Environmental effects of drought and abstractions of River Ouse fisheries, summer 1997

This survey was the second year of a three year study to examine fish populations in relation to low flows, drought and abstraction in the River Ouse. To fully evaluate the possible effects on fisheries the study set out to encompass fish population surveys from fry to adult stock, analysis of angler catch data, reports from anglers and river reports from Environment Agency Fisheries staff.

Environmental monitoring review group feedback

The Drought Monitoring workshop of October 1996, held at the Jarvis Leyland Hotel in Preston, England, established 4 priority issues for dealing with the question: How do we monitor the environment to pick up unexpected change ? 1. Review existing data, and review related study areas throughout the country. 2. Modelling and analysis of data 3. Monitoring / new data / sentinel species' 4. Public relations / Promotion. A group was set up to review issue 1 and feedback to the main group. This report establishes this feedback to the group and refers to existing data / monitoring, other Regional and national work, external Organisations and Recommendations. Appendix 1, is a summary of work completed at the workshop.

Guidelines for the scoping and environmental assessment of water resources projects. The environment and water resources projects - Volume 1

The following brief is to ensure standard criteria and format are used for the scoping and environmental assessment of water resources projects leading to the production of an environmental report or Environmental Statement. This volume is one of a series giving guidance on water resources projects. The water resources projects will predominantly comprise drought orders and permits, time limited and permanent licences. Smaller projects, such as spray irrigation licences, will not require an environmental assessment. This document forms the basis for discussions between the Environment Agency North East Region, consultees and the applicant. The process aims to produce a thorough assessment. Each section addresses consecutive elements of the assessment process. Section 2 outlines the structure for a scoping document, section 3 outlines the structure for an Environmental Statement and section 4 gives guidance on the role of an Environmental Action Plan. Appendices 1 and 2 should be used in conjunction with the scoping process and cover a wide range of aspects. However, some projects may not require all of them to be included, whilst for others, the inclusion of additional factors may be appropriate.

Guidelines for the scoping and environmental assessment of water resources projects. The environment and water resources projects - Volume 2

In its role as protector of the water environment, the Environment Agency requires significant water resources abstraction applications and schemes such as drought orders, drought permits, time limited licences, and river transfers to be environmentally assessed leading to the production of an environmental report or statement. This may not take the form of a formal Environmental Assessment, but is required to provide environmental information to support applications. (See Volume 1 - Guidance for Scoping and Environmental Assessment for Water Resources Projects in North East Region). This second volume concentrates on the environmental monitoring component of environmental assessments.

Use of telemetric tracking to examine environmental influences on catch/effort indices. A case study of Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar L.)in the R. Tywi, S. Wales

A case study of Atlantic Salmon runs into the R. Tyvi (S. Wales) is presented. Radio tracking of over 200 salmon in 1988 and 1989 has demonstrated that flow is an important factor in modifying both run timing and migratory success. Entry of salmon into the river is typically in response to flow events, and periods of low falling flows delay entry and may directly result in reduced runs into the river. Delayed entry may also increase the proportion of the run migrating after the end of both rod and net fishing seasons. The implications of these results for net and rod catch and catch/effort data are discussed, using both statutory reported catch data and data from specific catch/effort studies. Flow is demonstrated to be a dominant factor in determining the within-season distribution of rod catch and catch/effort during low-flow years. Estuarial seine net catch and catch/effort tend to be controlled more by time of return than by flow although low flows may delay runs. Annual reported rod catch is correlated with flow, which controls in season availability, catchability and consequently the amount of fishing effort. Use of catch or catch/effort data should take account of inter-year variations in flow and other environmental factors. Although catch and catch/effort are valuable indicators of fishery performance, they are inadequate to represent changing stock levels.

Effect of environmental conditions on the distribution of Pacific mackerel (Scomber japonicus) larvae in the California Current system

We modeled the probability of capturing Pacif ic mackerel (Scomber japonicus) larvae as a function of environmental variables for the Southern California Bight (SCB) most years from 1951 through 2008 and Mexican waters offshore of Baja California from 1951 through 1984. The model exhibited acceptable fit, as indicated by the area under a receiver-operating-characteristic curve of 0.80 but was inconsistent with the zero catches that occurred frequently in the 2000s. Two types of spawners overlapped spatially within the survey area: those that exhibited peak spawning during April in the SCB at about 15.5°C and a smaller group that exhibited peak spawning in August near Punta Eugenia, Mexico, at 20°C or greater. The SCB generally had greater zooplankton than Mexican waters but less appropriate (lower) geostrophic f lows. Mexican waters generally exhibited greater predicted habitat quality than the SCB in cold years. Predicted quality of the habitat in the SCB was greater from the 1980s to 2008 than in the earlier years of the survey primarily because temperatures and geostrophic flows were more appropriate for larvae. However, stock size the previous year had a larger effect on predictions than any environmental variable, indicating that larval Pacific mackerel did not fully occupy the suitable habitat during most years.

Environmental characterization of seasonal trends and foraging habitat of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in northern Gulf of Mexico bays

A description of the foraging habitat of a cetacean species is critical for conservation and effective management. We used a fine-scale microhabitat approach to examine patterns in bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) foraging distribution in relation to dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, water depth, water temperature, and distance from shore measurements in a highly turbid estuary on the northern Gulf of Mexico. In general, environmental variation in the Barataria Basin marine environment comprises three primary axes of variability (i.e., factors: temperature and dissolved oxygen, salinity and turbidity, and distance and depth) that represent seasonal, spatial-seasonal, and spatial scales, respectively. Foraging sites were differentiated from nonforaging sites by significant differences among group size, temperature, turbidity, and season. Habitat selection analysis on individual variables indicated that foraging was more frequently observed in waters 4–6 m deep, 200–500 m from shore, and at salinity values of around 20 psu. This fine-scale and multivariate approach represents a useful method of exploring the complexity, gradation, and detail of the relationships between environmental variables and the foraging distribution patterns of bottlenose dolphin.

An ecological analysis of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) assemblages in the North Pacific Ocean along broad-scale environmental gradients

Environmental variability affects the distributions of most marine fish species. In this analysis, assemblages of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) species were defined on the basis of similarities in their distributions along environmental gradients. Data from 14 bottom trawl surveys of the Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands (n=6767) were used. Five distinct assemblages of rockfish were defined by geographical position, depth, and temperature. The 180-m and 275-m depth contours were major divisions between assemblages inhabiting the shelf, shelf break, and lower continental slope. Another noticeable division was between species centered in southeastern Alaska and those found in the northern Gulf of Alaska and Aleutian Islands. The use of environmental variables to define the species composition of assemblages is different from the use of traditional methods based on clustering and nonparametric statistics and as such, environmentally based analyses should result in predictable assemblages of species that are useful for ecosystem-based management.

Relationship between abundance of juvenile rockfishes (Sebastes spp.) and environmental variables documented off northern California and potential mechanisms for the covariation

We estimated annual abundance of juvenile blue (Sebastes mystinus), yellowtail (S. f lavidus), and black (S. melanops) rockfish off northern California over 21 years and evaluated the relationship of abundance to oceanographic variables (sea level anomaly, nearshore temperature, and offshore Ekman transport). Although mean annual abundance was highly variable (0.01−181 fish/minute), trends were similar for the three species. Sea level anomaly and nearshore temperature had the strongest relationship with interannual variation in rockfish abundance, and offshore Ekman transport did not correlate with abundance. Oceanographic events occurring in February and March (i.e., during the larval stage) had the strongest relationship with juvenile abundance, which indicates that year-class strength is determined during the larval stage. Also of note, the annual abundance of juvenile yellowtail rockfish was positively correlated with year-class strength of adult yellowtail rockfish; this finding would indicate the importance of studying juvenile abundance surveys for management purposes.

ReefBase 2.0: a contribution to environmental conservation on a global scale

The 1997 International Year of the Reef sees the release of ReefBase 2.0: a global database on coral reefs and their resources. It provides the most comprehensive and accessible repository of information to date. Containing information on over 7000 coral reefs in more than 123 countries, ReefBase 2.0 offers an extensive range of time-related data pertaining to coastal tourism, benthic environment ecology, fish population statistics, oceanography, socioeconomics, mariculture, and harvest activities. It also outlines the stresses causing reef degradation as well as management initiatives. Complemented by hundreds of digitized maps provided by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and over 500 high quality photographs, ReefBase 2.0 is not only an essential tool for coral reef management but also an comprehensive guide for tourists, scuba divers and snorkelers alike. ReefBase has contributed substantially to the success of the International Coral Reef Institute (ICRI) and serves as the official database of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), bringing together an increasing volume of data on coral reef health, management and significance to humanity, and making it widely available. Over the next five years, the information contained within ReefBase will be utilized as an instrument for developing coral reef health assessment criteria, sustainable management criteria, and providing continuously updated summaries of threats endangering coral reefs around the globe. This will be a strong basis for focused corrective action in an attempt to conserve coral reefs and properly manage their resources for future generations.

Multiple environmental states affecting penaeid shrimp production in Peru

A modification of the Schaefer surplus-production model was used to account for environmental induced variations of shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) catch in northern Peru. Based on time series of catch, effort, river discharge and sea surface temperature, fluctuations in catch of shrimps are explained and discussed with respect to multiple level of carrying capacity and hence different maximum sustainable yields.

Proposed Environmental Quality Standards for Phenol in Water

This is the Proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for Phenol in Water prepared for the National Rivers Authority, and published by the Environment Agency in 1995. The report reviews the properties and uses of phenol, its fate, behaviour and reported concentrations in the environment and critically assesses the available data on its toxicity and bioaccumulation. The information is used to derive EQSs for the protection of fresh and saltwater life and for the abstraction of water to potable supply. Phenol is widely used as a chemical intermediate and the main sources for phenol in the environment are of anthropogenic origin. Phenol may also be formed during natural decomposition of organic material. The persistence of phenol in the aquatic environment is low with biodegradation being the main degradation process (half-lives of hours to days). Phenol is moderately toxic to aquatic organisms and its potential to bioaccumulate in aquatic organisms is low.

Proposed Environmental Quality Standards for Nonylphenol in Water

This is the Proposed Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for Nonylphenol in Water produced by the Environment Agency in 1997. The report reviews the properties and uses of Nonylphenol, its fate, behaviour and reported concentrations in the environment, and critically assesses available data on its toxicity and bioaccumulation. The information is used to derive EQSs for the protection of fresh and saltwater life as well as for water abstracted to potable supply.Nonylphenol (NP) is used extensively in the production of other substances such as non-ionic ethoxylate surfactants. It is through the incomplete anaerobic biodegradation of these surfactants that most nonylphenol reaches the aquatic environment in effluents, e.g. from sewage treatment works and certain manufacturing operations. It was explicitly stated by the Environment Agency that the EQS was to be derived for NP and not Nonylphenol ethoxylates. However, since NP is unlikely to be present in the aquatic environment in the absence of other nonylphenol ethoxylate (NPE) degradation by-products, the toxicity, fate and behaviour of some of these (i.e. nonylphenol mono- and diethoxylates (NP1EO and NP2EO), mono- and di-nonylphenoxy carboxylic acids (NP1EC and NP2EC) have also been considered in this report. In the aquatic environment and during sewage treatment, NPEs are rapidly degraded to NP under aerobic conditions. NP may then be either fully mineralised or may be adsorbed to sediments. Since NP cannot be biodegraded under anaerobic conditions it can accumulate in sediments to high concentrations.

River Gowy and Thornton Brook improvements. Environmental Action Plan March 2000

This is the River Gowy and Thornton Brook improvements: Environmental Action Plan report produced by the Environment Agency in 2000. This Environmental Action Plan relates to the proposals by the Environment Agency to improve the flood defences of land adjacent to the River Gowy, about 3 km east of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. The purpose of the Environmental Action Plan (EAP) is to provide details of how the issues addressed in the Environmental Statement (ES) will be carried through to the completion of the project. The EAP represents a commitment to the environmental recommendations formulated during the environmental assessment process and should be closely adhered to during the design, construction and post project monitoring o f the works. For any matters that cannot be finalised until during construction the constraints will be detailed in the plan so they are implemented in the contracts.