News:

The Best Fishing Forum In The UK.
Do You Have What It Takes To Be A Member?

Main Menu
Please consider a donation to help with the running costs of this forum.

River Don Trust

Started by Wildfisher, December 08, 2009, 11:47:43 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Wildfisher

The new Trust was set up  in 2008 to  contribute to the river, and fishery management,  for the benefit of all fish species living within the catchment.

Check out the website. www.riverdon.org.uk  

It?s not entirely about the trust, it?s shared with the Don Salmon Fishery Board and the RDBTIA (River Don Brown Trout Improvement Association).  

Trust chairman Dave Gordon is a member here  (diverdave)   as is Trust biologist Jamie Urquhart  -(Jamie). If you have any questions I?m sure either of those gentlemen will be able to answer them.

After a  somewhat shaky start  I for one am now convinced the Trust is a positive thing with very  good intentions  and I   hope we can  support  the work of Dave and his team through  this forum and our  magazine  website Fish Wild.

I realise  our membership is diverse, both  UK wide and international, not just a few Aberdeenshire locals, but  the river Don and its fishing are there for us all to enjoy regardless of where we live.

If any member has suggestions, ideas or wishes to help in any way please contact me by PM.

diverdave

Fred

Thanks for giving us a voice on your forum. Perhaps a little background on the trust and the gang involved would help give all understanding of where we are. I am a fire service officer and recently sold a diving business. This gives me the time to work with the river. I am a very keen angler and shot, and am out every week without fail. I am not a very good angler and I suppose I make up for this by enjoying working with the trust.

The trust is approaching its first birthday, and to date we have achieve really quite a lot. In the past there was a trust set up on Donside, the charitable trust. It started with some money from a board member, some seven years ago, and it just sat there, it did nothing. When the trust reformed into the River Don Trust we immediately joined RAFTS, and signed up to a number of its programmes. We then produced a Fishery management Plan, sent to all proprietors and agreed by the DDSFB. This is our blueprint for the rivers survival for the next 3 years.

To deliver this we needed a biologist and eventually we found Jamie, whose job it is to deliver the FMP. We found an excellent office in Cluny castle and a small 4x4 for him to get about in.

This year and the early part of next year is basically about scientific habitat surveys, finding out what we have and what lives there. We are logging good areas, which need protection, and noting poor areas, that need repair. There are a number of obstruction to fish migration in the catchment, and we have had all these  surveyed, and will be looking to ease these next year, opening up 100?s of kms of habitat deprived to fish for over 100 years. There is always something going on, and I have just heard about an area of early redds  (spring salmon) being washed away in the floods, leaving a deep pool. This was caused by a bank side land slide. We will work with the land owner, with board assistance to repair this and stabilise the bank.

In addition to finding out where our fish live, we need to know who they are, so are taking genetic and scale samples. How quickly do our fish grow, what do the feed on, what do they need? So we are looking at the invertebrates in the system. I believe habitat is the key to all this. We need to fence the banks to allow trees & bushes to support the banks and for invertebrate life for trout and parr to feed on. We need to build cattle drinking stations, so they do not destroy the banks, widen then shallow the river and trample redds. Soon we will need to look at canalled section of burns. We can pebble the bottom of these, rake gravel for redds and turn these back from deserts into good habitat. Habitat is the key to it all. Poor habitat has less food, more access for predators and more competition for the fish. All this equals less fish. Predators are a problem, so we are working to reduce all alien invasive species.

Education is vital to a trusts work. We have a trout and salmon in the classroom programme. Jamie goes to schools, sets up a tank system and places some eggs in the gravel. The kids do various projects, and at the same time learn about fish lifestyle and angling. Eventually they release their fish into the river, and then return to electrofish late in the year, to see how they are doing. Learning about invertebrates and the fish encourages them into angling and conservation. Perhaps they will think twice before throwing in a shopping trolley if they know what happens below the surface.

We supply scientific advice on projects in the system, and are assisting developers make their mini hydro schemes safe for the catchment. We are not against development, just want it done correctly.

We have a friends of the river don programme. The idea of this is to engage with river users, mainly anglers. In return for ?20, we give access to everything we are doing. All of Jamies weekly(ish) blogs are available, hatchery visits, redd counting, our minutes will be published from next weeks meeting onwards (no boring set up stuff from now on, just fish and our works). I hope our friends will visit, perhaps tell us what is going on, any area that needs fixed or looked at. We are fully open to suggestions, and are adapting the FMP one year on to accommodate these, things like university projects.

There is plenty going on, and we are accelerating quickly, but under strict control. All this needs funded and support. Fred is throwing his weight behind us and I am quite delighted by this. Please consider joining with us, and feel free to contact me at any time. Dave@davegordon.co.uk .
http://www.riverdon.org.uk/friendsofthedon.asp

Wildfisher

Thanks for the information Dave.

Two  points that really stand out  for me   are the bank erosion caused by cows and education.

Of  the beats   I mainly  fish  one of them has a cow problem. There are two places where cows have got into the habit of drinking. They look like  a bomb has hit them and the resultant erosion and silting are  serious. The estate Gillie is planning  to  fence them off. Properly  designed  cow watering  points / troughs are a must. Farmers who don?t  have rivers flowing through their fields seem to manage OK and their livestock  don?t die of thirst, so there is absolutely no excuse for it.

Education a - great initiative. As you say give kids an interest, or better still get them fishing,  and they won?t be chucking shopping trolleys into the river. More generally people  must  feel  they have some kind of   stake in the river,  be  that simply  enjoying a walk or flexing a rod. You are doing your bit on the education side,  let's  hope the other organisations  work as hard and enthusiastically at improving access. It can only be to the long term benefit of the river if more people feel included.



haresear

QuoteFarmers who don?t  have rivers flowing through their fields seem to manage OK and their livestock  don?t die of thirst, so there is absolutely no excuse for it.

The snag with getting farmers to start using (or more accurately, their cattle using :)) water troughs is that Scottish Water (Business Stream) levies charges for a trough, whereas river water comes free.

Best of luck with the Trust, Dave. I agree with Fred that the educational aspect is a particularly good idea.

Alex
Protect the edge.

Fishtales

#4
Being interested in anything and being a dedicated Googler, over the years I have come across a lot of interesting sites and items. I thought you might be interested in this if you haven't already seen it.

A sample page.

http://www.therrc.co.uk/rrc_manual.php

The whole lot in PDF.

http://www.therrc.co.uk/rrc_manual_pdf.php

In especial this page :)

http://www.therrc.co.uk/pdf/manual/8_1_Example_3.pdf

I may have more buried in the depths of my Bookmarks :)
Don't worry, be happy.
Sandy
Carried it in full, then carry it out empty.
http://www.ftscotland.co.uk/

Looking for a webhost? Try http://www.1and1.co.uk/?k_id=2966019

Wildfisher

Interesting links Sandy.  Well designed watering  access points and fencing certainly work. It's a matter of changing the culture I suppose and that won't be straightforward with some farmers.

Wildfisher

I have locked this thread for the sake of tidiness.  (I really am a tidy person - ask my wife  :D )

Please post  new items about The River Don Trust in a new thread with appropriate headings as this makes them easier to find.

Individual's Don related fishing reports should  be posted in the ned-free  reports section.  :lol:

Thanks


Go To Front Page