Beaumont, W.R.C.

Ladle, M.

Masters, J.E.G.

Pinder, A.C.

Welton, J.S.

NERC Open Research Archive

0Institute ofFreshwaterEcology1996 SURVEY OF THE COARSE FISH OFTHE RIVER TEESProgress ReportJ S Welton; W R C Beaumont; A C Pinder;M Ladle; J E G MastersReport To: Environment Agency, North East RegionIFE Report Ref.No: RL/T11064F7/5Natural Environment Research CouncilCentre forEcology &HydrologyInstitute of Freshwater EcologyInstitute of Hydrology fInstitute of Terrestrial EcologyInstitute of Virology & Environmental MicrobiologyNatural Environment Research CouncilO InstituteofFreshwaterEcologyRiver LaboratoryEast StokeWarehamDorset BH20 6BB1996 SURVEY OF THE COARSE FISH OFTHE RIVER TEESProgress ReportJ S Welton, BSc, PhD, CBiol, MIBiolW R C Beaumont, LMIFMA C PinderM Ladle, BSc, PhDJ E G Masters, BScSub Project Leader: J S WeltonReport Date: October 1996Report To: Environment Agency, North East RegionIFE Report Ref.No: RL/T11064F7/5INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTSCONFIDENTIALITY STATEMENTIn accordance with our normal practice, this report is for the use only of the person to whomit is addressed, and no responsibility is accepted to any third party for the whole or any partof its contents. Neither the whole nor any part of this report or any reference thereto may beincluded in any published document, circular or statement, nor published or referred to in anyway without our written apprOval of the form and context in which it may appear.'	1. INTRODUCTIONThis report outlines the 1996 summer fry survey and the autumn adult survey on thelower R. Tees. This is the second sampling year after closure of the barrage.	2. SURVEY OF COARSE FISH FRYThis was planned for June and as previously, the timing was a compromise betweensampling the dace before they left the margins and the appearance of all coarse fishspecies. 2500 fish fry of seven species were sampled, although of these only dace,roach, barbel and gudgeon were of angling importance. No chub fry were found atany site. Numbers of each species are shown in Table I. The distribution of fry wasunusual with very few fry found in the lower sections. The dace show a bimodallength frequency distribution indicating two separate spawning times. The fact thatno chub were sampled, and the lack of fry in the lower sections, suggested that notall hatching was complete. For this reason, the lower sections were sampled again inJuly. Relatively few fry were found (Table I) although chub were now present. Twobream fry were found. This is a new species for the project although bream wereknown to be in the river.Table 1. Number of fry of each species sampled in the R.Tees in June and July 1996June July TotalBarbel 64 0 64Bream 0 2 2Chub 0 31 31Dace 932 20 952Gudgeon 27 21 48Roach 812 106 918Minnow 432 4 436Stone loach 177 5 182Stickleback 60 4 64Total 2504 193 26973. SURVEY OF ADULT COARSE FISH SEPTEMBER 1996Over 4000 fish of 14 species were sampled from the lower R. Tees. Section 25 (LowDinsdale) was not fished, due to the increased sampling effort in the lower reaches ofthe river. Section I was split into 10 subsections, with alternate subsections beingfished. This amounted to an extra 3.2 Km of river of which both banks were fished.The numbers of each species caught are given in Table 2.Table 2. Species list for the R. Tees and number of each species caught - September 1996Species TotalsBarbel Barbus barbus (L.) 17Chub Leuciscus cephalus (L.) 1106Dace Leuciscus leuciscus (L.) 1713Eel A nguilla anguilla (L.) »500Flounder Platichthys flesus (L.) 69Gudgeon Gobio gobio (L.) 307Ide Leuciscus idus L.Minnow Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) 202Perch Perca fluviatilis L. 9Pike Esox lucius L. 1Roach Rutilus rutilus (L.) 798Salmon Salmo salar L. 1Stone loach Barbatula barbatula (L.) 3Three spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus L. manyTrout (brown) Sahno tnnta L. 19Total (without eels and stickleback) 4246TEMPERATUREOriginally, there were four temperature loggers in operation in the lower Tees. TheStockton logger was removed when the marina was shut following closure of thebarrage. No new site has been identified. The logger in the Low Worsall ORSU wasstolen last year and has not been replaced. The thermistor cable at Low Moor wasbroken by sheep (presumably) and the logger at Ingleby Barwick Farm, althoughfunctioning, is not accurate.This situation has been discussed with the Project Leader but no solution was reached.COST OF WORK DURING THE PERIOD APRIL 1996 - SEPTEMBER 1996The cost of the work for the above period is £16023. It is noted here that IFE has notbeen paid for the extra work to review all pre-barrage data in the last financial year.ANTICIPATED COSTS OF THE WORK IN THE PERIOD UP TO FEBRUARY1997As in the previous financial year, the costs are expected to be above that agreed in thecontract.PROGRAMME FOR THE NEXT REPORTING PERIODThe data will be analysed and presented in the Interim Report in February, followingthe format used in previous years. An executive summary will be produced whichwill be of the format required for the RFAC meeting.

1996 survey of the coarse fish of the River Tees - progress report

http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/509606/1/N509606CR.pdf

1996 survey of the coarse fish of the River Tees - progress report

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