Eel Trap Results 2015 !

I shall be having coffee at shawns at 10 o clock and will wait for anyone else to turn up, otherwise will check the trap about 10.45.

Results from 29th August



Results from Saturday 12th, one eel 85mm, the cutest micro-perch you've ever seen, and two bullhead

Hi fellas. I cant get down on Saturday. But can do it on Sunday if nobody else has checked by then.

Hey mate.

As per text will see you Sunday morning, suits as night shift tonight, been a while since a Red Eye

Edit: Results from Sunday 20th

I can't get down there tomorrow morning, and afternoon is Rugby => roads closed
Dave texted me, he can't get down tomorrow morning either;
Will aim for Sunday morning...

Message from Joe that the trap is coming out next week, so this is probably the last.

Joe Pecorelli wrote:

Morning Everyone,

Next week is the last eel monitoring week of the season. Where necessary I’ll be visiting sites to take out and store traps and pumps ready for next year.

This year a record 122 volunteers joined us at training events across the 10 monitoring sites. The total catches we have on our database are shown below. Please may you check these against your site records if you keep them and let me know if they tally with what you have please?

24/09/2015
Ash 16
Brent 20256
Dukes River 565
Hogsmill 13
Lea- Bow 121
Longford- Home park 279
Medway 420
Molesey 261
Teddington 5
Wandle 68

I’ll present detailed analysis of the data at the forum on October 20th which, if your volunteers haven’t signed up for yet , please invite them to do so. The link is here;

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-2015-citizen-science-eel-forum-tickets-18133442615

Looking forwards to seeing you all there

Thank you all so much for contributing to another year of the project.

Best wishes, Joe
Joe Pecorelli
Europe Conservation Programme
Zoological Society of London
Regent's Park
London
NW1 4RY

Ed. We couldn't get there either but will be there tomorrow at ten in the cafe.

Great, 10 tomorrow it is then, hope there's an eel !

Nice one chaps

Could we get a recap of sizes and numbers for the last few weeks, need to get the numbers up to date

Updated the TAC spreadsheet last night, see
http://www.rivertac.org/thames-eel-monitoring-2015/

Met Patrick & Nicola this morning for probably the final trapping; Good flow and river levels but no eels; 3 bullhead & 1 mitten crab.



Plenty of anglers out in boats and one lad on the weir caught a decent pike on mackerel deadbait whilst we were there, see Thames Reports.

Havn't heard whether the trap did actually come out this week or not,
and after the huge tides this week wondering whether there might actually
be something there, may pop down this morning to take a look-see.

Still waiting to hear from Joe regarding tickets for the z.s.l. Event at the zoo on the 20th. Is it possibly ge has forgotten us? Is there any way we can tickle him up a bit?

The event is on October 20th, he won't have forgotten you;
Sign up here if not already done so:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-2015-citizen-science-eel-forum-tickets-18133442615

Went to the eel forum at London zoo today with Nicola. It was busy, well over 100 people I should think. Bit of talk about numbers and trends in elver migration: The numbers are less this year and last year. Guess what the trend is? There was a good talk about migration of silver eels going the other way, ie. Downstream; there is a project at Abbey Mills on the wandle, which has run for a couple of years to measure these using a rather ingenious sonar camera. This was actually operating for 37days in 2013 and it showed 15 eels. The kit has gremlins coming out of its ears and breaks down regularly. However the upshot is the data seems to show eels gather on certain stretches at certain times of year, then all migrate at once. Matt from Thames water also gave a talk about defending water abstraction sites from fish and eel populations. Obviously if you suck vast amounts of water up lots of fish get sucked up too. A clever screen has been devised called a travelling band screen I believe. This gives excellent protection and will be put in where it can be. IT IS EXPENSIVE. £150,000 per metre, Surbiton will need a 13.3 metre long screen and Hampton a 16.8 metre screen. These will be in place by 2019 and 2017 respectively. Other stuff happened then we walked round the zoo. V.tired now and still have a darts match to play tonight.

Thanks for getting along mate, good write up cheers