First implemented in 2003, the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is undoubtedly the most significant piece of European water legislation in the last 20 years. It applies to all surface freshwater bodies (including lakes, streams and rivers), ground-waters, estuaries (transitional waters) and coastal waters out to 3 nautical miles in Scotland and 1 nautical mile within the rest of the UK. It requires all EU Member States to establish biological monitoring programmes within all surface water bodies and fish communities are a key ‘biological quality element’ in the determination of WFD status.

Next year the first WFD classification results will be published across Europe. Subsequently, integrated river basin management and assessment will continue on 7 year cycles to ensure that all surface waters meet ‘good’ ecological status, or ‘ecological potential’ in the case of heavily modified waters.

The concept of river basin management is well established and has been taught to students for over 30 years. It is a widely respected concept whereby river catchments or groups of catchments are managed and the Directive will ensure that rivers, estuaries and coastal waters will be managed from source to sea. The WFD now rationalises and updates previous water legislation, replacing 5 European water directives for fish, shellfish, groundwater, dangerous substances and surface water directives.

In order to develop a programme of measures the WFD sets out environmental objectives for water status within river basins based upon ecological and chemical

parameters. Within this classification WFD will also assess the ecological status of River Basin Districts (RBD) and the human and natural needs and impacts within them.

The UK competent monitoring authorities have all established monitoring programmes that assess biological as well as chemical parameters in order to support the WFD management plans for River Basin Districts. After the 2015 classification round the WFD Programme of Measures will set out the actions to achieve the environmental objectives of the Directive by 2022. It is a legal requirement of the WFD that each EU member state establish monitoring programmes, and transitional fish communities need to be assessed in relation to composition, abundance and disturbance of sensitive species. In order to survey fish populations within transitional waters, any monitoring programme established needs to be fit for purpose.

The WFD describes transitional waters as ‘bodies of surface water in the vicinity of river mouths which are partly saline in character as a result of their proximity to coastal waters but which are substantially influenced by freshwater flows’. Fausch et al in 1990 stated that the relative health of a fish community is a sensitive indicator of direct and indirect stresses on the entire ecosystem. The WFD also maintains that ‘water status within river basins will provide economic benefits by contributing towards the protection of fish populations, including coastal fish populations’.

Within the UK the dynamic tidal nature of transitional waters has led to a suite of bespoke fish monitoring

SLR Consulting’s Principal Aquatic Ecologist, Steve Coates, reviews the multiple fish sampling methods developed for estuaries, or transitional waters and examines how they can assist compliance with the Water Framework Directive’s requirement that all water bodies achieve a ‘good status’ by 2015.

Who will pay for the environmental improvements?

Fish Monitoring in Transitional Waters

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methods being developed. In designing any monitoring programme the Competent Monitoring Authorities must consider the time of year, seasons, habitat, survey equipment and typology in order to obtain representative fish samples.

Given that monitoring methods are habitat and species specific, it is necessary to use several survey techniques across the salinity gradient from freshwater to sea. As such, a range of techniques must be employed across habitat types including seine nets, trawls and fish traps. In smaller estuaries seine netting and fish traps termed ‘fyke nets’ are an effective way of assessing fish populations. However, in larger water bodies, such as the Thames, techniques such as ‘otter trawling’ from larger survey vessels provides greater spatial coverage. This is what is described as a ‘multiple-method’ fish monitoring approach and these techniques provide a ‘tool-kit’ that can be applied to any transitional water. In order to assess the diverse fish communities present throughout a transitional water, from freshwater tidal to sea, multiple-method fish sampling should be employed biannually during spring and autumn.

The evidence base behind this multiple-method bi-annual fish monitoring programme is long established and has been developed from the Thames estuary fish sampling methodology which has been continuous since 1992. In 2000 the European Commission cited this pioneering work on the Thames estuary as an example

of European best practice within the Fair Programme for ‘Commercial Fish and European Estuaries - Priorities for Management & Research’.

The WFD also sets out that further integration and sustainable management of water should be integrated into other community policy areas such as energy, transport, agriculture, fisheries, regional policy and tourism. This should also provide a basis for a continued dialogue and for the development of strategies towards a further integration of policy areas.

The fisheries data gathered within transitional waters could also play a vital role in supporting recreational sea angling value, promoting tourism and associated economic benefits. Currently, the value of recreation sea angling in the UK is estimated at over £1bn with many local businesses dependent upon this revenue.

Within the UK there is a great deal of overlap between government bodies and it is clear that greater cooperation will be necessary to deliver cost effective management. 2015 will provide some interesting regulatory discussions with the publication of the first round of WFD classification results and the subsequent programmes of measures to deliver good ecological status. It is unclear how the regulators will meet the environmental targets and gaps and how they will be delivered with limited resources.

WFD surface water body status in 2015 will involve classification results from biological, physico-chemical and chemical status results. The WFD suggests that if a

water body fails good status (or ecological potential) then investigative monitoring should be undertaken to assess what are the reasons for WFD failure. This may mean that if the fish status is not good within a transitional water then detailed fisheries monitoring will be required to understand the reasons for WFD failure. Currently it is not known how investigative monitoring will be carried out, managed or coordinated. It is also unclear how funding for this monitoring will be sought and who will have overall responsibility in assessing how this will be delivered given the polluter-pays principals established within the WFD. This will be a considerable challenge when applied to such complex issues as diffuse pollution, within a river basin district.

In summary, the Water Framework Directive can make an important contribution to fish communities

within transitional waters. Estuaries are important nursery areas for marine fish and many of these species are commercially and locally important. However, this will require cooperation between many stakeholders and regulators for the WFD to achieve its ambition to be an effective and coherent water policy having to take account of the vulnerability of aquatic ecosystems located near the coast and estuaries ■

Photography: Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM)

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