New Forest fish surveys​

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Client: Forestry Commission

Having successfully been placed on a Framework for Specialist Ecological Surveys, BUG was commissioned by the Forestry Commission to undertake all pre- and post-restoration electric fishing surveys in a large number of streams within the New Forest in southern England over a four year period between 2016 and 2019.

The purpose of the surveys was to provide pre-restoration baseline data, together with post-restoration assessments, against which to appraise the success of hydromorphological stream restoration work in restoring ecological quality.

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BUG’s team of expert fisheries scientists conducted a total of 55 fully-quantitative electric fishing surveys in representative 100 m stretches of river during four successive two week periods in September of each year.

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This work exemplifies best-practice on the part of the Forestry Commission in commissioning pre-restoration surveys to properly understand the ecological outcomes associated with its work.

17 streams | 55 surveys | 10,030 fish captured | 13 species