The Galloway Fisheries Trust

A fine sea trout: peatland  conservation has far-reaching
knock-on effects for fisheries management in the uplands

Our work on peatland has been gathering momentum over the past few months, and peatland conservation is now the theme for 2015’s Golden Plover Award for Moorland Management. It was useful to see some of the peatland issues raised by the Galloway Fisheries Trust during their recent open meeting and at a subsequent get-together at their office in Newton Stewart, particularly in discovering how healthy peat impacts on water quality for the protection and conservation of wild fisheries.

In the second half of the Twentieth century, huge areas of Dumfries and Galloway were planted up with commercial forestry, and several important bogs, mosses and flows were drained to make way for trees. This has had a dramatic effect on the way water moves through the landscape, and research indicates that water levels are now more inclined to “spike” suddenly after heavy rainfall as run-off passes straight off the hills and down into the rivers. Migratory fish prefer a more gradual release of water from catchments in order to move up river, and this effect is often associated with peatland which can soak up rain and slowly release it into the river systems.

Drained, damaged peatland is more likely to be eroded by rainfall, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that water discolouration is increased where peat formation has been damaged. This leads to darker water which is more likely to warm up during the summer months, and temperatures sometimes rise high enough to kill salmon in considerable numbers. Increased amounts of sediment in the river water can also smother salmon redds and interfere with the fish’s breeding cycles. When the upper layers of a peatland are drained they become oxidised and this can increase the acidic run-off which lowers the pH in rivers below the level at which fish (and the invertebrates they feed upon) are able survive.

The Galloway Fisheries Trust is engaged with several projects designed to restore functioning peatland, since water quality is a crucial part of fisheries management. Much of this work involves “re-wetting”, clearing trees and destroying drainage systems imposed when the forest plantations were first established. The Kilquhockadale Flow in the upper Bladnoch covers nearly 14,000 hectares and was entirely drained and planted up with Sitka around the 1970’s.  Recent work by GFT on this Flow has been looking at where the deep peats are located and how forestry plans can be changed to restore these peatlands.  On the Moss of Cree near Newton Stewart,  work is being done to establish the best and most cost-effective means of restoring damaged peatland.

Everybody benefits when peatland is healthy and functional, and we will be keeping in touch with the Galloway Fisheries Trust to learn more about the impact of peatland conservation on water quality.