CONSERVATION workers used electricity to stun fish as part of a project to improve a north Hampshire river.

Officers from the Environment Agency worked with volunteers to help improve the state of the River Whitewater around Hook, Odiham and North Warnborough.

Electrofishing is a process in which fish are stunned by pulses of electricity, to catch trout, perch, chub, minnow and bullhead as part of a survey of the river’s wildlife.

It is not meant to hurt the fish and they return to their natural state in as little as two minutes after being stunned.

The electrofishing took place at Whitewater Mill, in Poland Lane, Odiham, Bassett’s Mead Country Park in Hook, Potbridge and North Warnborough.

The River Whitewater starts near Upton Grey and is a tributary of the River Loddon, which goes on to flow through north Hampshire and Berkshire and into the River Thames.

Volunteers from nearby villages, and conservation and flood groups also helped make improvements to the river, building faggotts, bundles of branches or coppice which help support river banks, cleaning gravels and introducing woody debris into the water.

Karen Twine, fisheries officer for the Environment Agency, said: “These techniques will help fish and invertebrate communities, offering refuge from high flows and predators as well as improving spawning and nursery habitat.”

Another event during the week of action, which started on Monday, March 16, was a flooding workshop set up by the Loddon Valley Residents Association and the Loddon Fisheries and Conservation Consultative.

Miss Twine added: “It’s been fantastic to see so many volunteers and interest groups coming together to improve this much loved river.

“It is essential to get the message across that managing flood risk can be achieved without compromising our beautiful rivers.

She added: “The Loddon catchment is environmentally rich and an important resource for wildlife which needs protecting and enhancing for future generations.”