ECOFACT has extensive, specialist experience in conducting a wide range of ecological field assessments in relation to the freshwater environment. Across the range of our freshwater services we have demonstrable scientific and professional experience in the completion of studies ranging from one-off biological water quality assessments to protected species surveys, ongoing water quality monitoring and fisheries and freshwater habitat management.

Freshwater consultancy services provided by ECOFACT have included ecological impact assessments for major infrastructures schemes, catchment wide surveys for salmon and lamprey species and national monitoring programmes for protected aquatic species such as white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes. The findings of some of our major assessments have been published in the Irish Wildlife Manual Series by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Key freshwater services offered by ECOFACT include:

• Classification of Water Framework Directive surface water status utilising macroinvertebrate, macrophyte, phytoplankton and phytobenthos sampling and evaluation
• River corridor habitat surveys including riparian and wetland habitat assessments
• Macroinvertebrate sampling including identification, enumeration, functional group analysis and statistical analysis of communities present
• Biological water quality assessments utilising a range of indices
• Surveys for and management of protected aquatic invertebrates including freshwater pearl mussel Margaritifiera margaritifiera and white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes
• Fish habitat and fisheries management services