While there is now a wealth of data sources available to help characterise our river catchments and prioritise where to start tackling issues, there is no substitute to getting out on the ground and undertaking a walkover survey to properly understand the local environment. 

Electrofishing is one of the most effective methods available to quantify, assess and monitor fish populations; within and between waterbodies.

One target system to diagnose the effects of contaminant exposure on organisms in the environment is to monitor biological damage by examining effects on their DNA.

The Riverfly Partnership is a network of nearly 100 partner organisations, representing anglers, conservationists, entomologists, scientists, watercourse managers and relevant authorities, working together to: protect the water quality of our rivers; further the understanding of riverfly populations, and actively conserve riverfly habitats.

The WCSRT Catchment Invertebrate Fingerprinting approach examines the responses of invertebrate communities, in the water environment, to four environmental stresses; low-flow impacts, fine sediment, organic pollution and total reactive phosphorus.

The evaluation of invertebrate communities living in a river or stream is one of the best methods we have for assessing the impacts of environmental stress on the health of an aquatic ecosystem.

The Environment Agency have developed a plant tracker app, which use ‘citizen’ collected data to map, track and in the future monitor treatment of Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS).  

The purpose of this tool is to help the user to understand how resilient habitats are anywhere in the county. This is important because vulnerable, less resilient habitats are less likely to deliver the range of services we need (flood prevention and clean water for example).

The Ribble Life Partnership aims to engage people from local communities, farmers, public sector organisations and local businesses to help improve water quality at a local, catchment level.

Invasive species such as Giant Hogweed, Japanese Knotweed and Himalayan Balsam, pose a serious threat to our natural heritage by out-competing native species.  They can out-compete because the natural checks and balances (e.g. predation) which native species are subject to do not affect non-native species.