Yellow Fish
The Yellow Fish Campaign raises awareness of surface water pollution that ends up in local rivers, with the message:
“Only Rain Down the Drain!”
Why is the project needed?
Rivers are at the heart of a town or city’s historic, social, and economic development. With thriving ecosystems, including species like otters and Water voles, the rivers provide an ecologically important green space for the local community.
What does the project include?
As part of the campaign, we work with highways so we are able to mark public drains with a semi-permanent yellow fish symbol to remind the local community that anything entering the drain will end up in their local river. Postcards and information leaflets will be delivered and displayed in the local area explaining what the fish is and why it is so important that we raise awareness.
During the campaign we work with the following groups (links to all resources can be found within the text and below):
Residents
We visit residential streets, delivering information leaflets on small changes they can make to reduce their impact on the water environment, attend local events to discuss the campaign with local people, give out help and advice, and discuss how they can make a positive impact in their day to day activities. We also have posters that can be displayed in residents’ windows, if they are willing to do so. This helps to promote the project to the wider community
In areas that are not connected to the main sewage system and rely on septic tanks and individual package treatment plants, we are able to offer basic advice on how best to manage these so they are not impacting the water quality of the local river. We have also produced an advice leaflet to help, in partnership with the Environment Agency and the River Waveney Trust.
Businesses
We visit various organisations and ask them to help us promote the campaign with their customers and employees. They are usually willing to display a poster and sticker on their premises so anyone visiting can find out about the campaign. Businesses are usually willing to share information leaflet with the customers and employees.
If your business uses chemicals, oil, or just wants general advice about how to avoid spillages of liquids that could cause pollution and impact the water environment, we may be able to help so please get in touch yellowfish@groundwork.org.uk.
Community groups
We visit groups to run sessions on the historic and environmental importance of their local river. We give them an overview of surface water pollution causes and effects, followed by advice on how to reduce this.
Our River Detectives Handbook are a great resource for educating children about their local river and it is something they can do with parents and guardians.
We have also produced an information video for communities, which is available on our YouTube channel and can be used to help promote the project.
We are able to offer education sessions in areas where we are delivering Yellow Fish projects so please email yellowfish@groundwork.org.uk if you are interested in us visiting your group. We would be very happy to bring along Eddy to help (see photo below).
Our Yellow Fish poster and information leaflet is aimed at local residents to give simple tips on reducing their impact, and if you are in an area that has septic tanks or package treatment plants, then our advice leaflet has help on how to maintain it so that it isn’t impacting on the water quality of the local river.
Schools
We deliver education activities with individual classes or whole year groups, these could be during an assembly, an education activity during lessons, or with an after-school club. We also work with schools to deliver sessions that work around their current focus and this has included visiting their local river so they get a connection with their local environment.
The education sessions will inform the students about their local river and how ‘healthy’ their river is. We can carry out yellow fish stencilling sessions on the school premises or in the local area, trips to the river to do invertebrate sampling (where suitable) and looking at the local habitat, and we also give each student a River Detective Handbook so they can explore the species they may find along their local river. Our River Detectives Handbook are a great resource for educating children about their local river and it is something they can do with parents and guardians and we have also produced an information video for schools that can be viewed on our YouTube channel, which you can use during lessons, assemblies, etc.
Previously this project had mainly worked with Primary Schools but this has now broadened to working with Secondary Schools, where we can support understanding of river habitats, the affects of pollution on the water environment, and also art projects where river species and habitats are the focus.
We are able to offer education sessions in areas where we are delivering Yellow Fish projects so please email yellowfish@groundwork.org.uk if you are interested in us visiting your school. We would be very happy to bring along Eddy to help, who can help the students remember:
“Only Rain Down the Drain!”
Areas where we have delivered / currently delivering Yellow Fish Project:
- Diss, Harleston, Beccles & Bungay – River Waveney
- Kings Lynn – River Gaywood
- Stowmarket and Needham Market – River Gipping
- Saxmundham – River Fromus
- Framlingham – River Ore
- Halesworth – River Blyth
- Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Lowestoft – Rivers Orwell, Deben and Waveney
- Chelmsford – River Chelmer
*those in bold are current projects
Resources available
We have a number of information leaflets to help people find out how to reduce their impact on their local river or just for general information. See above for information on the resources we recommend for different groups.
- Residential Yellow Fish Poster
- Residential Yellow Fish Postcard
- Business Yellow Fish Poster
- Businesses Yellow Fish Postcard
- General Septic Tank Leaflet
- River Detectives Handbook
- Information video for communities
- Information video for schools