I followed an electro fishing team along the Ashby Canal and also had chance to have a chat with a CRT spokesperson. This is a very brief overview of what happens during an electro fishing sessions and also gives a little insight into why the Canal and River Trust are obliged to control the non native species which is the Zander.
The guys from MEM were very happy for me to talk to them and capture the video despite the usual torrent of abuse they receive. These guys are quite clearly doing a job and carrying out the work contacted to them by the CRT, the if they didn’t effectively do this then the contract would be given to another contractor. Indeed the same goes for the CRT, they have an extremely knowledgable fisheries team who are again only carrying out the work required by law.
So before you comment please have a think about what you write and also think about how any change can even be considered, I assure you that it’s not by hurling abuse at people. No Zander angler likes to see electro fishing take place which I myself fully understand, however please take the time to comment constructively.
It’s worth just noting the process here also, so obviously the boat has special onboard equipment which generates a current which is then passed through the electrodes and into the water. It is designed to carry three crew with two crew collecting and controlling the boom and the third steering. The boats have large tanks in which to store the Zander for the duration of the process, the tanks are also fully oxygenated for fish welfare.The current can be varied depending on the day is for different water conditions. Because this team is trying to remove any size of zander they have a setting which will target even the smallest of fish through to the largest. On the day I saw 2” - 3” roach and skimmers and I also saw large double figure carp. Now the larger the fish the more they are effected as the current shocks the spine of the fish. The current has very little effect if any to the smallest of fish and invertebrates making this the most effective and practical method of controlling the Zander.
So you will also see a second boat in the video which actually has 2 main roles. Firstly the person controlling the boat is actually a CRT operative who is able to monitor the process, he also collects any Zander which are missed by the front boat. It’s also more manoeuvrable and allows them to collect any Zander out of reach. This boat also carries a tank to store the fish and this tank is also oxygenated and from time to time if the rear boat spots a larger fish ie a bream or pike etc he may collect this fish and let it recover in the oxygenated tank, I witnessed this many times on the day and the fish all seemed to recover very quickly when on the tank. They are then netted out and returned to the canal usually just a few minutes later.
Once the guys have finished the designated stretch they returned to the trailers, removed the Zander which were stored in another oxygenated tank whilst they retaken for incineration. The equipment is loaded back up and away they go.
Later in the video I mentioned the latest joint statement issued in conjunction by Natural England, the EA and Canal & River Trust. This is now available to view on the CRT website and the link is here
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