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<u>YORKSHIRE POST </u>(UK) 28 November 06 Marines do their duty to help save rare newt - Services of elite fighting force are called upon to protect endangered species of amphibian from predatory fish (Alexandra Wood)
They are usually better known as the elite fighting force of the Royal Navy, but yesterday the Royal Marines were using their skills for the very different purpose of helping to protect one of the UK's protected species.
Thousands of fish were gathered from the waters at the Defence School of Transport's Normandy Barracks, at Leconfield, Europe's largest military driving school, in a bid to boost numbers of great crested newts.
Over the last decade numbers of the newts – whose males sport crests on their backs in the breeding season – have been decreasing.
Experts think that the juveniles may have been swallowed up by rudd, the fish who have been on the increase in the pond.
Before yesterday's effort swung into action the pond, the length of a football field, had to be drained.
The fish were scooped out in nets after being stunned by an electric charge passed through the water and moved off the boggy ground with the help of a Royal Marine instructor at the wheel of a Snowcat tracked vehicle more likely to be used in military manoeuvres than environmental work.
Environment Agency fisheries officer Pete Turner said: "We have seen over the years that the great crested newt has declined and the rudd has increased.
"Hopefully by removing the rudd it will encourage the great crested newts to come back in numbers."
Defence School of Transport conservation officer Alan Bakewell said there were so many of the fish that draining the lake was the only solution.
He added: "We can't leave any in of course because they will breed again and we don't want to have to go through all this again."
The great crested newt, the largest of all newt species in the UK, has suffered a major decline over the last century, largely because of ponds being filled in.
It is unlikely that any of them were in the pond, unofficially known as Banana Pond, because of its long thin shape, yesterday as they go into hibernation, usually from October, before going back into the water at the end of winter to breed.
Experts say it is difficult to put a figure on the rate of decline because of the shortage of detailed historical information and a lack of recent data.
Surveys have estimated the rates of colony loss in England at between 0.5 per cent and four per cent a year during the 1960s to 1990s.
Some 40,000 breeding ponds are thought to have been lost in this period, mirroring a similar decline in the newt's European habitats.
Around 200lb of fish will be rehomed at a lake at Cannons Health Club, in Cottingley, Bradford, with the remaining 700lb going to Beverley Canal to boost stocks for local anglers.
Mr Turner added: "They should establish there easily and people should be catching them by next year."
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1900782
They are usually better known as the elite fighting force of the Royal Navy, but yesterday the Royal Marines were using their skills for the very different purpose of helping to protect one of the UK's protected species.
Thousands of fish were gathered from the waters at the Defence School of Transport's Normandy Barracks, at Leconfield, Europe's largest military driving school, in a bid to boost numbers of great crested newts.
Over the last decade numbers of the newts – whose males sport crests on their backs in the breeding season – have been decreasing.
Experts think that the juveniles may have been swallowed up by rudd, the fish who have been on the increase in the pond.
Before yesterday's effort swung into action the pond, the length of a football field, had to be drained.
The fish were scooped out in nets after being stunned by an electric charge passed through the water and moved off the boggy ground with the help of a Royal Marine instructor at the wheel of a Snowcat tracked vehicle more likely to be used in military manoeuvres than environmental work.
Environment Agency fisheries officer Pete Turner said: "We have seen over the years that the great crested newt has declined and the rudd has increased.
"Hopefully by removing the rudd it will encourage the great crested newts to come back in numbers."
Defence School of Transport conservation officer Alan Bakewell said there were so many of the fish that draining the lake was the only solution.
He added: "We can't leave any in of course because they will breed again and we don't want to have to go through all this again."
The great crested newt, the largest of all newt species in the UK, has suffered a major decline over the last century, largely because of ponds being filled in.
It is unlikely that any of them were in the pond, unofficially known as Banana Pond, because of its long thin shape, yesterday as they go into hibernation, usually from October, before going back into the water at the end of winter to breed.
Experts say it is difficult to put a figure on the rate of decline because of the shortage of detailed historical information and a lack of recent data.
Surveys have estimated the rates of colony loss in England at between 0.5 per cent and four per cent a year during the 1960s to 1990s.
Some 40,000 breeding ponds are thought to have been lost in this period, mirroring a similar decline in the newt's European habitats.
Around 200lb of fish will be rehomed at a lake at Cannons Health Club, in Cottingley, Bradford, with the remaining 700lb going to Beverley Canal to boost stocks for local anglers.
Mr Turner added: "They should establish there easily and people should be catching them by next year."
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1900782