Field Notes

Wye and Taff only healthy Welsh rivers

Agricultural pollution has reached “epidemic proportions” on most Welsh rivers, with the Wye and the Taff among the few rivers showing signs of increased fish stocks, reveals a new study.

Scientists from Salmon & Trout Conservation Cymru (S&TC Cymru) said the early results of the charity’s first Riverfly Census on the Usk, Cleddau and Clwyd showed how intensification within the dairy industry forced by crippling milk prices is impacting on life in the rivers.

“Fish stocks and other aquatic wildlife are being hit from source to sea. It is the ‘perfect storm’. Although we have moved away from the ravages of the industrial age, we are now seeing more subtle but equally devastating impacts from pollution,” said Richard Garner Williams, national officer for S&TC Cymru.

But some rivers, such as the Wye and Taff, are showing an encouraging upturn of fish stocks. Last year, rods on the Wye caught 1,665 salmon, the most recorded for 20 years. The river’s 2016 catch included many sizeable fish with two over 40lb and 73 over 20lb.

The encouraging catch figures follow a series of conservation projects by the Wye & Usk Foundation. Over the past 20 years, £9m has been invested in the Wye, funded by the EU, government agencies and fishery owners. Lime has been put into bogs and small feeder streams to correct acidity levels, 560 kilometres of fencing erected to keep out sheep and 58 new fish passes built.

This year the focus is on stopping farm topsoil washing off into the river, causing flooding, smothering riverbeds and carrying agricultural pollutants. “We are working with 670 farmers to find ways of keeping topsoil on the farm so as to benefit the river and the farmer,” said Simon Evans, chief executive of the Wye and Usk Foundation.