Airlift for rare fish grounded

The 200 endangered vendace were to be shipped from their present home in Derwentwater to Sprinkling Tarn, Borrowdale, in an RAF helicopter on Monday.

But officers from the Environment Agency and English Nature, who organised the airlift, were unable to net enough of the vendace on time. This was because the fish were unexpectedly late in rising to the shallow water to spawn.

If all had gone to plan, the fish would have been caught in nets, put into an oxygenated tank and flown seven miles to Sprinkling Tarn.

The cool, unpolluted waters of the tarn would have been ideal for the vendace, which thrive in cold temperatures.

The airlift would also have been vital because the two British populations of the fish in Bassenthwaite Lake and in Derwentwater are under threat from pollution, the introduction of foreign species of fish and weed into the lake, as well as global warming which has caused water temperatures to rise.

Cameron Durie, who is the regional fisheries technical specialist for the Environment Agency, explained that each winter vendace usually left their normal abode in the deeps for shallower water where they spawned.

The fish can be traced back to the Ice Age and are found in freshwater lakes across Europe. They resemble a small, freshwater herring and can live at a depth of 300 metres.

But this year the Derwentwater population has proved elusive. Removing the vendace from these deeper waters, where they spend most of the year, would put the fish at risk so the mercy flight was put on hold.

Environment Agency officials are hoping that a new flight will be planned for later this winter, when the vendace have spawned.

RAF spokesman Tony Parrini said that the force would be "delighted" to help if possible.

"It is another way of saying thank you to Cumbria for assisting the Royal Air Force with its essential flying training task," he said.