Thursday 28th April 2011 - Right up North

Yet another early start.  Breakfasted and checked out by 7.50am.  A two hour drive through Silkeborg right up to the North coast to a little town called Hanstholm and a visit to Royal Danish Aquaculture.

A slower drive than I’ve been used to so far, single carriageway roads.  Never the less after just over two hours we reached Hanstholm.  Sharon told me to drop her in the centre.  We drove up and down for a while and discussed what actually constituted a ‘centre’, then we spotted a conglomeration of about 5 shops, that was it.  They said they would probably make their way to the beach afterwards so I would meet them there.

So I drove a bit further towards the coast amongst a few factory type buildings which were obviously to do with some kind fishy business and then I spotted it, Royal Danish Aquaculture.  Not much sign of life at the front door so I peered round the side, a large roller door was opend with a couple of guys involved in some eel grading and one chap who looked in charge.  I waved nervously and the boss came over, it was Lars Lyn my contact.  After general introductions I again explained about the reason for my visit and the generosity of the Churchill Trust.

Lars wasted no time in ushering me into the main rearing units.  As we chatted about the various operations being carried out I was struck by the shear scale of it all, just the size and complexity of the pumps and pipe work systems alone were overwhelming.

I was lucky to walk straight into a grading session.  Juvenile eels of one year of age were being air-lifted into a three tiered grading device with fixed metal bars set to varying widths apart.  Each tier represented a different grade, or size of eels with the metal bars getting further apart with each tier.  So the smaller eels dropped through on the first one, the middle sized on the second and the largest on the very last tier.

At the end of the grader were three metal bins about two thirds of a cubic meter in volume.  They were filled with eels, a different size in each one and oxygen bubbling up from below.  Just then a forklift truck zoomed in and lifted the end tub with the smallest eels in, “They are for re-stocking, going to Germany,” said Lars.

We moved on to see halls of smaller juvenile tanks but no glass eels, these were weaned at another site.  Then Lars showed me his filtration plant, again on an immense scale, they produce 900 tons per year!!!  The drum filters were huge as were the bubbling fluidised bed bio filters and the degassing tanks.  With the cascading water and spray bars on drum filters it was really trying to hold a conversation.

After passing some massive grow out tanks, approximately 100 cubic meters in volume holding up to 150,000 eels weighing up to 300g, we retired to his office for coffee.  Lars was very pessimistic about the eel industry.  There had been good supplies of elvers this year and last so farms were buying them like crazy. With the ban on selling to the Far East, Lars felt that there would be a glut of European farmed eels in the next couple of years, causing a price crash with many people going out of business.

I asked about re-stocking but he said they were prevented from doing this on any scale and in any case, “Who is going to pay for them?” Lars was quite bitter about the stance of Green Peace and WWF (World Wildlife Fund, not the World Wrestling Federation…. although they may have a view on eels).  He was quite bitter about how these conservation organisations portrayed his business and mentioned that they did not believe in stocking.  I must admit I have some sympathies with his views, I think it is astonishing that these organisations discount re-stocking.

One thing is for certain, if the eel is to be saved the only thing that will save it is if we use all the possible resources that we have in the right combination.  Neither the fish passes or the water quality or the fishing bans will do it in isolation.  What seems obvious to me is that when a stock is at such perilous levels then it vital that the first life stages, the most vulnerable, have the highest survival possible.  In the case of the eel, stocking is a great short term measure because it is scientifically proven to increase silver eel escapement.  Habitats and water quality are long term aspirations needed for sustainability in the future.

Anyway we touched on eel breeding and  Lars again wished that the academic institutions would include the industry a bit more as they have the practical knowledge. 

It was time to pick up my family and leave Lars to his business.  I couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him as I drove away, it seemed everything was against him and yet all they were doing was producing a product that obviously was required by the market.

Well the kids and Sharon were just a few hundred yards away.  They were sat on a block of concrete beneath a huge wind turbine beside an oily smelly, rusty container at the back of a fish processing factory…… not quite the beach they had anticipated!  They were frozen and glad to jump into the car.

So we set off south for Silkeborg where I had promised the kids we would stop to see the park and aquarium I visited yesterday with Michael Pedersen of the DTU.

After a good two hour drive we arrived and had a quick drink before visiting the park.  The PA system announced that the otter was about to be fed so we congregated around the pool next to the aquarium.  A young lady from DTU Aqua proceeded to throw in a couple of dead ducklings, I couldn’t believe the speed that the otter approached, retrieved, tore apart and digested the duckling.  She then threw in a couple of live salmon smolts and the swiftness with which the otter tracked them down was pretty awesome, although this probably would have been frowned upon in the UK by the PC police.

After a thoroughly entertaining 15 minutes my wife took the kids off to the play park while I went down to the basement room of the aquarium to see the eel display.  The whole basement was a tribute to this species and the displays were excellent.  I read every board and took many photographs.  There was a large central tank with some big eels in, again beautifully set up.  It was a thoroughly professional set up, I’ve always wanted to have something similar at my hatchery for a visitor centre, something that inspires youngsters and gives visitors  a little taste of the wonders of nature.

It was nearly time for the park to close so I tracked down Sharon and the kids by the paddling pool.  Sharon took one last photo of me by the eel tank and then we headed down south for the long drive to Copenhagen for our last nights stay.

After three hours of singing, Nintendos and in desperation, Danish Radio, we finally arrived wearily at our hotel at about 7pm.  A quick trip to the supermarket for some food for tea and then the kids were settled into bed.  I spent the next couple of hours, as I have done each night, downloading my pictures, typing up my notes and updating my blog.

We all retired to bed earlier than usual, shattered from 8 hours on the road and glad in the knowledge that we could have a lazy morning, it would be our last day.  We were flying out tomorrow evening, no more meetings and no more farms to visit, I must admit to feeling slightly relieved and very satisfied.   

Wednesday 27th April 2011- Silkiborg

Another early start as we had a long drive up to Silkeborg to meet Michael Pedersen of the DTU (Technical University of Denmark) to talk about tagging and stocking of eels.  It was a 3 ½ hour drive.

Made good time getting out of Copenhagen and got to a truly massive bridge going across to Odense, it 18km long.  It is an amazing piece of engineering with stunning views.  However this was slightly tempered when we got to the other side by a hefty toll fee of about £24 …to be paid each way!

A quick stop to refresh ourselves and then we headed off again.  Another hour and a half we were close to Denmark’s second biggest city, Arhus.  Sharon decided she would spend the day there while I met Michael, as it had an interesting looking living museum.. After a couple of circuits of Arhus’ outer ring roads, like a plane waiting to land, we eventually made our way to the centre.  I jettisoned my family pretty quickly as I now had to make up some time.

Eventually arrived at the DTU offices in Silkeborg about 15 minutes late and was met by a smiling Michael Pedersen.  We went straight to lunch which was again provided for me, people are so kind. 

So for the next couple of hours we sat and talked in the sunshine about his experience with tagging and stocking eels.  I learned that it was entirely possible to tag eels as small as 5g with a coded wire tag and that 95% of tags stay in.

Michael also gave me his views on the status of eels and the reasons for their decline.  It’s interesting that everybody has a slightly different take on it.

Then Michael told me about his research trip on the Galathea 3 in 2007 where he and other researchers went to the Sargasso sea to search for eel larvae.  He explained how they trawled a huge plankton net 3m in diameter and with 1mm mesh down to several hundred meters and on bringing it emptying out the contents (various plankton species) which amounted to about a mug full.  They found a couple of hundred larvae.  Michael described the Sargasso as a wide expanse devoid of much life.

Then Michael took me round the DTU Aqua, and aquarium and park open to the public.  The highlight for me was the bottom floor of the aquarium, totally devoted to eels and eel history.

Michael Pedersen at the Eel exhibition

After this we went to his office for coffee and Michael introduced me to a couple of his colleagues involved with eel stocking.  After digging me out a couple of papers it was time for Michael to go and pick up his daughter off the school bus and for me to go and collect my family from Arhus.

I parked in the city and met my girls for tea.  We decided to have a Chinese meal.  The flavours are so different here, I don’t think any of us enjoyed it and Chinese is our favourite!

Well after a 40 min drive we got to our hotel in a Village called Braedstrup.  It was quite a shock to see this huge hotel complex in such a small place.  Luckily it had a small pool so the girls were thrilled to have an hour splashing about while Sharon and I sorted out administration details and planned the next day.  All had a late night and were very tired.

Another long day tomorrow, driving 2.5  hours North and then 7.5 hours south back to Copenhagen.

Tuesaday 26th April 2011 - Baby eels !!!!!

It’s a brilliant sunny day again, but then so has every other day been since I left Wales…..so this is what the rest of the world is like!  Seriously though they tell me this is the warmest spring for many years and most unusual.

Today I am heading up the coast from Copenhagen to Charlottenlund to meet Jonna Tomkiewicz, Head of the Danish Technical University’s (DTU) collaborative Eel Breeding programme, PROEEL.  Sharon and the kids are coming with me as it’s right next door to the Danish Aquarium.

Lovely drive through Copenhagen city and along the coast going North, again signs a little dodgy. We passed the aquarium and had to turn round, signposted from the other way…..silly me.

Similar experience to Monday trying to find the eel farm.  Jonna had told me it was opposite the Aquarium but there were a number of buildings surrounding it so I thought the lady in the aquarium office would know. 

 “No, DTU, I need an address,”

“But it’s opposite the aquarium.”

“No, don’t know.”

Anyway left my wife and kids in the aquarium and went to explore.  About 12 yds to the right of the aquarium was a sign saying ‘DTU’ !

They pointed me in the right direction.  I was met by Jonna and her colleague Peter and we strolled across to the beachfront for lunch, which Jonna kindly paid for.

We talked for the next hour about their project (they have managed to get eel larvae surviving to 21 days) and the Japanese success.  After explaining my involvement in conservation captive breeding with the Environment Agency I think Jonna was a little bit more at ease.  It is quite a prestigious project and there seems to be much competition between workers to get the best results.  Jonna gave me the impression she had been let down before.

When we went back to Jonna’s office, Peter took us to his labs in the basement.  There were several tall black tanks of about 40cm in diameter by 1m deep with various tubes and pipes entering them.  Peter fired up a torch and invited me to look inside.

After adjusting to the dark depth, I suddenly spotted them, tiny little string like fragments about 6mm long hanging vertically in the water.  These were actual eel larvae only a few days after hatching! This was such an honour, seeing something that very few people have ever seen. 

Peter put one under the microscope for me.  It was completely transparent with a bit of pigmentation in the head region and a large oil droplet.

5 day old eel larvae (Christian Draver, DTU)

As soon as light was shone on them they began to swim away, surprisingly quickly with  a rapid wriggling movement……..amazing.

Then I bid farewell to Peter, and Jonna and I went up to her office for a chat.  I explained to her about my project and what I hoped to do with stocking and setting up an eel culture facility.  I discussed my aims to use this facility for collaborative research and tentatively tested the waters regarding potential collaboration between the DTU and ourselves.  Jonna was very matter of fact and stated that she would want me to deal with her but not with certain individuals, however she was quite positive about the prospect.  This was great news.

Well seeing the eel larvae and making a good contact for future collaboration had really made my day.

My wife and kids were on the beach when I got out so we all set off back for the hotel.  That evening we went into Copenhagen on the metro and found a place to eat…….Hereford Steak.  After a nice meal we headed home to the hotel.

Really into Tom Fort’s book now, he is talking about the American eel and the demise of their fisheries.

Easter Monday 25th April 2011

Another bank holiday, it’s a long holiday weekend in Denmark, and everything closes.

Despite being a bank holiday Morten Lauritzen of Jupiter Eel, Stege (about 50 miles south of Copenhagen) had kindly offered to host a visit from me.  As he said, and I know only too well, working with animals is 24/7.  This reminds me of a conversation I had with our senior personnel officer who was quizzing me about the need for over-time…, “So does somebody have to work on Christmas Day?”  I thought for a moment and responded shortly, “Well, the fish don’t know it’s Christmas”.

Anyway left the wife and kids to make their way into Copenhagen on the metro and set off on the drive south.  Pretty easy route to follow and after about an hour I was practically there.  About 250 yards from my destination, I stopped to ask a petrol forecourt attendant whether he knew of the building.  He looked so puzzled at my attempt to describe ‘eel farm’ that I was sure I had gone horribly wrong somewhere.  He mentioned something about an old sugar factory so I carried on to an old looking industrial complex.  I drove around but couldn't see anything obvious so I called into a mini-market on the complex.  Again I tried to describe an eel farm, fish farm, eels, fish….farm.  Once again, I received many blank looks and much giggling from the checkout girls but still no clues. 

I began to get seriously worried, I was still half an hour early but it seemed that nobody knew where this place was and I knew I had forgotten the phone number.  I decided to drive around the complex again and round to the front entrance of a grand old building.  On one of the doors I just happened to notice a faded black and white label, “Jupiter Al.”  This is the eel farm I had been looking for!  What really puzzled me is that this was about 250 yards from the petrol station and about 15 yards from the mini-market!!!!!!!  Morten certainly has maintained his secrecy, despite being there for 25 years.

As I pulled into the parking space Morten was there to greet me and I reiterated how grateful I was for him to give up his time to see me on this bank holiday.

We proceeded into this huge red brick building, a network of chasms, which Morten rented to run his operation.  The sugar factory was built in the late 1800’s and most of the original structure appeared unaltered.  It was quite easy to picture the scene of the factory running at full pace 130 years ago….bedraggled and weary, factory workers toiling in impossibly hot and filthy conditions.

Anyway, it was not long before I heard the familiar sound of splashing water, bubbling air and that wonderful smell of fish food.  No matter how many farms I go to….. I still love that combination.

Morten led me in to what looked like a ‘Great Hall’ in a medieval castle which housed the main on-growing tanks.  There were 17 and they measured 5.3m X 5.3 m X 1m deep each holding 25,000 eels of approx 80g.

The tanks were totally covered, with just a small hatch for the feeder and to inspect condition.  Morten said he never needed to clean them if he kept the water quality in tip top condition.  Next we inspected his filtration set up.  Two huge drum filters filtering down to 40 microns were supported by fluidised bio-filters, static bio-filters and Ultra violet sterilisation.

I had to marvel at the construction which was all Morten’s own design and one, which he had been at pains to point out, had been the result of many years of trial and error.

From here we ventured further into this industrial revolution ghost factory maze and saw many smaller juvenile tanks containing around 40,000 young eels.  All looked in pristine condition.

I was lucky enough to handle a few individuals all tangled together on a resting platform.

All the time there were intermittent alarm sirens sounding and Morten and I would disappear into the depths of the building where he would interrogate the various water quality parameters on his computer system, never seeming too perturbed.

Finally, we came to the weaning room where there were many small tanks used for culturing the first stage of captured eel, the glass eel.  These small tanks were full of small eels, approximately 30,000 in each tank which were just making the transition from cod roe to pellet food.

As we talked, I made furious notes jotting down all the things I knew I would forget when I returned to the UK.

After a coffee and brief chat about stocking and breeding eels, I realised I had better let the man get back to his business.  It was a thoroughly fascinating 2 hrs for me and as we shook hands and said goodbye, I felt sure that our paths would cross again in the not too distant future.

After a good drive back, I met the girls in time for tea at the city centre, nearby one of Hans Christian Anderson’s houses.  We shared a couple of burgers and wedges and convinced ourselves that we were enjoying it.  Sadly, still recovering from the food poisoning we were just glad to get back to the hotel and rest for the night.

Easter Weekend, Sunday 24th April 2011

We all felt pretty bad this morning and so it was a rather forced waking at about 9.30am, trying to view the potential of the day through bleary, sickly eyes.  After a while we decided we would head to Copenhagen Zoo.  We took the car because everyone was feeling so lethargic.  After several wrong turns and a considerable lack of parking space we arrived half an hour later than we would have been had we taken the metro!  To make things worse, we were faced with a near 1km walk, up a hill!!!! Hmmm not entirely as planned.  To cap it all when we got to the entrance I realised I had left my wallet in the car, I said something like, “Never mind, despite feeling rather unwell, the extra walk will do me good!”

The Zoo was packed and it was very hot but once inside it seemed there was plenty of space to wander round to view the exhibits.  My wife has this theory that you should always go the opposite way round to the obvious route to avoid the crowds, there may be something in that!  Our first enclosure was the world of primates, now if there is anything that will get you laughing, however inappropriately, it will be the behaviour of monkeys.  The gibbons were especially entertaining as were the baboons and there were many shouts of, “Look at his bum,” (from the children of course).  Seriously though I remember the same comments from my little brother when we were kids at Drayton Manor Zoo, near Tamworth.

After this we saw the polar bears but this was quite a sad sight.  These two great majestic animals, which looked in good condition, trod the same weary path repeatedly for as long as we watched them.  Their enclosure seemed too small and unstimulating . This puzzled us as the rest of the zoo was well laid out with some realistic habitats and stimulating challenges for the other animals.  They all looked comfortable in their environments and visitors were able to take time to observe them closely.   Eventually,  we worked it out.  We had noticed a lot of construction work around the Zoo and that they were advertising their newest development to be opened in 2012, namely “The Arctic Ring”.  It was a huge area.  These magnificent beasts, the symbol of global warming, were going to given a brand new home, one more fitting for these beautiful creatures.

I am a big fan of Zoo’z and most have come a long way to improve the quality of life of their animals and the experience of the visitors.  Conservation is now a huge feature in Zoo’s and the captive breeding programmes employ highly motivated  and skilled individuals intent on preserving and increasing the diversity of species.  Hence I was pleased to find this link to the Polar Bear plans at Copenhagen Zoo.

http://www.dhigroup.com/News/2011/04/01/CreatingANewHomeForPolarBears–TheArticRing.aspx?p=1

Nobody had much of an appetite so after the Zoo closed at 5pm it was back home to the hotel. 

I had some e-mail communications to do and plan my next scheduled visit down south to Jupiter Eel Farm, Stege.

Easter Weekend, Staurday 23rd April 2001

Saturday 23^rd April

My wife’s birthday today so the kids had laid out a special table with drinks, biscuits, folded napkins, birthday signs and cards (which I had hurriedly purchased from the local grocery store at 9pm the evening before!!!). 

After a lazy breakfast we all ventured across to the local fitness centre for a swim, the water was cold and suspiciously cloudy so we didn’t stay long.  The fitness centre was in a huge shopping mall so we headed to a bakery and had coffee and the obligatory Danish pastry.

My oldest daughter, Breeanna, then came with me to the airport to pick the hire car needed for the next leg of my journey.  This was reasonably straightforward with no masses of extra charges which are the usual thing.  So, after a couple of wrong turns, I blame my daughter’s navigating, we eventually landed back at the hotel.

Breeanna and I went back to the shopping mall to meet Sharon and Eden for, what turned out to be a disastrous buffet Italian style lunch.  None of us felt that satisfied after leaving but hey, reasonable enough, a terrible error of judgement!

We headed into town on the Metro again as we had planned to see the National Museum of Denmark that afternoon.  Despite not feeling great we all enjoyed this large and well modernised museum plotting the history of man from the dawn of time on one floor, peoples of the world on another and  onto Danish History 1600-to present day.

It was all fascinating stuff and we could have spent a lot longer there.

The best bit for the kids was the Children’s Museum which I must say was set out brilliantly.  There were all sorts of displays from different eras and cultures, from Pakistan’s society to age of the Vikings, each with their own set of interactive resources (clothes, fake food, helmets and swords!!).  The kids loved going up and down the replica castles and homes it was fabulous!

By 5pm we were all a little beat and none of us feeling too good so we headed home to the hotel.  Not long after getting home poor Breeanna promptly threw up in the bathroom and our worst fears were being confirmed, food poisoning!!!!!  The poor soul was hot and clammy and very pale and even after a hot bath and bed still didn’t look too well so we decided she should sleep in our bed.  Just before settling down for the night she sat upright, complaining of feeling dizzy and then……..oh boy their she blows!!!! It’s enough to say that we had to get rid of a duvet, a couple of sheets, two towels and a mattress cover to house keeping….sorry folks.

Well at least she settled down for the night and went to sleep and we thought that might be the end of it.  Not so, yours truly awoke at 3 in the morning and pondered the possibility of loosing my lunch for a while, all the time trying to convince myself that it would go away, not so.  After a sleepless night and a couple of visits to the bathroom we hailed a weary dawn.

Easter Weekend - Friday 22nd April 2011

Well just about everything closes in Denmark for the Easter weekend so there were no eel farms or Universities to visit but it was nice to spend a bit of time with my family.

Up early and packed a picnic for Amager beach, a few metro stops to the North of the city.  Literally 500yds out of the station you come across this wide expanse of bays and inlets with little bridges going across to a larger sand bar.  The whole area was joined with walk-ways and cycle-paths.

We crossed the bridge and set up camp near the very calm waters edge and had lunch.  The kids had a lovely time collecting shells and building sand castles and after about an hour and a half we took a short stroll round to a coffee house for light refreshment before heading back into town.

First stop was the impressive Rundetarn, or Round Tower built in 1642 as an observatory.  The most impressive bit was the tower where you walk up a big spiral pathway, all the way to the top, over 100ft.  The views of the city were fantastic!  The rest of the church building was used as an art gallery, museum of historical artefacts and a function room for occasional concerts.  Apparently it used to be part of the University Library where Hans Christian Anderson himself came to study.

After this we plotted a course across town that would take us to the Little Mermaid statue, a sort of pilgrimage for anyone visiting Copenhagen.  On the way we passed through the Kings Gardens (Kongens Have) which is similar to Hyde Park.  It was a beautiful day but we couldn’t believe how many people were there, almost every blade of grass was taken up with picnic blankets and all permutations of families, friends and individuals were represented.  It must be a  bank holiday tradition for locals there.  The kids had a nice play in the park whilst Sharon and I rested wearily on a bench.

Then, like a well planned expedition, we donned rucksacks, called the children to order and fixed our sites on crumpled maps for the next landmark.  I didn’t know it was there until I spotted it on the map, it seemed like a very strange twist of fate but also so appropriate on this journey to come across … “Churchill Park!”  This became our next destination.

Across the other side of the park and out onto the breakwater we could see several people milling around what was obviously the Little Mermaid.  We queued politely as Brits do, for our turn, then not so politely as every other folk just pushed in!  After the obligatory photos we trudged into town and hit the nearest eatery that the girls could stagger to.  Then we jumped onto the metro and back to our hotel for a well earned rest.