On Wednesday 17 March 2010 the Environment Agency’s Central Midlands Fisheries Team transferred 52 large mature chub from the River Sence to the River Tame to boost stocks even further after pollution last year killed many fish in the Tame.

The operation was a success with 30.7 KG of chub weighing up to1.5 KG captured by electro-fishing and moved to the River Tame. We also removed 8 KG of small perch, dace, roach & gudgeon that were also stocked into the Tame.

The new chub will supplement the 24,500 barbel, chub, dace and roach from Calverton Fish Farm, near Nottingham, which were released into the Tame last December.

A female chub weighing 1.5 kg has the potential to produce more than 10,000 eggs. Assuming that about half the captured chub were female, they could produce at least 200,000 eggs this spring to help re-establish a thriving fish population.

Each captured chub has been marked with a spot of blue dye. This leaves a mark that can stay visible for up to two years so we will be able to recognise these fish when we carry out surveys to monitor fish stocks.

The River Sence chub were surplus to requirements in a river that is normally a trout fishery. Gopsall Fishing Club kindly gave their consent for us to catch the chub and transfer them to the Tame. 

Fisheries Officer, Mick Buxton, says “We have been busy trying to find other ways to acquire adult fish to re-stock the Tame following pollution last year. We discovered that there were too many chub in the Sence and that, by transferring them to the River Tame where they are very much needed, we could improve the fishing at two separate locations.

“This is yet another project that has been funded through money raised from the sale of rod licences. So don’t forget to buy your new licence at the end of March. You will be helping us to improve angling for today’s and tomorrow’s anglers.”

We have also recently identified pools containing mature roach and bream which may prove suitable for transfer in the next two weeks, in time for them to breed.

Before we transfer any fish, they must be checked for parasites and diseases to make sure that we do not infect indigenous stocks.