8. Supporting Fish Populations along the River Lea

Theme: Ecology and biodiversity

Objectives:

  • Have thriving and spawning fish populations
  • Improve the river’s morphology

Project description

Working with fisheries along the River Lea to improve conditions for fish and other wildlife to thrive.

A fishery on the River Lea is working hard to improve habitat conditions of the river to better support its wildlife and preserve its angling interest.

The Angling Society have been working in partnership with the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Environment Agency to develop plans to enhance 2km of the River Lea, with a focus on promoting healthy fish populations, protecting water voles, as well as improving the morphology of the river.

The River Lea has been dredged historically and has been left with steep, incised banks that are eroding, as well as a channel that is disconnected from its floodplain. 

The whole section would benefit from restoration activities which aim to reverse declines in habitat quality due to historic activity, prior to the club taking on the lease. The partnership have developed a restoration plan which is being delivered as and when funding becomes available.

2019 – 2023 progress:

  • Management plan for the river developed.
  • Tree work to re-pollard bankside poplar and ash trees completed. Aquatic plants (water crowfoot) translocated into the section of channel that had been opened up to receive more light.
  • Four river restoration training days delivered, by Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust and Wild Trout Trust, training 20 anglers in how to install woody habitat features to enhance spawning and cover areas for wild fish.

2023 onwards:

  • Funding is required to develop designs to improve a further 1km of the fishery and deliver the full restoration plan.
  • This will include significant re-gravelling of the river bed where it has been dredged; introduction of large woody habitat; bank re-profiling and creation of fish backwaters; floodplain reconnection.

If you would like to support this project, please contact us below.

COLOUR GRCF logo landscape PNG

Project lead: Angling Society
Project partners: Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust, Environment Agency
Funding source: Green Recovery Challenge Fund
Project start: 2020
Contact for more information: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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