Meet the staff
Alan Keys MBE
One of the founders of the Ballinderry River Enhancement Association (BREA), Alan, with around forty other local anglers, established the association to prevent the native dollaghan trout from becoming extinct.
Alan’s voluntary work continued from 1984 to 1996, whilst running a farm business in Co. Tyrone. In 1995 he worked as a part-time advisor with the Department of Agriculture’s Fisheries Division, establishing river enhancement projects across the province. During this time, Alan became Manager of the newly formed Ballinderry Fish Hatchery Ltd.
Alan has grown the company from a small hatchery with temporary offices to a modern and efficient facility with educational resources and a River School available to the wider catchment community.
He pioneered the concepts of genetic integrity in hatchery fish breeding and the enhancement of spawning habitat in small to medium sized streams and rivers. His design of the Low Profile Spawning Ford has gained much acclaim across the British Isles and beyond.
Whilst attending a local conference in 1995, Alan conceived the idea of breeding the globally endangered freshwater pearl mussel, in the newly created fish hatchery. This project became the first successful culturing project in the British Isles and has been recognised for its innovative approach and great contribution to the preservation of this species.
Alan is the principle surveyor at the hatchery, advising river managers across Ireland on the enhancement and creation of salmonid habitat, the protection of the Freshwater Pearl Mussel, and the management of catchments for healthier river systems
It is for these reasons that in 1998 Alan was awarded an MBE for his Services to Conservation.
Forum positions held:
NI Wetland Biodiversity Delivery Group
Upper Neagh-Bann Catchment Stakeholder Group
Mark Horton BSc(Hons) MSc
In 2001, Mark graduated with a Bachelor of Science, Geography degree, with Honours, from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. His BSc dissertation looked at the effectiveness of flood defences along the lower reaches of the Afon Rheidol, using one dimensional flood modelling.
Following his graduation, he spent a number of months volunteering with the environmental charity Groundwork Black Country, in the West Midlands, before being appointed as a Countryside Stewardship Scheme Cartographer with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
In pursuit of his passion for rivers and the freshwater environment, Mark undertook a Master of Science degree at the University of Leeds, in Catchment Dynamics and Management. During this time he worked with ARUP Water on a scoping study for the extension of a river walkway along the River Foss, at York. Mark’s MSc dissertation focussed on peatland hydrology and the affects of moorland gripping on flow regime. The three month study revisited the site of an experiment undertaken by Conway and Miller (1960), at Moor House National Nature Reserve, in the North Pennines, and looked at how lag times between peak rainfall and peak flow had changed over time on gripped and non-gripped catchments.
In 2003, Mark moved to Northern Ireland and worked as a Community and Education Officer with the environmental charity, Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland, before being appointed as Co-ordinator of New Projects at Ballinderry Fish Hatchery Ltd, in 2004.
Since his appointment Mark has been responsible for delivering WWF Northern Irelands Ballinderry River Enhancement Project (2004-06), the Ballinderry RIPPLE Project (2007-ongoing) and Ballinderry River Enhancement Association’s White-clawed Crayfish Project, as well as working on other river enhancement projects. He is also involved in the hatchery’s breeding programmes for Atlantic salmon, Dollaghan, brown trout, and the globally endangered Freshwater Pearl Mussel.
Since 2006, Mark has been Secretary of the Ballinderry River Enhancement Association (BREA), the parent charity of Ballinderry Fish Hatchery Ltd and continues to work voluntarily with BREA alongside his post at Ballinderry Fish Hatchery Ltd.
Forum positions held:
Freshwater Task Force
NI Wetland Biodiversity Delivery Group
Upper Neagh-Bann Catchment Stakeholder Group
Salmon and Inland Fisheries Forum NI (Freshwater Task Force representative)
Frank Mitchell
Since 1996, Frank has been the hatchery technician at Ballinderry Fish Hatchery.
He was instrumental in the building of the new hatchery facilities and River School, which now exist on the site, and has a detailed knowledge of the breeding and rearing of salmonids, as well as other aquatic species.
Frank has worked with native dollaghan trout, river brown trout, sea trout, salmon, river lamprey, freshwater pearl mussel and white-clawed crayfish. Working with all of these species, each having discernable requirements in terms of culturing and rearing, has given Frank and in-depth appreciation of how to successfully maximise hatchery output whilst preserving genetic integrity.
Frank has also been involved in all of the habitat enhancement work and field surveying projects undertaken by the hatchery, as well as taking part in the delivery of the hatchery’s education programme through its River School.
Frank has held the Ballinderry River Enhancement Association office of Access and Conservation Officer since 2010.
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