Following the momentous events in September reported last month, we continue good progress on a number of fronts, opening up new channels and thinking.
EA Fisheries Engagement
We have recently met with the new Norwich EA fisheries team and were quite blown away with their thinking and plans for delivery in the coming year, whilst we learnt what they had been working on in recent months behind the scenes. We will be issuing a series of joint social media features on these in the coming weeks, so watch this space for some exciting news and features.
Discussions continue with the strategy to engage with the 3rd sector to bolster resources in times of stress and undertaking routine monitoring tasks. But our robust stance and evidenced dossier clearly brought this to the fore.
Broads Adaption to Ease Salinity
We have presented our modelling work on implementing natural flood management within North Halvergate Marshes to provide some headroom in managing climate change driven Salinity Incursions. This would place the Bure Estuary back as it was some 400 years ago when salt marsh acted as a natural buffer for tidal surges, very much like happens today with Breydon water on the River’s Yare and Waveney. It seems illogical that some 250 hectares of low grade grazing marsh, is not used to provide protection for the 5000 hectares of designated habitat upstream. Even for a period of 3 decades whilst we further understand the long term reality of climate change and sea level rise in 30+ years time.
As we saw in September the damage to the Broads Ecology is real and happening now, so we need to adapt now, before it’s freshwater features are lost along with the tourist social economics it brings to the Broads. How this adaption takes place and by whom seems to be the challenge in front of us. Broads Futures has and continues to struggle to model the complexity of the Broads hydrology on what it would be in 30-100 years.
However, the impacts from salinity are here now, as we saw in September and it seems that a twin track approach is needed to ensure adaption can occur to secure the challenges we face today, let alone 30+ years. How we address these changes will become our focus for 2023. But it might be that the Broads governance itself might need adaption to enable the landscape to adapt to change in a timely manner.
All things Wensum
It was a pleasure to chair the Ecology Working Group this week with some positive outcomes and encouraging projects for 2023. From an angler view point, the creation of a defined Fishery Recovery Plan can only move us in the right direction. Whilst we have engagement from the UK’s top fishery scientist’s in the health of Wensum Roach.
Tight Lines
Kelvin
