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In this issue…

From the ARMI Project Manager

ARMI update

ARMI database

Riverfly Plus pages online

Biosecurity e-learning

Sewage Fungus guide

Worming Your Way In: A Pomphorhynchus Story

Contact us

Notes from the ARMI Project Manager This edition is hot off the press following the 4

th National Riverfly Partnership Conference at the Natural

History Museum, London on 17th November. The event, entitled ‘Riverfly Monitoring and Beyond’ explored

‘ARMI within organisations’ during the morning session and ‘Monitoring beyond ARMI’ in the afternoon, with

the latter and several of the posters focusing on the inspiring new developments of the many Riverfly Plus

initiatives that are currently being cultivated or trialled nationwide. The event was a great success thanks

largely to inspirational contributions from the chairs, speakers and poster presenters, all of whom I would

like to reiterate sincere thanks to on behalf of the Riverfly Partnership. Steve Brooks and I are currently

compiling the presentations and posters, with kind permissions of the authors, to be posted on the Riverfly

Partnership website shortly (‘News’/’News Archive’/’2016 Conference’). Dr Bill Brierley, Chief Executive of

the Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) included in his presentation the exciting news that FBA will

take over as Riverfly Partnership host, from Salmon & Trout Conservation UK (S&TC), at the beginning of

April 2017. This move is not unprecedented, the Riverfly Partnership was first hosted by the Natural History

Museum (NHM) before S&TC (then Salmon & Trout Association) took on that role in 2008, and does not

herald any change in direction for the Riverfly Partnership (RP) or the Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative

(ARMI). S&TC has proved to be an incredibly strong host for RP and will continue to be a key member of

the Partnership beyond March 2017, by remaining on the Executive council along with FBA, NHM and the

Environment Agency (EA). It is important to stress that anglers continue to represent the core of ARMI

participants, and that FBA’s established track record on fish science and training, which includes the

excellent ‘Entomology for Anglers’ levels 1, 2 and 3 courses delivered by Andrew Dixon and RP’s own

Stuart Crofts, identifies with that angling core. In addition, FBA equally reflects the broader, non-angling

participants of ARMI and it must be acknowledged that, whether angler or not, every ARMI participant

contributes equally to protecting rivers, and the fisheries they support, by regularly monitoring water quality

and by detecting and reporting pollution incidents. The RP website is already hosted by FBA and the ARMI

online database and GIS has been hosted by it since the system was developed in 2013 so that link, and

potentially future development costs, will be streamlined because of this move.

As always, I will conclude by expressing great thanks, on behalf of myself and the Riverfly Partnership, to

every single ARMI volunteer, coordinator, tutor, partner organisation and ecology contact, to the RP

steering committee and RP executive for showing continuing commitment to detecting pollution in our

rivers. Special thanks must go to all rod licence buying anglers in England and to the Environment Agency

for funding ARMI in England, and to SEPA for providing in kind and funding support to ARMI in Scotland.

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ARMI update Though the ARMI training season has largely finished for 2016 a few recent workshops have been delivered, most

notably on the Letcombe Brook in Oxfordshire and Marsland Water on the Devon/Cornwall border; both of which

confirmed the establishment of new ARMI groups. The latter also confirmed the establishment of the newest Riverfly

hub which is being hosted by Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Staying with Riverfly hubs, it is now confirmed that Yorkshire

Dales Rivers Trust will host the fourth hub in that county, testament to the staggering combined efforts of many

anglers, conservation volunteers, local authorities, NGOs, Environment Agency and more since 2014 when no Riverfly

hubs were established in Yorkshire.

ARMI database Work to further improve the ARMI database will continue throughout the coming winter so you can expect to see some

interesting functionality developments appear thus. The current system user guide will shortly be updated and shared

with ARMI coordinators and it is hoped that this can be made

available online, to logged in users, at some point.

There are still large numbers of unverifed records in the system,

therefore can all ARMI coordinators please check the ‘Coordinator

home page’ menu as soon as possible and verify all credible records

as appropriate. Records submitted by volunteer Riverfly monitors do

appear as open data until they have been verified by the appropriate

ARMI group, or hub, coordinator and it is important to keep the delay

to a minimum in terms of maintaining volunteer motivation.

The data verification process is described in the ARMI database and

GIS user guide. If you are a coordinator and either you don’t have

acopy of the guide, or, you have questions relating to the verification

process, please email the ARMI Project Manager (ben@riverflies.org)

stating your query.

In addition to verifying records where the ARMI score is equal to or above the site specific trigger level, ARMI

coordinators may also need to update the status of confirmed alerts. If a monitor detects and confirms a trigger level

breach they must verbally alert their group coordinator and/or the relevant statutory agency (either the ecology contact

directly or the 24hr national incident reporting line 0800 807060) as per the established ARMI protocol. Once the

statutory agency ecology contact has assessed an alert and taken appropriate action, feedback should be relayed to

the appropriate ARMI coordinator who, in turn, should update the record online as per the user guide. This important

information then becomes available as open data so that anybody can see how an alert has been classified.

Riverfly Plus pages online

There is a new ‘Riverfly Plus’ menu option under construction on the RP website. Over the coming weeks the initial

page will be completed to give overview information about the Riverfly Plus concept followed by links to the following

projects:

• Freshwater Watch

• Extended Riverfly – siltation and low flow

• Extended Riverfly – water quality

• MoRPh

• Scratching below the surface – hyporheic zone function assessment

• Worming Your Way In: A Pomphorhynchus Story

• Ecosystem function assessment

Once the page is complete, clicking on each of the above listed links will reveal a page detailing the corresponding

project including contact information for anybody wishing to find out more.

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Biosecurity e-learning

University of Leeds and Cefas have produced an e-learning course aimed at

increasing understanding of the importance of effective biosecurity as part of

fieldwork practice. With kind permission from University of Leeds, this course is

now freely available to ARMI participants, to enroll on this course simply click the

following link (https://openeducation.blackboard.com/mooc-

catalog/courseDetails/view?course_id=_1189_1) and, once enrolled, please complete the short questionnaire before

complete the learning modules. At the end of the course a short multiple choice test can be taken, where after a

University of Leeds certificate will be produced for those achieving 100% correct. The

Riverfly Partnership would like to extend special thanks to both Caitriona Shannon,

Researcher in Biosecurity for Invasive Non-Native Species, University of Leeds, and, Dr

Paul Stebbing who leads the programme of work on the management of aquatic non-

native species at Cefas Weymouth.

Sewage Fungus guide

Thanks to kind permission from authors Tim Geatches, EA, and Graham Rutt, Natural Resources Wales, and from

one of the EA’s national leads, Tim Jones, the Riverfly Partnership is very pleased to announce that ‘Sewage fungus:

a field and microscopic guide’ is available for ARMI participants to download from the RP website homepage. The

guide is intended as a tool to aid general observations rather than a detailed assessment but it should aid ARMI

volunteers to recognise a sewage fungus outbreak. In addition to identifying and recording sewage fungus, Tim

Geatches, also ARMI ecology contact for the newly established Cornwall Wildlife Trust hosted Riverfly hub, always

recommends taking a photo to confirm any suspected outbreak. Visit www.riverflies.org to download your copy if the

guide today.

Worming Your Way In: A Pomohorhynchus Story

Hannah Bradley, Fish HealthTechnical Officer at the Environment Agency is conducting a research project into the

identity, distribution and impact of intestinal parasites Pomphorhynchus spp. in UK rivers. There are thought to be two

closely related species of this parasite in the UK which cycles through freshwater shrimp Gammarus pulex before it

can mature in freshwater fish such as chub Leuciscus cephalus and barbel Barbus barbus. Volunteers, including

those participating in ARMI, are being asked to get involved by sending in infected G pulex specimens when they are

collected during a monthly kick sample. If you would like to know more information, including how you can take part,

read the poster on page 4 before contacting Hannah directly.

Contact us

The Riverfly Partnership c/o Burgate Manor Fordingbridge Hampshire SP6 1EF Ben Fitch Anglers’ Riverfly Monitoring Initiative Project Manager Tel: 07714 487 209 Email: ben@riverflies.org

www.riverflies.org Riverfly Partnership @Riverflies

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Acanthocephalans are intestinal parasites of fish that use amphipods as their intermediate host. In the UK, greatest attention has been given to Pomphorhynchus laevis, which matures in freshwater fish such as chub and barbel, and cycles through Gammarus pulex. Recent taxonomic studies have suggested there are two closely related species of Pomphorhynchus, P. laevis and P. tereticollis. This has raised uncertainty over

the identity, distribution and impact of these parasites in our rivers. Further studies are needed to clarify the status of this parasite in the UK to improve understanding of parasite diversity and underpin regulatory controls to protect wild fish populations.

Effects on the shrimp hostThe larval stage, known as the cystacanth, causes acharacteristic orange spot to develop within the bodyof the intermediate shrimp host, increasing visibilityto fish. This conspicuous orange spots allows infectedshrimps to be easily recognised and provides a simplemeans for collecting parasites, rather than samplingfish.

Spiny headed wormsIdentification of Acanthocephalans is largely based on thenumber, position and shape of hooks (*) on the proboscis(arrow). These, along with the large bulb (**) are used toaid attachment within the intestine of fish. Subtlemorphological and molecular differences, including theshape, size and position of hooks, have separatedPomphorhynchus into two distinct species - P. laevis andP. tereticollis.

Effects on fish populationsPomphorhynchus spp. fully penetrates the intestinewall causing considerable damage, inflammation andloss of normal gut structure. Heavy infections have thepotential to reduce the growth, condition and survivalof fish. Understanding their distribution will allow us tobetter understand the impact of these parasites andthe risk posed to our fisheries. The below images showpenetration of the proboscis (arrow) and bulb (*)through the intestinal wall of a fish.

What are we doing? Gammarid shrimp are being sampled from rivers acrossEngland during routine Environment Agency monitoring.We are also asking partner organisations (such as theRiverfly Partnership), volunteers and external groupsinvolved in invertebrate sampling to look out for infectedshrimps. Infected Gammarids are then sent to us at theEnvironment Agency’s National Fisheries Laboratory,Brampton where the larval stage of the parasite isdissected from the shrimp.

Morphology and molecular investigationsAll parasite samples will be stored in ethanol formolecular analysis being conducted throughpartners at Bournemouth University. This will help usto determine which species of Pomphorhynchus thesample contains and the genetic variation betweenhosts, rivers and catchments. Based on these resultswe will conduct targeted sampling of wild fishpopulations to confirm parasite identificationthrough morphological examinations. Thesecombined approaches will provide a robust, currentpicture of the distribution and characteristics ofthese parasites in our fisheries.

Mapping and monitoring A distribution map will be generated to show whatspecies of Pomphorhynchus we have and where thesepopulations are. This will also allow us to clarify thestatus of rivers previously known to harbour P. laevisand assess how the parasite has spread over time.The fish ageing team (NFS, Brampton) will analysehistoric fish growth and recruitment data, gainedthrough fish scale analysis, to determine if there areany differences between infected and uninfectedrivers. This will be supported by targeted monitoringand a review of histopathology, to evaluate parasitepathogenicity.

Worming Your Way In : A Pomphorhynchus StoryHannah Bradley 1, Amy Reading1, Demetra Andreou 2 and Chris Williams1

1National Fisheries Services (NFS), Environment Agency, Bromholme Lane, Brampton PE28 4NEFaculty of Science and Technology, Christchurch House, Bournemouth University, Poole, BH12 BB

What can you do to help?We are providing kits containing

vials and pre-paid transport boxes to partnership groups and

volunteers involved in invertebrate sampling.

If you are involved in invertebrate sampling and think you can provide

any infected Gammarus samples please contact

hannah.bradley@environment-agency.gov.uk for sample kits and

further information.

Thank-you to all our partners and volunteers involved with the project!

*

**

*

Spakulova, M., et al (2011) Resurrection of Pomphorhynchus tereticollis (Rudolphi, 1809) (Acanthocephala: Pomphorhynchidae) based on new morphological and

molecular data, Helminthologia, 48, 3: 268-277