Thousands of fish are being removed from a Gloucestershire river as water levels continue to fall despite recent spells of rainfall.

The Environment Agency will be relocating the fish from the River Churn in Cirencester area, which is currently experiencing low water levels as a result of the recent dry winter and spring.

Fish have been removed from a stretch of the river between today, and more fish will be rescued tomorrow. The fish, including brown trout and dace will be relocated to the confluence with the River Thames, near Cricklade.

John Sutton, fisheries team leader at the Environment Agency said: “Water levels along the River Churn have dropped significantly over the past few months and in recent weeks we’ve had several calls from concerned members of the public about possible impacts on fish. Although the fish are not currently in distress, we wanted to act early to prevent any potential problems.

“It’s important we intervene as early as possible to minimise the impact of low water levels and low dissolved oxygen levels and we are continuing to urge anyone who sees fish that may be in distress to contact us".

“While we have seen rainfall in recent weeks, it has not been enough to recharge the water along many stretches of the Churn, so we wanted to act early and take evasive action.”

The fish will caught by electro-fishing, a technique that temporarily stuns fish and allows them to be netted and transferred to a transport tank.

Fisheries Officers Stuart Manwaring, Adam Hilliard and Andy Killingbeck using electrofishing equipment to rescue fish at South Cerney

This rescue follows a similar operation carried out by Environment Agency fisheries officers at a gravel pit in Horcott, Fairford on 26 August. Levels in the lake had become dangerously low and it was feared that the fish would die if no action was taken. More than 200kg of tench, roach, perch, bream, rudd, crucian carp and pike were caught using nets and relocated to an adjacent lake.

Rescued Brown Trout

Stuart Manwaring transfers the rescued fish from the Churn to the Thames

Anyone who sees fish they believe may be in distress as a result of low water levels or pollution,  should contact the Environment Agency’s incident hotline on 0800 80 70 60.
 

Pictures courtesy of the Environment Agency