The nightmare scenario for any fishery owner or angling club is the outbreak of disease among their
precious fish stocks. But now a new technology is set to minimise that risk and save countless specimens.
In a groundbreaking development for fishing, water samples, taken with an easy-to-use kit, can now be
analysed in a state-of-the-art, specialised laboratory, where specific organisms in a water body can be detected through the presence of their DNA.
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These range from tiny yet harmful parasites right through to widely known invasive species such as
crayfish and mitten crabs. This new project can even help detect the likes of catfish and sturgeon!
Supplied by the reputable Mainstream Fisheries – one of the UK’s leading companies in the fisheries and aquaculture industry – the sampling kits are already being used within their field.
But Mainstream are now calling for angling clubs and fisheries to take advantage of the technology to help protect their waters and the wider ecological landscape.
A timely innovation
As the weather cools, we enter the start of the fish-stocking season, so the introduction of this project couldn’t have come at a better time. But there’s another, even more pressing motivation for the release of these sampling kits, as Carl Francis of Mainstream Fisheries explained.
“Inspections on fish before they are moved are typically done visually by an accredited expert,” he told us."
“However, quite a few of those professionals have retired in recent years, so there’s now a real shortage of people with sufficient qualifications to carry-out those vital safety tests."
“As a result, fish are sometimes now being moved without the necessary inspections being done, which
opens a real can of worms when we consider the likelihood of disease spreading.”
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The new equipment, known as eDNA Sampling Kits, allow fishery owners and club officials to collect the water samples themselves to be sent to the lab for testing, providing them with a valuable tool in indicating potential problems.
“Although it takes a few days for the laboratory to send the results, the confidence you can have in the accuracy of them is exceptional,” Carl added.
“It’s as least as good as that from the human operator, and in some cases may be even more accurate.”
The new kits will help to identify the presence of a nasty new parasite that’s on the rise in our waters, known as _Argulus mongolianus. “_It’s a fish louse that was first found in the UK a few years ago and poses a significant threat.
“There is very little information available about this parasite, with literature largely confined to a single description of a specimen from the 1930s,” the Environment Agency said.
“It’s been confirmed in carp, roach and bream, but all freshwater species are considered as potential hosts.”
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How it works
The technology revolves around the detection of something called Environmental DNA (eDNA). This is essentially traces of an organism that are left behind as it moves through its environment. Each organism
has a unique DNA pattern that can be picked up in the laboratory.
The water sampling kits give fisheries the chance to understand exactly what’s been in their venues.
“The information this type of testing can bring is incredible,” Carl told us.
“There’s a little stream that runs through our unit in Lincolnshire – it doesn’t look much, but we could test the waters there and find out what potentially harmful organisms may be living in it”
Furthermore, the new technology also has uses that go well beyond simply learning about potential threats in a water body.
“If you’ve had mortalities at a fishery, they can help the owner understand why they have happened,” Carl added.
“They’ll detect all sorts, including the ever-feared Koi Herpes Virus (KHV).”
Alongside the eDNA sampling kits for water testing, which come in a range of packages for waters of
different sizes, Mainstream Fisheries also supply swab kits, known as eNAT kits. These are used for testing the fish themselves for the presence of any parasites and diseases.
“These special swabs are easy to use and are a bit like the Covid tests that many of us became familiar with a few years ago,” Carl said.
“A simple swab is taken from the fish’s gill rakers or mucus (the swabs come with a full guide on how to do this), which is then returned to us for testing,” he added.
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