Netting and fish removal - February 2022
Results and update from the netting and fish removal that took place on Saturday 19 February 2022
Firstly, thanks go to Bill Hailey for organising the netting and to the staff from Moore & Moore for doing the work.
During the netting of the pond (for assessment purposes only) in February 2021 it was reported by the netters that the pond had 3 to 4 times the weight of fish than would normally be expected for a healthy fishery.
Consequently, it was decided that the pond would be netted again and that the small roach and bream should be removed. This should give the remaining stock a little more space and allow them to grow on.
All together there was 262lb of small fish, estimated between 3,000 - 4,000 fish, removed.
The fish that were removed were not lost entirely, The Plough Angling Club took the stock to their pond in Hanney.
Wantage and Grove Angling club paid for the netting but all costs relating to fish health checks and transport were borne by The Plough AC.
See below for the full report from the netters, Moore & Moore.
Report from Moore & Moore
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Report: Station Pond, Grove, nr Wantage
Client: Grove AC Water / watercourse: Station Pond
Environment Agency Permit: P/EW041-T-177/22142/01
Date: 19th February 2022
Method: Seine netting – 50 x 5m (30mm stretched mesh)
Species caught
Roach (Rutilus rutilus)
Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus)
Bream (Abramis brama)
Carp (Cyprinus carpio)
Crucians (Carassius carassius)
F1 Hybrids (carp/crucians or carp/goldfish)
Tench (Tinca tinca)
Perch (Perca fluviatilis)
A single sweep of the seine net was conducted through more than 90% of the pond area. Observations were made during the sweep along the margins to reduce the chances of any 'silver' fish avoiding the net. The only area that silvers were seen in the margins was at the shallow north end of the pond, and this area was thoroughly beaten through before the net was closed. No special efforts were made to increase the chances of capturing any carp as these were outside the requirements of the operation.
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From experience the sweep conducted would have been expected to net a very high percentage of the roach, bream and rudd (and probably crucians) present in the lake – probably as much as 90% of such fish.
Following the beaching of the net at the southern end of the pond, the catch was sorted. Some initial grading of the larger fish was made returning those directly over the net. The remaining fish were placed in bins, weighed and then graded, the roach, bream and perch of approximately 6” or less being retained, with the larger ones (including all other species) being re-weighed and returned to the water. This enabled a reasonably accurate calculation of the total weight of fish removed, along with the weight of the larger grade that were returned.
Weight of roach, bream and perch removed – 262lbs (estimated 3 - 4,000 fish).
Weight of fish returned - 459lbs, plus a further estimate of 300lb of the fish directly returned but not weighed.
© J M Moore MIFM, CEnv 19/2/22