UK’s rarest freshwater fish caught on film for the first time
The Environment Agency, working with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, have captured a vendace on film for the first time while conducting a water quality survey in the Lake District.
Remote controlled submarine
The film was shot on a remote controlled yellow submarine while assessing how much sediment is building up on the bottom of Derwentwater in Cumbria. Watch it here
Vendace (coregonus albula) is the UK’s rarest freshwater fish and a relic of the ice age. Its UK habitat is in Derwentwater and like lamprey, Arctic charr, spined loach, allis shad, twaite shad and smelt, it is an international conservation priority.
The Environment Agency carries out regular surveys of water quality around the country and over the past five years has worked with farmers, businesses and water companies to improve and protect over 15,000km of rivers, lakes, coastal waters and bathing waters. England’s rivers are the healthiest they’ve been for 20 years and salmon, sea trout and other wildlife have returned to many rivers for the first time since the industrial revolution.
Andy Gowans, Environment Agency fisheries specialist, said:
It was a unique moment to capture this iconic fish live on film. Seeing the vendace is a good indication of the health of the lake’s water. Derwentwater is the only place these fish inhabit in the UK, so maintaining the quality of the water is vital for their survival.
Dr Ian Winfield, from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, who leads the survey on Derwentwater and operated the remote-controlled yellow submarine, said:
As the day closed, I decided I would go out to the deepest part of the lake which is about 20 metres and drop the submarine in. I’m able to view the images from the submarine’s filming live and was keen to see what fish showed up.
Although, the vendace came and went within in a matter of seconds, I knew it was a vendace. This was an amazing moment for a scientist, I was not expecting to see one, never mind film one. I knew I had captured for the first time on film the elusive vendace species.
The Environment Agency and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology plan to do further surveying later in the year using more advanced filming technology.