Fish To Go Blond?

[JennyMorgan]

Since this one concerns Hickling and the environment in general, thus all of us able to get under that wonderful bridge, I've posted it here rather than under 'angling'.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/tech/newly_discovered_virus_could_be_responsible_for_thousands_of_fish_deaths_on_norfolk_broads_1_4871273

I've been aware of this one for some time but because there are commercial interests involved the news could not be released, until now. It seems incredible but having seen substantiating evidence I can assure you that, at least in the laboratory, it works! This could, if further tests are positive, enable the BA to dredge Hickling without further risk of triggering the virus.

[Timbo]

JM this research is around twenty years old. It seems to be a rehash of the work carried out by Texas A & M University Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and their Department of Oceanography. The results of their ten year study into Prymnesium parvum blooms in Texas lakes was published in the riveting Journal of Plankton Research Volume 33 Issue 2 in 2011.

As dry as three shredded wheat it confirms earlier studies by US Parks and Wildlife into algal blooms dating as far back as the 1950's. Quite simply dredging does not trigger Prymnesium parvum blooms. Lack of dredging, accumulation of weed and above average rainfall creates Prymnesium parvum blooms. US Parks and Wildlife have been systematically dredging lakes for years and incidentally encouraging boat traffic and Prymnesium parvum blooms sharply declined although still higher in the last decade. This incidentally is part of the information put out on the alternative websites most US government departments are setting up as they have been stopped publishing data on global warming by the US President Herr Twitler.

Just a wild stab in the dark here...and without looking it up...I would wager a pound to a pinch of sh plop that Prymnesium parvum blooms effect Hickling most of all if not originate there and their frequency has increased as boat traffic and access and dredging on Hickling have reduced, and average rainfall and winter temperature have increased.

 

 

[Timbo]

I forgot to say if adding some 'Rinso' to Hickling will get the BA to dredge and clean the place up and do what they should be doing anyway...I'm all for it!

[marshman]

Firstly Timbo, as you know the BA are actually dredging Hickling now, and in fact the PP always seems to occur when the conditions are exactly opposite!!!

It seems it is about dissolved oxygen too, as you know also i guess, and when we have had a dry spring and the water levels are low. It doesnt help at Hickling either that in those circumstances the salinity will increase, for rather obvious reasons and when that does occur, what it actually needs is a good flush through to clear it all out..

Oh well, we can probably discuss this one for a month or so......!!!!!

[JennyMorgan]

The EDP report is, I think, an amazingly poor piece of journalism. As I understand it the reality of this one is that whilst much of the research is old we are now near to being able to control the outcome. I'm optimistic about this one and hope that the results continue to be positive. 

Thankfully the Authority is now dredging Hickling but it does seem that they had to be dragged, kicking and screaming into doing so. The saga of Heigham Sound is nothing to be proud of. 

[MauriceMynah]

If I have this right (which will be a minor miracle in itself) there seems to be a bunch of different issues here all coming together.

1. To stop Prymnesium parvum blooms, Hickling broad and the other areas above "that bridge" are in need of regular flushing through. This could be achieved by thoroughly dredging the Thurne and the Bure below that bridge right down to Braydon.

2. The clearance at Potter Heigham bridge has been reducing over the years, not because the bridge is sinking, nor is it because the water level is rising. It is because the tidal flow is reduced further down river. The tidal flow needs to be re-established. This could be achieved by thoroughly dredging the Thurne and the Bure below that bridge right down to Braydon.

3. If this dredging is done, the water level above the bridge will be dangerously low at low tide. it follows therefore that most if not all areas above the bridge need dredging. it further follows then that should such dredging be done all the boats that used to be able to cruise those waters would once again be able to do so. One might even say that "Navigation would be restored" and that no ancient monuments would be damaged in achieving this.

4. and finally Cyril (showing a bit of age there) Wroxham bridge's clearance would almost certainly be improved as well. Now all we need to do is to find out who is responsible for doing all this dredging and keeping the various navigations open.

I do not hold with the continuous bashing that the BA receives, however, perhaps it may be accepted that on this occasion money spent on re-branding could have been better spent on doing what they are in existence to do.

 

[Timbo]

1 hour ago, marshman said:

what it actually needs is a good flush through to clear it all out..

This is exactly what one of the Louisiana 'Rivermen' told the Parks and Wildlife guys in the US just before they spent ten years working out the guy knew what he was talking about. 

My main concern is what are we going to do when we run out of blokes like Marshman and JM that know what they are talking about?

[MauriceMynah]

4 minutes ago, Timbo said:

My main concern is what are we going to do when we run out of blokes like Marshman and JM that know what they are talking about?

Hells teeth Tim, People might even start listening to you, me and Regulo.

 

 

The end of the world in nigh.

[Vaughan]

ALL joking apart MM, that was an excellent post which sums the whole thing up exactly.  

[JennyMorgan]

Timbo, thank you for the compliment but rest assured that there is a healthy bank of younger people following on behind. I even have high hopes for the Authority, I have a feeling that anno domini is on our side in that regard.

[JennyMorgan]

2 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

ALL joking apart MM, that was an excellent post which sums the whole thing up exactly.  

To that I would add that John's thoughts are echoed by many that do also know what they are talking about. Thank you, John, for the concise summery.

[Vaughan]

You know, thinking about it, I am sick and tired of hearing almost every year, of yet another ecological disaster on Hickling Broad. I never knew there were so many different varieties of death weed on this planet. Why can't all these blasted experts and bird watchers get together and get this right, for a change? About the only thing we have ever got right about the balance of nature on the Broads was the eradication of Coypu in the 1960s and even those has been introduced by Man in the first place!

Of course the rivers Thurne and Bure need dredging! This is not just for navigation; it is the simple hydraulic management of a tidal river basin. Here I can honestly say that "it wasn't like that in my day".

All this stuff about not dredging the lower Bure in case of saline incursion is a load of old squit and is simply an excuse for the BA to do nothing.

I would use another word to describe this but the forum's computer translates it as DAFFODILS!!

[BroadAmbition]

I've been banging on about this for years in various places.  A true Broadsman a good while ago now, face to face sat down and told me what was happening.  In the sixties and seventies when the Yarmouth commissionaires  looked after the rivers, there was always TWO dredging cranes working the lower Bure, port and Stbd banks from Acle right down to Yarmouth in known areas that were prone to silting up. They were not operating every single day, but always on station to do what was needed when it was needed.  It was an all year round procedure using the tried and trusted method of 'Bucket and Chuckit' onto the banks / fields.  This kept the Bure clear and therefore faster / easier flowing. The effect of this was on an ebb tide more water was able to escape from the upper reaches of the northern side of the Broads, which meant of course lower water levels. Since the lower Bure is no longer dredged regularly it is shallower, it is common sense that the water volume that ebbs out is reduced = higher levels in the northern waterways.  Rocket science it ain't.  Now the cynic in me for years has suspected the Ba know this only too well and the result being if they dredged the lower Bure back to the depths it used to be, this in turn would expose just how silted up the northern reaches are and they would be opening themselves up to much criticism for not keeping them clear like they used to be.  I agreed with him. He has for all his life lived and worked here and if anyone knows the rivers - he does.  I also know in my mind that PHB would be more accessible to craft that regularly used to pass through without much difficulty, including our 'B.A'  if the water level was back to 60 /70's levels, it might only be a few inches, but that is all it takes

Griff

[Vaughan]

Saline incursion on the Yare goes all the way up to Brundall. I don't see anything wrong with that river or its wildlife, do you?

[TheQ]

28 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

Broads was the eradication of Coypu in the 1960s and even those has been introduced by Man in the first place!

Um they were still chasing Coypu up till the middle 70's. I remember the vans chasing around and didn't arrive here till 1976... the last recorded Coypu kill I can find was 1987, the last coypu team was disbanded 1989

 As for the rest

[Vaughan]

Just a brief wander from the subject as Q is right in what he says, but the driving force of the Coypu Campaign was in the 60s. It takes a long time to totally eradicate a species. I remember taking a train from Norwich to Oulton Broad in the 60s and they were out there on the marshes like free range hens. In those days they could strip a field of kale in a night.

Here in France, in the Camargue, the Charente and several other rivers they are quite common (the hirers think they are otters) but they seem to have natural enemies here, which they didn't in East Anglia. The French don't seem to understand what a problem they could become and they come out in their gardens and feed them on the river bank.

As we say in Norfolk - "They don' know wassa cummin term!"