Some thoughts on the state of the river from fishery Owner Don Macer-Wright.

Dear Simon,

Apologies for late reply.

If nothing else it is good to have an explanation for the current conditions to pass on to fishermen.

In the Forest of Dean there are no Forest Enterprise forestry felling operations until the end of August.

I believe it is nonsense to cause the damage during the summer time and do not accept that there are no acidity issues.

The Ph here has undoubtedly changed here and although I am not able to supply you with readings I presume Severn Trent can, although their monitoring is probably so infrequent that there are no current readings. The river is loaded with black/brown water all the time and covered in foam. it looks like the Teifi at Cilgerran in constant flood.

Following the year of constant filthy water in 2012 the extensive beds of ranunculus here died out. Lis Harris from Natural England in her received wisdom said it would come back quickly, on which occasion I looked at her in disbelief. Yes dribs and drabs were creeping in last year and this April. That has mostly been eaten out by the armies of geese and swans.

An effective sheet of black polythene killed it in 2012 and the same is happening now. What unflowered  ranunculus there is has just been falling out in a yellowing state.

In my view it is total negligence and incompetence on the part of NRW to instruct the felling at this time of year. I recognise the issues of land damage from the forestry plant are likely to be less in summer when working conditions for movements are easier. However if it is not viable or too restrictive to use that plant during winter when the run off has a chance of being absorbed by flood water then they should not be allowing this felling practice to proceed.

I presume the issues are:-

Winter strip felling: risks of siltation to salmon redds.

Summer strip felling: dryer harder ground less run off.

This felling in sensitive areas should be carried out using traditional low damage felling practices not the harvester techniques employing dinosaur sized plant..

In my view NRW and any consultees have been negligent and incompetent in allowing this felling to take place and for it to continue given the effects.

I believe it should be halted with immediate effect until a way forward is put in place which does not 'pollute' the water.

As a riparian owner and a fishery owner I expect the water coming into my fishery to be in a clear and good fishable condition.

I for one want to see this felling stopped until a safe practice is put in place and a stop to filthy water damaging the environment of my fishery. I note that by damage I mean effects which may be caused as a direct result of peat soil loaded water.

I cannot interest any fish whatsoever in a fly in these conditions - when it clears to a couple of foot visibility of peat stained water I start catching fish again.

That the little ranunculus that recovered is once again dying, the river is covered in foam and it is so coloured for most of the time that visibility is virtually nil and the fishing is as described is sufficient for me to conclude that the damage is being done.

Yours sincerely

Don.

On 13 July 2016 at 13:15, Simon Evans <simon@wyeuskfoundation.org> wrote:

Dear Don,

I can’t for sure tell you why but here are some of the things that are going on.

The colour in the Lower Wye in late June was almost certainly as a result of run off from asparagus and potato fields, both as a result of the short duration very heavy rainstorms, and also from irrigated water running back in.

Also the Irfon (and Bidno) are particularly peaty this year and we have just has a big spate from the Upper Wye, Elan and Irfon. Almost all this water is coming from the peaty part of the catchment. This means the main river looks especially peaty.

The prime suspect is the forestry:

-          The forests are in the middle of peak felling. They were planted in the late 60’s early 70’s and are now 40-50 years old. This is leading to a lot of disturbed peat exposed to rainfall
-          NRW are taking the opportunity to radically restructuring their forests, which in time will reduce acid waters and protect peat, but in the short term leads to increased peat breakdown.
-          The private forest operations are in the hands of FIM, the most ruthless and profit driven of all the operators.  I am suspicious but am yet to confirm that new drainage has gone in as they have been replanting.

That is the best I can offer now, but the good news is that there do not seem to be any additional acid issues, and peaty water is not bad for the ecosystem or fish populations.

Simon