Hi
Please see letter below to the UAAA from the Clyde River Foundation – we have two volunteers already – we would be keen to have at least seven to go to this event as part of the UAAA team.
If you are interested could you please email us on upperavonangling [at] gmail [dot] com as soon as possible.
Mr. Alan Scott
Club Secretary
Upper Avon Angling Association
11th February 2013,
Dear Alan,
Clyde Riverfly Monitoring Partnership (CRIMP)
The Clyde River Foundation and Riverfly Partnership warmly invite all club members to the Clyde Riverfly Monitoring Partnership launch meeting to be held on
Sunday 17th March 2013, 1.00pm – 4.00pm.
Lecture theatre 1, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, G12 8QQ.
CRIMP is a citizen science project which aims to provide training in riverfly monitoring to volunteers across the eight counties of the River Clyde catchment. Riverfly monitoring can help protect the quality of our rivers; increase our knowledge and understanding of invertebrate populations and promote the conservation of their habitats. Volunteer involvement is important to the development of this project and will allow us to assess the sustainability and practical benefits of using the method on a large scale. CRIMP will provide another tool to inform management of the fishery and freshwater ecosystem. For example, we have had two recent examples of river pollution (one in Lanarkshire and one in Renfrewshire) where well-trained volunteers could have sampled the incidents more quickly than even the statutory bodies – we see this as a way of helping to protect your river; your fishery.
CRIMP will involve the Clyde River Foundation (CRF) coordinating monthly river health checks undertaken by specially trained volunteers. We will deliver training workshops in riverfly monitoring three times per year, followed by a half day site selection and sampling “run through” day with each angling club. From there, volunteers will monitor their given sites monthly and report their results to the CRF. The CRF will collate and check results, and report back every three months to contributing angling club secretaries, with a facility for more rapid communication with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) if pollution is detected.
Benefits of the partnership include:
- Identifying water quality problems and acting as a mechanism to initiate further investigation by SEPA;
- Acting as a deterrent to incidental polluters;
- Generating long term biological data of the River Clyde that can be used to monitor change.
The launch day will comprise:
Introduction to CRIMP (Dr. William Yeomans, Clyde River Foundation)
Riverfly monitoring – an angler’s experience (Stuart Crofts*)
Light refreshments (Hunterian Zoology Museum)
Practical demonstration (Louis Kitchen and Craig Macadam, Riverfly Partnership)
What happens next? (Lesley Gregg, Clyde River Foundation)
Please circulate this invitation to your members. We anticipate a high demand for this event and places are likely to be limited. As club Secretary please could you register those interested and book their places with me by Monday 11th March.
No prior knowledge is assumed, and full training will be given to registered participants during this three year project.
I look forward to hearing from you.
With my very best wishes,
Lesley Gregg
Project Coordinator
*Stuart is a professional fly-fishing guide (Pennine Guide Services), tutor with The Riverfly Partnership, and a Trichoptera (caddisflies) specialist. He has studied riverflies for many years and is the coordinator of the UK Adult Caddisfly Emergence Scheme. Stuart has also worked on river restoration projects on the River Don in South Yorkshire for almost forty years and witnessed its transformation, in the Sheffield area in particular, from one of the most polluted rivers in Europe to a first class trout and grayling fishery.
First 40cm UAAA Grayling of the day.