Back in July 2019 Britsh Canoeing issued a challenge, as club we nailed it with our monthly plastic waste and litter pick but we wanted to do more.
Led by Andy Gee we launched Project Floating Pennywort…
The FPW was in large mats on the River Stort from Twyford lock 2 downstream to Burnt Mill lock 10 over 7 miles. In the navigation and mill/weir streams. Club members and volunteers spent over 50 days/1100 hours over nine months to clear all known occurrences of FPW.
What is Floating PennyWort
Floating Pennywort arrived via the Aquatic trade, imported from North and South America in 1980’s discarded from garden ponds into our waterways. FPW can grow 20cms (8 Inches) per day and double it’s biomass in 4 to 7 days.
The ‘Model’ we used was map the river for FPW, start at the top of the river, remove the large mats, go back and remove the small mats, conduct a forensic fingertip search, both banks and then relentlessly monitor for regrowth and it’s gone.
Good Morning
I am the Licence Support Officer for CRT covering the River Stort. I believe you have a field/base at sawbridgeworth just south of Kecksys Farm Marina and also believe you have a boat illegally moored on your land.
Is this the case? and if so can you drop me a line to confirm this please.
Kevin