January 2001

Fishing the Annan

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Kirtle Water Improvements scheme

Introduction

In 1997 the River Annan District Salmon Fisheries Board (RADSFB) started a river corridor habitats improvements scheme to address the falling salmon and seatrout catches on the river. This scheme is now in its fourth year and has been successful in delivering the early objectives. The original scheme was only intended to run on the river Annan however RADSFB also has responsibilities on the Kirtle water, a separate river catchment that discharges into the Solway between Gretna and Annan. It is a small river with approximately 15 miles of mainstem and one major tributary, the Kirk burn, that is about 5 miles long. (See map in Appendices 1). The river historically held a healthy population of brown/sea trout and augmented by a small run of salmon. It supported a viable rod fishery that was enjoyed mainly by the local population and a few visitors. In recent years, this fishery has declined markedly through a number of reasons. Pollution and habitat can be identified as having a major role in this so a two pronged attack on this problem is required. In the past, the Kirtle was in many ways the poor relation to the Annan in the RADSFB area and this imbalance now needs to be addressed.  

Currently a separate waste minimisation partnership project is being led by SEPA to resolve some of the pollution problems. These partners include Solway Heritage, the European Partnership, the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG), the Catchment Management Group and the Scottish Agricultural Pollution Group (SAPG). Many of these pollution problems revolve around waste from agriculture such as plastic silage wrap and diffuse pollution from application of fertiliser and slurry. Many of the habitat problems in the river emanate from overgrazing of the upper reaches leading to a reduction of habitat quality and a knock on effect of increased siltation due to erosion. Much of this is down to a decline of the riparian zone. These problems are inter-related as a healthy riparian zone with a mixture of scrub, water side trees and rank grasses will not only reduce the erosion and siltation but will reduce the effects of over fertilisation on the nearby land by locking up the extra nutrients. These nutrients would then be released to the river in a more usable form through leaf litter, which can be utilised by invertebrates, which will in turn provide food for fish life.

The original RADSFB project was to increase the variety and quality of the riparian zone along the river corridor and by this means increase the productivity of the river. The same approach would work on the Kirtle Water, although, due to its relatively small size, increases in the fish population available to anglers will probably be noticed more rapidly. A habitats improvements project on the Kirtle would also run very closely with many of the objectives of the SEPA waste minimisation project and therefore give increased benefits to the river. The educational remit of the RADSFBs current project would also be easily transferable onto the Kirtle and foster a greater respect of the watercourse in subsequent generations.

Before any work is carried out to improve the river habitat in the Kirtle a full river survey detailing the types of habitats present and the problem areas needs to be carried out. This survey has already been commissioned by the ADSFB and will be completed by the end of the year 2000. The methodology being used is the one developed by the Scottish Fisheries Co-ordination Centre (SFCC) and is now regarded as the national standard for river habitat surveys. This survey will detail exactly were work needs to take place and who to contact for permission.

An increase in the viability of the Kirtle would have a number of project beneficiaries. Primarily it would improve the quality of affordable fishing available to the local population and bring in much needed extra tourism revenue to the area. It would also benefit the general biodiversity of the Kirtle catchment with extra habitat niches being created for species such as water voles, otters, kingfishers etc. It would also ensure that riparian woodland lost or severely degraded over the last few centuries would become re-established.

The Plan

The SFCC habitat survey has identified areas were work should proceed. The plan has to progress in a structured and logical manor meeting achievable targets. The Kirtle is a relatively simple system with only one major tributary (the Kirk burn) and a few very minor watercourses such as Pokeskine Sike. This will make

Aims

1. The primary objective will be to reduce the grazing pressure on the riverside in the upper parts of the catchment and re-establish a healthy riparian zone. This will reduce the amount of silt entering the river and increase the amount of quality habitat available to fish. In the long term, this will increase the numbers of adult fish available to anglers and netsmen.

2. Although the statuary remit of the RADSFB only covers salmon and sea trout, the scheme will seek to enhance numbers of all fish species within the river and help to develop a self sustaining fishery where appropriate.

3. Reduce the amount of diffuse enrichment of the watercourse from application of fertilisers and slurry by providing buffer strips and working in close partnership with the waste minimisation group.

4. Increase the biodiversity of the area and ensure that all work carried out takes into account the needs of as wide a variety of species of fauna and flora as possible. Ensure this happens by consulting other user groups and interested parties.

5. Educate users of the watercourse about its importance both as a fishery and for the general bio-diversity of the area.

6. Demonstrate that meaningful improvements to a fishery can be achieved by natural means. A river as small as the Kirtle should give scope for this in a far more rapid manor than a larger river where the effect of works carried out is diluted by the scale of the whole fishery.

Types of work required to achieve these aims

1. Obtain permission from farmers and landowners to erect fencing on their land adjoining watercourses, but making provisions for the watering of livestock. Aim to erect at least 5km. of fencing annually. Where appropriate plant suitable trees in these areas or if there is a diminished natural stock of native trees present allow them to regenerate. It is envisaged that some 2,500 trees will be needed on an annual basis. This will mainly comprise of willow, alder and a smaller number of other native species such as bird cherry, birch and rowan where the ground conditions are suitable. When possible all trees will be sourced locally to ensure that the genetic integrity is retained.

2. Provide information to farmers and landowners about the best practice for managing there water margins using technical advice both from RADSFB environmental manager and other agencies such as FWAG, SEPA, SNH etc.

3. Carry out an electrofishing survey of typical sites identified by the SFCC survey on the Kirtle water to establish quality base line data. This will be completed on an annual basis and will comprise of 15 fixed sites in areas where work will commence rapidly and in other areas that will be left as controls. This data set is already partially complete.

4. To demonstrate improvements re-evaluate the quality of the habitat present within the river after a suitable period has elapsed (probably 3-4 years) and make a record of conditions before and after work using fixed point photography. Liase with other agencies (e.g. FWAG) to record other changes in flora and fauna whenever possible.

5. Liase with fishery owners and anglers to put in place easily worked recording systems to improve the monitoring of fish catches. This will, in the long term, demonstrate the success or failure of the scheme.

6. Assist schools in the catchment with water projects to foster a greater respect from future generations towards the watercourse.

Resources Needed

The project financial requirements are less than those required on the Annan system due to a couple of factors. The river is relatively small when compared to the Annan and although the problems in some areas are acute, they amount to a smaller length than those found on the Annan. Much of the equipment that has been purchased to run the Annan project such as electrofishing gear and IT facilities can also be used on the Kirtle project. One area where extra revenue funding is needed is with manpower. The project itself would require the employment of personnel to interact with the landowners and to ensure that project deadlines are met. Currently the Annan project employs a full Environmental Manager and an assistant on a 6-month contract. It is proposed that this contract would be made full time and they would split their time equally with the running of the Kirtle project and assisting on the Annan project. Funds will have to be found to both pay this extra salary cost and to provide fuel costs incurred in carrying out the work.

The major part of the funding required will be the capital costs. To carry out the annual aims of the project a capital budget of at least £20,000 per annum is required. At this rate, most of the acute problems on the Kirtle would be dealt with within 3 years, although the monitoring side of the project would carry on for a number of years after that. This should not be regarded as being set in stone as whilst the project proceeds other problem areas may well be identified and require remedial action on a case by case basis.

Suggested timetable of works

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