The influence of three methods of gravel cleaning on brown trout, Salmo trutta , egg survival

Siltation of spawning gravels in upland rivers appears to be an increasing hindrance to salmonids' spawning success. River managers seek an effective and non-labour intensive means of loosening gravel and reducing fine material, so improving spawning success; this study compared three practical gravel cleaning techniques, applied at realistic (rather than intensive) levels, by assessing survival to hatching of buried brown trout, Salmo trutta L., ova at five sites on four rivers with gravel substrate in southern England. Each site consisted of six reaches, of which three were cleaned by tractor rotovating, high pressure jet washing and pump washing; these were compared with adjacent, untreated reaches. Brown trout ova were buried in both fine mesh and coarse mesh boxes in each reach. Significant improvements (at P<0·05) in survival (number of live alevins) were found in three of the five pump washed reaches, two of the five tractor rotovated reaches and one pressure washed reach when the data were analysed by site. When data from all five sites were analysed together, all treated reaches showed a significant improvement (at P<0·05) in egg survival to hatching compared with control reaches for fine mesh egg boxes; for coarse mesh boxes only pump washed reaches showed such an improvement. We feel that pump-washing provides the most effective, inexpensive and suitably non labour-intensive means of improving gravel, although ultimately it may be better to reduce the silt load of rivers. Freeze core bed samples taken before and immediately after cleaning were analysed for silt content; pump washing and high pressure washing may have reduced the amount of fine material.