Conservation

Our Aim

Blunted somewhat inevitably by the advent of Covid-19 our rivers have nevertheless continued to show a steady and sustained improvement, alongside our mutually beneficial relationship with The Environmental Agency.

Our river keeping team are also dedicated anglers, all with the well-being of the water at heart and an eagerness to assist in providing the best possible fishing experience for everyone. Ensuring this means giving more back to the river than we take away, and this doesn’t just apply to fish. Habitat is all important and in ensuring its continued wellbeing we seek and act only on advice from experts. Exceptional water quality and careful river management make for ideal breeding conditions which allow our trout populations to become as self sustaining as possible.

The club continue to introduce stock fish but we do so very selectively. Financial and physical investment in our waters has much longer term and broader objectives. These include creating habitat and spawning redds, ensuring healthy oxygen levels are achieved along with the building of pools and riffles and the planting and pruning of trees and shrubs, all ensuring that the entire eco-chain thrives, functions and evolves as it should.

The standards achieved by GAAFFS in successfully managing our rivers, safeguarded and protected through the respectful and considerate approach of our members, has enabled the Club to obtain access to new waters over time. This remains an ongoing priority.

River Fly Monitoring

Anglers, as the natural guardians of the river, are in the ideal position to monitor the health of the waters which they fish.

An initiative, developed and advocated by The River Fly Partnership, allows interested groups to take action to help conserve the river environment through the provision of a simple monitoring technique which is able to detect perturbations in water quality. The results are then communicated directly to local ecological personnel within the Environment Agency (EA).

An approach such as this is actively practiced and pursued by GAAFFS with members encouraged to register their interest in taking part. Recruits undergo training before undertaking monthly monitoring exercises across four sites on the river. The scheme, run in tandem with routine monitoring by the EA, ensures that water quality is checked on a broader scale with any action necessary being undertaken at the earliest opportunity. The practice also acts as a deterrent to incidental polluters.