Up the Creek

ANI'S DIARY
We do another bug test and discover that the water is cleaner upstream of the houses. As we trudge up the river into farmland, we find a farmer trying to get a cow out of a muddy swamp.

If you were a farmer, what could you do to make sure there were more native fish in the streams on your land?

	Get hold of some live trout and put them into the river.
	Plant the riverbank and build fences to keep stock away.
	Put up No Fishing and Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted signs.
	Straighten the stream and make it deeper so the fish have more water to swim in.

That's not the best answer. Read the pop-up information and try again.

Well done! Click here to travel further up the river.

When is wet land not waste land?

Swamps and other wetlands are really good for whitebait. Wetlands purify water by reducing silt, keep a constant flow of water in summer, reduce erosion, and take harmful nitrogen from fertilisers out of the water. It's like having your own water treatment station but without the expensive machinery.

Gimme some shade! Planting trees for fish

If there is no vegetation on a riverbank, high summer temperatures and lack of shade can kill fish, and algal blooms will flourish. Fertiliser from farmland will run straight into rivers, helping harmful plants to grow, and riverbanks will erode, polluting the water with silt.

Mooooove! Fencing off livestock

Cow muck and trampling hooves on riverbanks will ruin a stream for the fish. Farmers can build fences along riverbanks to keep the animals (and their manure) away. A fence also stops the animals from falling into the river and getting stuck or drowned – better for the farmers, the fish, and the animals.