The River Don Trust--Invertebrate Project

[machar]

The River Don Trust is looking for participants to take part in a potential invertebrate monitoring programme across the catchment.
The programme would run throughout the year and would require volunteers to record invertebrate abundance at regular sites on a monthly basis following the provision of training and equipment from the Trust.
The programme will enable the Trust to monitor the invertebrate community, engage with anglers and respond to pollution incidents identified following the monitoring.

Those interested please contact the Jamie on biologist@riverdon.org.uk

[Wildfisher]

That looks interesting Ian. Hopefully this will indeed be very carefully controlled and monitored with proper training given. That would be positive and perhaps help remove the temptation for  groups of bumbling amateur "scientists" to roam around kicking up the river bed by themselves.

[Jamie]

Dear Fred et al

Firstly I'd like to give you a bit of background to the Trusts work in this topic to date.
The Trust has been collecting invert samples during its electro fishing surveys across the catchment at over 170 sites from the Don mouth to the headwaters inc tribs. We've been using standard kick sampling and stone turning/washing techniques with the aim to establishing a summary of the invertebrate community across the catchment at a basic family level and were possible moving into genus as well. These samples are currently with the University of Aberdeen as part of a collaborative project we are running with them and there they will be identified and the results disseminated to us in due course.

Asides from this we have also hosted a training event for Trust biologists during 2010 which was an introduction to the Anglers Monitoring Initiative (AMI). This accredited event, enabled the attendees to undertake a standardised format of monitoring, it provided basic ID skills and established links with local regulatory bodies such as SEPA to ensure that the information you were collecting was acted upon appropriately i.e. assuming a pollution incident was recorded by the anglers in their invert monitoring this could be used to support mitigation procedures or used in a prosecution.

We've also had a few independent studies looking for various species with very little luck across the catchment these have been mainly Universities trying to find a few mayfly sp on the edge of their range but either the weather or the locations have not been suitable and very little information has been turned up.

The Trust is currently looking into coordinating and sourcing funding for a pilot programme on this topic which would involve trained anglers/volunteers undertaking monthly monitoring at regular locations using standardised methods and equipment. The information collected will be used to inform fishery management, inform SEPA of water quality issues and will be disseminated and or updated to anglers/volunteers through either an electronic medium or by regular reports.

What I would welcome is interested anglers/volunteers to notify me of their willingness to participate, as the project relies upon a certain level of input.
The AMI programme is a standardise approach and nationally recognised, however it has not been rolled out across Scotland at this point for various reasons. There are a few programmes running in Scotland on the Tweed and in Ayrshire for example. I've been in touch with them and I'm awaiting some feedback on how the project has run.

From here, should it be the case I can then get the ball rolling on this topic, source funding, arrange to meet, arrange training and prepare a pilot programme for the 2012 year.
For more information the Riverfly website has details at this address
http://www.riverflies.org/index/riverfly_monit.html
Or please drop me an email at biologist@riverdon.org.uk
I'm not on the forum that often but I'll try and keep up to date on this topic.

Best regards Jamie

[Wildfisher]

Good for  you Jamie. I have no doubt you will coordinate your project in a professional manner. For my part I must state up front that I prefer to leave things like kick sampling the river bed to professionals or at the very least to be done under the direct supervision of trained professionals like yourself.

The thought of blundering amateurs, however well intentioned, roaming the banks and  kicking up the river bed sends a shudder down my spine.  Without the knowledge of what they are  doing, trying to achieve and having the scientific training  to understand and properly record any samples   it is  pointless anyway and perhaps even potentially damaging.   It might also be an idea to make the board bailiffs aware of what is going on, locations and times,  so their valuable time is not wasted investigating reports of  "odd" behaviour on the river.  This has, I believe, already happened quite recently.

Rest assured  that I will  continue to support the work of the trust, in genuine and tangible ways, when I can, both through the forum and out of my own pocket.

[Jamie]

Hi Fred
Thanks for your concern regarding this issue and your quite right it could be an issue if not undertaken in the appropriate manner or considering sensitive timings.
The Trust is working even more closely with the Don DSFB these days and our shared office at Cluny results in an almost daily catch up with Jim and his team of Bailiffs. I can therefore assure you that there is likely to be little risk of RDT coordinated work being undertaken without prior consent or notification of the DonDSFB.
Thanks once again for your support both personally and from the Forum members.
Best regards Jamie 

[Malcolm]

It seems to me that the "appropriate training" is the key here. It's not a hugely complex activity and with a pro around to start with it seems to me that getting a load of knowledgeable volunteer samplers would have a real benefit for something like a fisheries trust. If it were a hundred miles closer I would have my name on that list PDQ to find out as much as I could about the local environment.

It's an interesting area and I know that a lot of the knowledge that has ben gained has come from enthusiastic fly fishermen and some like John Goddard and Gordon Mackie have actually turned themselves into knowledgeable entomologists.

[Wildfisher]

It seems to me that the "appropriate training" is the key here.

For sure and  people should also pause and above all think carefully before they act. It must be very annoying for already busy,  hard working river board bailiffs if they are called out unnecessarily to investigate odd goings on along the river as I believe may have happened recently on the Don in the vicinity of some salmon redds.