This weekend Antony attended the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) electric fishing course and is now certified to lead surveys.

The course included a day of theory followed by an exam and practical session providing hands on experience. The course was in Leicestershire, so the fish community was dominated by course fish such as chub, dace, perch which are not commonly encountered in North Wales. However, we did capture bullhead, a UK conservation priory species which is found in some rivers of the Clwyd catchment.

Electric fishing is the most effective method for assessing the abundance of juvenile salmon and brown trout.

We have recently bought our own equipment and intend to start surveying later this summer. Moving forward, our ambition is to expand electric fishing surveys across all our catchments with the support of volunteers. The data will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects and identify locations to target future work.

If you have any questions about Electric Fish Surveying please email antony@northwalesriverstrust.org