GRT Chairman’s Report 2010

I am delighted to report that the GRT website is fully updated and accessible through the address http://www.graylingresearch.org/. We are greatly indebted to John Wieja for his dedication in designing and constructing the current website and to Les Jervis who has provided considerable input of material and ideas. The result is very gratifying and I urge you to visit the site.

Results of the 2008 genetic census are still in review by Conservation Genetics. This has been a frustrating delay, but these things happen in the world of scientific publication.

Based on the extensive population genetic differentiation of grayling among rivers revealed by the 2008 census, an in-depth study of the Welsh Dee population was undertaken by M.Sc. student Harriet Johnson and her supervisor Martin Taylor, Bangor University. Rich Cove, Environment Agency, organized a group of anglers to take mouth swabs from 404 grayling caught along 85km of the Dee catchment. Sampling personnel were Keith Allanson, George Ashton, Rich Cove, Alan Davies, John Davies, Martin Dixon, Garnett Glover, Chris Hosker, Louis Noble, Joel Rees-Jones, Grevin Williams. The swabbing technique, routinely applied to humans but not previously tested on other animals apart from bluegill sunfish, was 98% efficient in yielding high-quality DNA. Surprisingly, the genetic analysis revealed no population genetic differentiation within the Dee. This result implies that some substantial weir structures, most notably those around Llangollen, do not prevent upstream movement of grayling in the Dee, although it is also possible that genetic differentiation is present, but not detected by the genetic markers that were available. If weirs on the Dee are passable by grayling this does not mean that other apparently similar obstacles will necessarily be negotiable on other rivers. All depends on the structure of the potential barriers and in this regard it may be informative to examine the weirs on the Dee in some detail, if indeed they are passable.

Long-term monitoring of grayling populations has continued on the Wylye and South Calder Water.

The Wylye Project, led by Anton Ibbotson, Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, is now in its 16^th year. Rich Cove, Environment Agency, is collaborating with Anton to analyse the long-term data-set.

The South Calder Water Project, led by Willie Yeomans on behalf of the Clyde River Foundation, is in its third year of GRT sponsorship. Recent sampling suggests that the population may be more unstable than had been anticipated and the longer term feasibility of the project will be reviewed during the coming year.

Following a request by Steve Rhodes for investigation of the perceived decline in Yorkshire Dales grayling populations, GRT is sponsoring an M.Sc. project at Hull University. The student, David Johnson, will access Environment Agency records and a wide range of environmental data to tackle this complicated problem.

On behalf of fellow trustees, I should like thank Roger Cullum-Kenyon for his unstinted, highly professional and gracious input over many years as secretary of GRT. Roger’s expertise on matters such as the legalities of establishing charity status and the development of websites enabled GRT to progress despite ineptitude in such matters among some of us weaker brethren. Roger has indicated that it is time someone else took up the gauntlet. One of the other Trustees, Ross Gardiner, has indicated that he would be willing to act as secretary in the short term, but he would be delighted if someone else came forward. We extend our warmest regards to Roger and Sue and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

Roger Hughes, Chairman

Report 2009 (pdf)

Report 2010 (pdf)