Salmon and Trout Association: Wetlands

Freshwater wetlands are areas covered by permanent or temporary shallow water, including fens, peatlands, swamps, bogs and riparian river and lake marshes. They act as links between watercourses and the land, providing habitat for both aquatic and land dwelling wildlife. They provide important refuges for juvenile fish and many invertebrate species

In the past, people have regarded wetlands as wastelands; yet they are amongst the world's most productive environments, comparable to coral reefs and tropical rainforests. However, despite this, wetlands are one of the world's most threatened ecosystems, owing mainly to drainage for agriculture or urban development and pollution pressures.

In the past three centuries, England has devastated its wetlands; draining fens, ploughing grazing marshes, polluting reedbeds, straightening riverbeds, and exhausting peat from lowland bogs. We are now beginning to realise the value of wetlands for biodiversity and a wide range of other ecosystem services. The challenge is now to preserve what little natural wetlands we have left, and to begin compensating for previous destruction.

Value of Freshwater Wetlands

Wetlands are important areas for biodiversity, supporting many endemic and migratory species. They supply vital rearing and breeding habitats for many species, including recreational and commercially important fish.

Wetlands can provide a wide range of ecosystem services and environmental benefits including;

• Flood protection
• Regulation of water regimes
• Erosion control
• Nutrient, toxicant and sediment removal
• Carbon sequestration.

Protection

Wetlands gained protection via the 1971 intergovernmental treaty ‘The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance’. This was ratified by the UK in 1976, and is now popularly named the “Ramsar Convention”. The treaty requires two main commitments;

• The designation of at least one wetland onto the List of Wetlands of International Importance, which promotes its conservation.
• To promote the wise and sustainable use of wetlands and their resources

The Convention is not regulatory. The UK, therefore, supports Ramsar wetland protection, using other statutory designations, such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and Special Areas for Conservation (SAC), under the Wildlife & Countryside Act (WCA) 1981 and EC Habitats Directive.

Natural England, the Environment Agency, the RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts, have also launched a ‘50 Year Vision for Wetlands’. This is a new scheme with the aim is to restore and recreate England's most damaged wetlands, in order to reduce flooding and increase species richness. The project involves national mapping of areas suitable for wetland creation.

Call for Further Action

The S&TA feels that the preservation and restoration of our freshwater wetlands is vital to the recovery and survival of our native and migratory fisheries, and in response to climate change pressures.

We strongly support the ‘50 Year Vision for Wetlands’ objectives, to help local wetland restoration for the benefit of people, biodiversity and the historic environment. The data collected by this initiative provides an ideal framework to ensure nationwide sustainable wetland restoration.

The S&TA would also like to see:

• Further integration of soft engineering options, such as wetlands, into environmental policy to deliver catchment based objectives
• Multi-discipline objectives for wetland creation, where new wetland are designed to achieve multi-functional benefits, including flood prevention and biodiversity objectives, including providing suitable habitat for fish.

The preservation and rehabilitation of wetlands should no longer be viewed in isolation, but as a step towards achieving wider sustainable water agendas, and political drivers such as the Water Framework Directive (see: WFD) and Floods Directive. The conservation and restoration of freshwater wetlands is vital to increasing resilience against climate change, by improving our water quality, biodiversity (including fisheries), flood storage capacities and flow regimes in the future.

For further Information see:

S&TA Briefing Paper: The Importance of Freshwater Wetland Habitats
World Wetlands Day. (2007). Fish for Tomorrow
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. (2005). Ecosystem and human well-being: Wetlands and Water
WWF. (2005). Living Water; Conserving the source of life- The Economic Value of the Worlds Wetlands
English Nature. (1996). Freshwater Wetlands in England