before, and Steve says they have thrown up some eye-opening data: “Previous tagging projects have turned up startling results.

“Some fish, including bream, have been recorded as travelling up to 17km in a night,” he added. “That was a surprise.”