Group briefing before the field work
Macrophytes in reach sampling work
Preparation for fish survey
Field assessments in Gui River under River Health and Environmental Flow Project
As part of the work plan for field assessment for pilot sites, the joint team comprised of Australian specialists and staff from Hydrological Bureau of Pearl River Water Resources Commission (PRWRC) and Monitoring Centre of Pearl River Aquatic Environment of PRWRC went to Gui River in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from April 2nd to 10th.
Preparations for the fieldwork dated back in January this year. Australian experts who are involved in the project gathered at Pearl River in Southern China and had a six-day pilot site visit and training workshop. The visit involved four days on Gui River in the Pearl River Basin followed by a two-day training workshop for some 100 officials from water agencies across the basin.
Mr. Wu Yadi, Deputy Director of Hydrological Bureau of PRWRC and Ms. Liu Xinyuan, Chief Engineer of Hydrological Bureau of PRWRC and their colleagues worked closely with the five Australian experts Stuart Bunn, Chris Gippel, Nick Bond, Jane Catford and Robert Speed in the field. Australian specialists demonstrated to their Chinese colleagues the way to use the sampling tools and to fill the datasheet for the assessment. Chinese team member were actively involved in learning the techniques and practiced the assessment by themselves under the guidance of the Australian experts. The joint team sampled 25 sites and collected and processed over 1,000 fish, thousands of micro-invertebrates and a wealth of water quality, riparian vegetation and physical form data. The data from field assessments will be analysed. The laboratory and statistical analysis of results will become the basis for recommendation on indicators for river health assessment and also the assessment of Gui river health status.
Program officer managing the project in PCO was invited to attend the first two days of the fieldwork. A field monitoring visit report will be prepared in PCO to document the main findings of the visit and also the action required for the project implementation team to follow up.
Similar field assessments are planned for the Yellow River and the Liao River in late April and middle May.