News item re River Thames Alliance

How very nasty.

There are so many 'Voices of the Thames' perhaps they should all form a Choir, and perform during bank holidays alongside the River.....

The RTA has impressed me with it's total lack of direction and wholly underwhelming marketing though...LOL
 
'River Trusts' are bodies set up by the E.A. to promote wildlife. Locally a former E.A. fulltime officer is part time at both organisations. They carried out work on the weirs on the entire length of the river to install eel passes. This has been done to the detriment of flood risk. Funding came from the E.A.. The driving requirement came from a European Directive. Beware of what's coming your way! http://thamesriverstrust.org.uk/facts-and-figures/ The eels are mentioned on the webpage. They're described as European. In the Lounge forum the lizards get the blame for strange and mysterious conspiracies and goings on. It seems it's actually the slippery eels.
 
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There would be a good market then, for an organisation which caters for Motorboaters on the Thames then?

Oh, hang on...
 
Curious to know about the installation of the eel passes on weirs the entire length of the river and how it affects flood risk ?

There is no eel pass at teddington weir , we do have an eel monitoring station but this is on our boat rollers by the lock , approximately 500 yards from the weir , and doesn't affect flood risk at all.

Could you post some links please :)
 
2Tizwoz said:
The E.A. does have some spare cash. It's just a matter of priorities.
Click to expand...

Its also a matter of how well we - boaters and navigation - are able to lobby to get access to more cash. EA Thames are not in a position to lobby, they can only present their proposed budget and argue the case, as they see it, for the funding required.

We, unfortunately, are not very well placed when it comes to applying pressure.
 
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The fish/eels passes on the Medway usually consist of a narrow channel approx 1m wide and a few inches deep with a layer of what look like upturned yard brooms fixed to the bottom.
This enables fish/eels to get some leverage as they go upstream and the kayak/canoe mob to wizz down stream avoiding the lock and not damage bottom of their craft.

The decline of the European eel has been dramatic in the last decade or so.
Here on the Medway and on many other waterways a moritorium on the commercial fishing for eels is in place.
All sport fishermen have been asked to return eels to the water.
 
http://www.ifm.org.uk/sites/default/files/page/KnightsNov11.pdf The link is to a presentation given by Dr Brian Knights MSc, PhD, CB iol, FIBiol, CEnv, FIFM of the Sustainable Eels Group. My experience is that on the river Wear with no eel pass eels were common. It transpires that eel numbers in the UK have not fallen and indeed are higher than the 1950s according to Dr Knights presentation. Elsewhere in Europe catches have fallen very substantially. It looks like European directives have far more influence than reality. Perhaps the E.A. directors when faced with such a highly qualified person cannot refute what is said. ................................................................................. Apologies for the format and no carriage return, presumably it's connected to Windows 8.1 Anyone else have similar problems?
 
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