Breeding fish for the EA

Recently I read a story about how local school kids raised some brown trout for a local polluted stream,and thinking about it got me thinking that if it could be done in schools could those willing and able to keep a tank or two or maybe small garden ponds help in producing safe and needed fish stocks for release in the urban jungle or where ever needed.
I personally have kept fish and it is not to difficult so with guidance from the EA maybe we could have thousands of little fish farms in miniature producing fish for stocking .
I am not sure of all the minor details and pitfalls as I am sure there will be many so I put it to FM is it practical and would you like to become someone who puts something back.?

For info:



Rules FOR FISH sUBMISSION for section 30 health checks1.0 Principles

Before fish can be consented for introduction into open waters under Section 30, a sample of those fish must pass the requirements of a mandatory health check. The fish submitted for such a health check need to be valid and representative of the fish to be introduced. This means that there are rules for the number, size and species of fish to be submitted for a health check.

The rules are based on evidence that:

· We need to examine a certain number of fish in order to detect an infection.

· Some parasites are specific to the species of fish they will infect.

· Some parasites are specific to the size of fish they will infect.

· We need to be in able to detect novel parasites.

The rules have been designed to be as simple as possible and to take into account the impact of the loss of the fish in terms of both number and value.

Ornamental varieties of native species plus carp hybrids will be treated as separate species for the purposes of these rules.2.0 Rules

2.1 A total minimum of 30 fish is required for a “mandatory” health check. For each species to be moved a minimum of 10 fish is required.

2.2 The sizes of the fish to be submitted should meet the following rules.

If there is a specific size range of fish to be moved, within one size category (see table), a minimum of 5 fish from that category is required. The other five fish can be made up of fish from the adjacent size category.· Example 1: If carp of 12”-18” are to be moved we require a minimum of 5 carp in the large (>10”) range to be included in the health check and will allow 5 fish of the adjacent, medium range (6”-10”).

· Example2: If tench of 6”-10” are to be moved we require a minimum of 5 tench in the medium (6”-10”) range to be included in the health check and will allow 5 tench from either adjacent size ranges to make up the remaining 5.

If the size ranges of fish to be moved cross 2 size categories, then 5 fish from each size category must be health checked.

If the size ranges of fish to be moved crosses 3 size categories, then 5 fish from each size category must be health checked, ie a minimum of 15 fish of that species. SpeciesFish Size CategoriesSmallMediumLargecm“cm“cm“Pike

5-15

2-6

15-46

6-18

>46

>18Large species1

5-15

2-6

15-25

6-10

>25

>10Small species2

5-15

2-6

>15

>6

-

-Fry

0-5

0-2

-

-

-

-Special Cases

Please telephone the NFL 01480 483802

1 = Carp, tench, barbel and common bream.

2 = Roach, rudd, silver bream, gudgeon, etc…

Sorry - the formatting went a bit funny on the tables - making them pretty useless.

But the bit about "A total minimum of 30 fish is required for a 'mandatory' health check" shows just how difficult the process could be on a small scale

No worries Dougal ,thanks for the information .It is complex and not that easy it seems ,they must have used small tanks though Doug and ten thousand fish released into the wild seems impressive for such a small scale operation .