Monday 29 March 2010

Workshop Report

Last week saw 110 delegates and speakers converge upon the Tufton Arms at Appleby for our workshop 'Trout Stream Management in the Real World'.


And what a two days it turned-out to be! The speakers were all excellent and gave many thought provoking presentations on subjects as diverse at genetics, stocking, habitat restoration, fish passes and the impacts of climatic change. Question sessions proved to be very useful and our decision to allow lots of time for this proved to be a good one.

There was also plenty of time for delegates to network and already a number of possible collaborations are being developed. In partnership with ART and the S&TA there are a number of issues that we hope to follow-up using their 'lobbying networks'.

The evening event ' How Good Was Your River' also went very well. We had a round 25 local anglers and riparian owners turn-up and some of the information provided was fascinating. The output from the night will shortly appear on our website http://www.edenriverstrust.org.uk/ Many of those on the night have also promised to hunt out historical records that will help us build-up a picture of how the Eden has changed over the decades. If you have any information you think would be of interest please contact me at the ERT Offices.



Feedback after the workshop has been very positive and there does appear to be a real appetite for 'trouty' events. All agreed it would be great if we could run a follow-up workshop in three or so, years time.

The one thing that really stood out for me was the 'broad church' of attendees which included landowners, fishing associations, clubs and rivers trusts from north and south of the border. So often events of this nature are the preserve of professionals from large organisations and it made a refreshing change to buck the trend!

The workshop could not have taken place were it not for some very kind sponsors and funders who are listed below: