Hampshire’s Sparsholt College is undoubtedly Britain’s top educational establishment for all things fishy! Tom Legge took a tour to see how our future fishery managers, scientists and suppliers learn the many and various necessary skills.
Most anglers dream of combining their hobby and job at some stage in their lives. I certainly did, eventually taking the angling journalism route after a couple of aborted attempts to join the old Anglian Water fisheries survey team during my late ‘teens.
For me, it was a case of ‘wrong time, wrong place’.
With Thatcherism in full flow, the water industry was about to be privatised and jobs were being slashed left, right and centre. When a chemistry department guy with no interest in angling, but facing imminent redundancy, got the job I craved, I knew the number was up and it was time to look elsewhere. The fisheries team leader even told me he’d rather have given it to me, but his hands were tied.
Maybe if I’d had a formal fisheries qualification then the outcome may have been different? I entered the world of full-time work aged 18, having pretty much wasted the previous two years. But if I had to live that time again, and knew about the likes of Sparsholt College, I’d have signed up like a shot!
A Hotbed Of Learning
Fishery management and aquatics are just part of the vast range of vocational opportunities offered by this massive college, set high in the chalk downs few miles outside Winchester and the Itchen Valley. The annual student intake is 1,700.
In the campus canteen, lasses in jodhpurs and horsey gear line up alongside wannabe vets, farmers, motor mechanics, gamekeepers, sports coaches and horticulturalists - to devour a hearty and affordable breakfast. Some had been burning the candle at the previous night’s on-site disco, one of a host of campus activities which the live-in students can enjoy.
Amid this veritable hotbed of training for all manner of hands-on outdoor professions were some 250 fisheries students - ranging from three year veterans to last year’s 16-year-old school-leavers. Their study courses break down as follows:
Full Time
* Btec National Diploma in Fish Management (sport or ornamental versions). * Btec National award in fish management. * Btec first diploma in fish husbandry. * Btec Level 1 introductory diploma in land and environment. * BSc Honours in aquaculture and fishery management (3 yrs full time). Foundation degree (FdSc) in sport fisheries and aquaculture.
Part Time/Short
* Sport fishery management. * Aquatics and ornamental fish husbandry.
Work placements at various fisheries or aquatics centres are part and parcel of come of the courses on offer, but all students will spend time at one of the following three on-site facilities.
* The National Aquatics Training Centre. * The Atlantic Salmon and Trout hatchery. * The Sparsholt Fishery.
Inside the £1.3 Million Training Centre
After another hot cuppa in Simon’s (dare I say cluttered?) shared office, first stop was the National Aquatic Training Centre.
Amid colourful kois in the foyer pool are several large orfe which were rescued from a local garden pond. The owner moved house and wanted them left in safe hands.
There’s also some normal carp including a common from Petersfield Heath plus a big mirror known as ‘Jim’. Once resident in the Sparsholt Fishery, he got a bit too friendly so was moved here. Now up to around 28lb, Jim is clearly enjoying the easy life. Passing into the main building, large tanks line a short dark corridor. More carp to the right, marine fish to the left. And then the doors swing open and we’re in full-on scientific territory - the Thesis Room.
Hosts of large tanks - many containing carp of various sizes from fry up to chunky high singles - line the floors. This is where Level 1 introductory diploma students arrive, usually aged 16 and with a love of fish and fishing.
Simon’s wide, Sue, is their tutor. “First task is to set up and run a feed trial which improves their English, Maths and IT skills these through weekly weighing, growth curve charts and water quality checks. They also learn how to net and handle fish,” explained Sue.
Tests are conducted in triplicate at least, as various factors can affect growth including proximity to doors and light sources. Whether here or in the salmon and trout hatchery, the aim is to gain as similar conditions as possible via identical sized tanks.
One current trail features two feed regimes - a trout diet, plus a vitamin supplemented version incorporating well known breakfast cereal Cheerios!
“The trout diet has seen slightly faster growth, but we’ve had but zero mortalities with the Cheerio batch,” noted Sue. The size of a 50p piece at the start of term, these carp are now all 6-8oz fish. The fastest growers, nicknamed ‘shooters’ - are creamed off for future broodstock use.
Freshwater Exotics
Also hard at work in the Thesis Room was Dr Mark Burdass, a senior lecturer who is heavily involved in feed trial work and has investigated bait performance, barbel nutrition and competition between species in recent times.
After bantering with Simon about how his current ‘babies’ were far more interesting than plain old carp, Mark showed me tilapia plus a remarkable African catfish called clarias.
Tilapia are the second most farmed fish in world. The females keep fry in their mouth for ten days after hatching and they can get very territorial and prone to attack others, hence the circular tanks which prevent them setting up ‘turf wars’ in corners!
The clarias are a real nuclear holocaust survivor if ever there was one! Thanks to a lung set above their gills, they can walk up to 5km overnight during the rainy season to populate new waters.
“Our original brood stock was brought back from Holland where they are bred for food. Our batch was on ice for three days and we only lost only a couple. With a range from South Africa to Turkey, one of the widest in the World,” enthused Mark.
Totally Tropical
In an adjacent room of equal size, Alex Shepherd is going about his many and various tasks involving tropical and marine fish. The aquaculture trade is big business, and students are as likely to find employment in this as it angling-related industries.
Alex, 24, originally from Eastbourne, studied at Sparsholt from 2001 to 2003 then found work at the London Aquarium and Hastings Underwater World before returning as a lecturer.
“I was a keen carp and sea angler who got a job in an aquatic shop. Any student hoping to pursue a career on this side needs to know the lot about coldwater, tropical and marine fish. There could be 1,000 different species in a big shop like the Maidenhead Aquatics chain, which we have excellent links with,” he explained.
“It’s not just about temperature either. We teach all about hard and soft water, brackish and salt water, aquatic plants, filtration systems and pumps. The students quickly learn basic maintenance skills, we’re constantly stripping down something or other,” he added.
A glance around the room reveals a fascinating array of species. Among the stars are archer fish, whose accurate water jets designed to knock insects off overhanging foliage are demonstrated when Alex flicks damp bloodworms onto the side of their tank a foot above the surface.
Piranha are here too, though Alex reckons they are not quite as ferocious as their reputation. Then there’s the clownfish, as popularised in Disney Pixar’s kids movie ‘Finding Nemo’. In all, there are 28 species of clownfish - Nemo was the common variety,” he adds.
One amazing fact is that Alex also grows his own coral, using a technique called ‘fragging’ which is like taking cuttings from plants. Using putty to secure the base to bedrock, it grows far faster than most folk think.
Hatchery Water Needs De-Fizzing!
Leaving the warmth of the Aquatic Centre, Simon leads me down to the Atlantic salmon and trout hatchery where George Hide is master of all he surveys.
After being indoors, the cold wind is a bit of a shock to the system but George doesn’t seem to notice. Having previously worked for a large salmon farming company in the Scottish Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it must feel like a summer breeze! George also sings the praises of eating trout, salmon and other oily fish in human health terms before explaining how the hatchery operates.
“There are two boreholes, 50 and 60 metres deep, which pump up 50 cubic metres per hour from the chalk aquifer to supply us. The groundwater level has risen 30 metres since August, it’s been the first proper wet winter for many years and most welcome. “The water is actually fizzy when it arrives at surface and needs to be passed through a vacuum degasser to remove excess carbon dioxide and nitrogen which would kill the fish and eggs ,” he reveals.
Once again, the salmonid industry is another potential source of employment for Sparsholt students. George reckons that seeing graduate students go on to get good jobs gives him more job satisfaction than anything.
As with all jobs, there are some tedious parts too - such as sucking any decomposing eggs from the hatching trays with hand-held pipettes within the stone-floored building where the abiding sound is running water.
“Length of daylight is the governing factor to salmonid spawning. You can’t force the issue. It takes exactly two years for a fertilised trout egg to reach sexually mature brood stock, typically a 5lb fish,” he explains.
“Probably the most significant advancement during my time here has been the development of modern trout diets which are nutritionally very concentrated, growing the fish much more quickly and efficiently. Our trial work with feed companies like Skretting has meant we have been very much involved with this development.”
Finally, Let’s Go Fishing…
However, it’s always nice to relax in your spare time…with a spot of fishing of course! The on-site Sparsholt Fishery is a favourite place to relax, and a ban on electronic bite alarms ensures the only noises are nature’s own. (Though I didn’t get around to asking whether the ban also extends to mobile ringtones?)
The one hectare lake was built five years ago after a lengthy planning wrangle. It’s bed is limed topsoil and sileage on top of pure chalk, and all fish are growing very well. An adjoining marshy area with extensive reed beds and a host of native aquatic flora acts as a filter to hatchery run-off water.
Five Famous Sons Of Sparsholt
Steve Ringer - ace matchman Steve was a former Sparsholt student. Ash Girdler - Institute of Fisheries Management training and development officer Ash did a degree here. Myles Gascoyne - head of local angling tuition company Carp School, Myles returned to Hampshire after years working on big game boats all over the world. David Williams - site manager at Trafalgar Fisheries, England’s largest trout farm. Colin Davidson - although top angling journalist ‘Davo’ never studied here, he now lectures part-time.
Want To Know More?
The college website www.sparsholt.ac.uk is a good start point for anyone wanting to learn more about fisheries and aquatics courses on offer.
Hi Tom,
Could it have been your old Austin All’agro’ that prevented you getting the Anglian Water Job.
Nice article tho.
Get in touch.
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