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Wild Trout Society

Fish & Fly is delighted to announce the first regular monthly contribution from the Wild Trout Society. The Wild Trout Society is the leading UK organisation dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wild trout fisheries. In future columns we will be reporting on a wide range of projects and keeping you abreast of developments and conservation opportunities supported by the society.

After the recent floods and heavy rain throughout much of the UK, it may be hard for some to remember that not so long ago we were suffering from drought and severe water shortages.

In 1995 Charles Rangeley-Wilson was rescuing wild trout from a drought-stricken, over-abstracted chalk stream in the south of England. It was this potential disaster that was to be the inspiration for establishing the Wild Trout Society.

Charles visited Ireland that summer and saw wonderful streams and rivers, unnaffected by abstraction, and this re-enforced his determination to help save the wild brown trout in the UK.

He contacted Trout Unlimited in the USA and after reading this excellent organisation's information pack, it became obvious to him that a special UK organisation was needed. He joined forces with Richard Slocock's wild trout group in Dorset and together the WTS came about. They organised a series of meetings with fellow enthusiasts, formed a small committee and the Wild Trout Society was launched on 1 March 1997, as a specialist conservation group. Mike Weaver was the first chairman and Charles Rangeley-Wilson is the current chairman.

The WTS soon had over a thousand members. Membership is now more than double but it is proving to be more difficult to recruit members. This might seem strange as the pressures on wild trout are certainly no less and are, in many ways, worse. We hope that as more people find out about the society that they will appreciate its value and be happy to join.

CLEARLY DEFINED ROLE

The WTS is committed to following a clearly defined path: to do good things in the way of conservation and restoration of fishing and fisheries, habitat improvement, and not simply improving fishing. Inevitably there are many forces trying to push and pull the society in different directions but is essential that the society sticks to the core reasons for its existence. The WTS is a non-political organisation and will not take sides. The WTS formed the Wild Trout Trust, a registered charity, in 1999 which is proving a great help in attracting corporate sponsorship. Also the members know that they are contributing to a genuine cause and their subscriptions are not being wasted providing services to members.

As a conservation group, the WTS is actively involved in its own restoration projects as well as helping and encouraging others to get involved in their projects.

CURRENT PROJECTS

The WTS has to take a long view, partly because it is very time consuming getting projects underway and equally because the results of projects take time to be visible.

The River Wandle in south London used to be a very fine trout stream where Frederick Halford caught his first trout on a dry fly in 1869.

The Wandle is now an entirely urban river that rises near Croydon and flows north through Carshalton, Mitcham, Wimbledon and into the Thames near Wandsworth. Until the mid 1980s the water quality was very poor but it has improved steadily since then. The river has been stocked with adult coarse fish and trout which have survived and the coarse fish have even managed to spawn. The main limiting factor to the survival of fish in the river is lack of suitable habitat.

The WTS has been discussing a collaborative restoration project with the National trust which owns a house and parkland on the Wandle at Morden Hall. Here the stream is heavily engineered but there is enormous potential for improving both the in-stream and marginal habitat, not only for fish but a wide range of flora and fauna that will benefit from an improved river channel. The site is a river mender's dream and lends itself to the soft engineering techniques pioneered by the WTS in Wiltshire.

The Wandle project is only in the planning stages. The WTS is also involved with projects on the rivers Dart, Monnow, Tweed, Eden, Esk, Liddle, Don and the Hampshire Avon.

TROUT POPULATION RESEARCH

Much is known already about managing good habitat for wild trout but when it comes to managing a population of wild trout, much of it is done by guesswork. What effect do catch limits have on a population? Does stocking a few fish extra fish for luck have a detrimental effect on the native fish?

After much discussion, the WTS has decided that there is a need for field guide on the dynamics of trout populations. A guide that will make it easier to make educated decisions about factors which affect populations of wild trout and how they interact with stocked fish.

The work necessary to produce the guide is being generously funded at its outset by WTS member Noel Faulkener, and subsequently by collaborative fundraising. The work is being carried out in collaboration with the Game Conservancy Trust, with a budget of £125,000. Work on the project started this January.

You can find out more about the Wild Trout Society on its website at www.wildtrout.org