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The Thames and its tributaries are a part of the wider Thames river basin.

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The Thames and its tributaries are a part of the wider Thames river basin.

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The Thames Watershed receives about 690 mm of rainwater a year.

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The Thames Watershed receives about 690 mm of rainwater a year.

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That is a lot of rain! In fact it rains on average 4/7 days a week! To get a glimpse into the rain in England you can watch the video below.

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The Truth About British Rain - The Great British Weather - Episode 2 - BBC One

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East End of London along the River Thames ( c. 1900), detail of a map in the 10th edition of Encyclopædia Britannica. The docks of the Port of London remained the principal gateways of the British Empire until the 1940s and '50s.

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It has 47 locks and ports that are used daily for recreation, food, and education. For this reason the locks and ports alone meet all of the ecosystem services.

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It has 47 locks and ports that are used daily for recreation, food, and education. For this reason the locks and ports alone meet all of the ecosystem services.

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The Thames Watershed is located in England and the Thames river begins in Cotswold and travels through the heart of London.

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The Thames Watershed is located in England and the Thames river begins in Cotswold and travels through the heart of London.

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The Thames flows through Central London and provides a stunning backdrop to many of the city's top tourist attractions. The 2,000-year-old river harbours much of London's history, as well as providing ongoing inspiration for artists, musicians and writers. There's also a host of sporting and leisure activities you can do on and around London's waterways.

The Thames is a tidal river, rising and falling as much as 8m (26ft) between high and low tides. Although it was once the source of London's "Great Stink" (1858), today the Thames is one of the cleanest rivers in Europe, thanks to successful campaigns by groups such as Thames21.

Plan your day on London's waterways

Visit Thames is an independent visitors' guide to the river Thames from its source in the Cotswolds, through Oxford, Henley, Windsor and into London. There's also useful information in The River Thames Guide, which lists boat hire companies, riverside pubs and restaurants, walking and cycling routes and more.

The Canal & River Trust is the organisation responsible for maintaining the inland waterway network in England and Wales - some 3,220km (2,000 miles) in all. In London, this includes:

Bow Back Rivers The backwaters of the River Lee are among London's lesser-known waterways.

Grand Union Canal The single longest canal in Britain, the Grand Union links London and Birmingham.

Hertford Union Canal This canal connects the Grand Union Canal with the Lee Navigation.

The 45km Lee Navigation has variously served for transport, waste disposal, flood control, mill power and pleasure boating. It runs close to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.

Limehouse Cut A straight canal passing through 3km (2 miles) of industrial London.

London Docklands Originally built around the Isle of Dogs to cater for rapidly expanding shipping, Docklands is now a bustling business and leisure district.

Regent's Canal Linking the river Thames at Limehouse to Paddington, the 14km (9-mile) Regent's Canal snakes through a rich urban landscape including Little Venice.

River Roding A tributary of the tidal Thames in East London, it's navigable as far as Ilford.

River Thames London's main artery runs almost 350km (220 miles) from source to sea, has an amazing history and offers myriad leisure opportunities.

Welsh Harp (Brent) Reservoir is a Designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest and it is an important home for wildfowl. It also features a water sports area.

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The Thames flows through Central London and provides a stunning backdrop to many of the city's top tourist attractions. The 2,000-year-old river harbours much of London's history, as well as providing ongoing inspiration for artists, musicians and writers. There's also a host of sporting and leisure activities you can do on and around London's waterways.

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The Thames is divided up into the tidal section and non-tidal section. It is also murky as it carries about 300,000 tons of sediment each year. The tidal section comes from the long reach of the salty sea tides into the Thames.

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The Thames is divided up into the tidal section and non-tidal section. It is also murky as it carries about 300,000 tons of sediment each year. The tidal section comes from the long reach of the salty sea tides into the Thames.

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The groundwater from the Thames provides drinking water for  14 million people!

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The groundwater from the Thames provides drinking water for  14 million people!

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-Has 125 types of fish.
-seals
-bottlenose whale
-sea-horses
-otter
-occasional dolphins

Lost to the Thames are salmon. They were once prevalent, but are now rare to see.

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Laura Reynolds What Lives In The Thames?

Spend your days criss-crossing the Thames via various bridges, but never stopped to contemplate what lies beneath? Despite its murky brown appearance, the water quality of the Thames has steadily improved since sewers were repaired in the 1960s, and is home to seals, otter and even seahorses.

Species of fish

According to Ian Tokelove of the London Wildlife Trust, there are 125 types of fish in the Tidal Thames (from the estuary mouth to Teddington Lock). Ed Randall of the Thames Angler's Conservancy names bream, perch, pike, roach, rudd, dace, ruffe, barbel, native and non-native carp, chub and gudgeon among them.

The once-prevalent salmon is now rare due to overfishing, but is occasionally spotted on Environment Agency camera traps migrating upstream between October and January, such as at Molesey Weir near Hampton Court.

Non native species such as zander are occasionally spotted around Teddington. In 2010 the now-defunct British Waterways organisation identified it as one of the non-native species most likely to harm native wildlife along rivers in Great Britain.

Sturgeon have been caught occasionally, like the non-native Siberian sturgeon which was caught in the Thames near Dartford last year.

Trout are sometimes hooked - sea trout migrate upriver from the estuary to spawn, whereas brown trout tend to stay up the river. The River Wandle, a tributary of the Thames, is a known trout-spawning ground in the Croydon area. Non-native Rainbow trout also occur, but have usually escaped from lakes or fish farms.

Non-native Wels catfish are rare but were introduced to the river in the 1930s and persist to this day, occasionally making headlines due to their size. In 2008, Brett Ridley landed a Wels catfish on the Kingston stretch of the river, believed to be the largest fish ever caught in British waters. In 2013, Chiswick RNLI was called to reports of a body on the foreshore in Barnes, which also turned out to be a catfish.

Eels migrate up the River Thames every year between April and October, but face many hazards and obstacles and are regarded as critically endangered. They are usually found close to the estuary, travelling as far as Greenwich.

Other information about record-breaking or rare fish in the Thames is hard to come by. Anglers are notoriously secretive about specimen catches, as publicity may attract too many others and spoil the fishing in a favourite spot.

Other species

In September, it was announced that seal numbers in the Greater Thames Estuary had increased almost back to their natural rates thanks to a conservation project, after being hunted for fur and meat. While they do mainly hang around in the estuary, Tokelove tells us that they've been seen as far west as Teddington Lock.

Famously, in 2006, a Northern Bottlenose Whale swam up the Thames until becoming stranded near Battersea and sadly not surviving. It is now in the National Research Collection at the Natural History Museum.

In 2013, a pod of porpoises was spotted near Tower Bridge and a small pod of dolphins was seen in Bermondsey. In 2001 a lone dolphin also made the trip, spotted between Wapping and Blackfriars. Recent improvements in water quality and availability of fish brings these animals to the Thames in search of food. What's the Thames Barrier to stand between a porpoise and its lunch?

Otters are often the hardest to reintroduce to a habitat, so the fact that sightings are on the up (one was spotted on the River Lee a few years back, and they are approaching the western boundaries of the Thames catchment), shows that the waters are once again in excellent health, providing plenty of fish for Tarka and co. to get stuck in to. However, buildings, walls and roads create barriers that they cannot currently get around, accounting for why they are often seen in urban Thames areas.

In 2011, a rare seahorse from the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean was found at Greenwich, leading to theories that a breeding population existed in the Thames.

Pipistrelle and Daubenton's bats will feed over bodies of water such as the Thames, but can be difficult to spot. Tokelove recommends signing up for a bat walk which uses electronic bat detectors to track them down.

Where there are fish, there are birds, so a few species to keep an eye out for are swans, grey herons, cormorants, Canada and Egyptian Geese, mallard, grey wagtails and pied wagtails. London Wildlife Trust's Species Explorer has photos of each bird to help with identification - and could be great to keep the kids occupied on a riverside walk.

Can I fish?

If we've got you hooked, it's worth knowing that there are quite a few Environment Agency national and regional byelaws (PDF) to abide by. Fishing is not permitted at all during the closed season, which runs 15 March-15 June inclusive ,and all fishing in England and Wales requires an Environment Agency rod licence.

Finders keepers, right?

Legally, you can take some of the fish that you catch, but British anglers generally catch and release. Randall says, "There's a real cultural thing that you just don't do it. You've had your sport stalking the fish and it deserves to be treated with respect and put back in the river quickly and unharmed". Plus, fishing is not sustainable: there are simply not enough fish in our rivers to support widespread removal.

****

So what's the future for watery wildlife? "The Thames has made an amazing comeback since the 1950s, but significant investment will be required to sustain this progression. "Without investment in the city's sewage management, life in the river and on the riverbanks will diminish as sewage and pollution levels rise," says Tokelove.
See also: Non-native animals that are on the loose in London and our review of A Field Guide To East London Wildlife

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Laura Reynolds What Lives In The Thames? Spend your days criss-crossing the Thames via various bridges, but never stopped to contemplate what lies beneath? Despite its murky brown appearance, the water quality of the Thames has steadily improved since sewers were repaired in the 1960s, and is home to seals, otter and even seahorses.

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-Snake's Head Fritillary- unique to the Thames Watershed.
-Loddon Lily
-20 species of fresh water fish
-Many species of birds and insects.

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Snake's-head Fritillary | London Wildlife Trust

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Once awash with wildflowers and alive with insects, our wet meadows have been drained, damaged and destroyed as a result of agricultural intensification; more than 95% of our wildflower meadows have been lost in recent years. Without care, those meadows that are left can quickly become overgrown, shading out delicate wildflowers such as Snake's-head Fritillaries.

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Soil erosion due to intense precipitation events.

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Soil erosion due to intense precipitation events.

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During the rainy season in the spring months providing larger amounts of rain than normal for the watershed and the dry months in late summer providing less precipitation that normal. With global warming, the tidal section is seeing an increase of flooding and the non-tidal section is seeing drought during the non-rainy season. This change in climate and precipitation can be hard on the already vulnerable soil erosion and also results in an increase of sediment in the waterways.

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“For example, soil erosion in South Eastern England has been largely affected by the shift from grassland to arable land in the second half of the 20th century, due to mechanization and intensification of agriculture” (Whiteman, Rose)

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“The portion of arable land increased from 36%- 60% for the Thames at Teddington” (Bussi).  As the land is converted into farmland all of the natural vegetation is plowed away for food crops. The result of this is a lack of trees and grasses that provide natural protect against soil erosion.

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“The results of the model demonstrate that an increase in average phytoplankton concentration due to climate change is highly likely to occur, with the magnitude varying depending on the location along the River Thames” (Bussi).

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This increase of phytoplankton is the result of warming waters and an increase of phosphorus and nitrogen coming into the watershed from farmland fertilizers. A large increase of phytoplankton can lead to “dead zones” in the river. A “dead zone” is an area of water where nothing can live.

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Global Warming impacting future water availability

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Global Warming impacting future water availability

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“The most socio-economic factor in the upper Thames watershed is water availability shown to become under the climate change a limiting factor for future growth and development” (Prodanovik, Simonovik

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The extremes in precipitation will result in flooding in some areas of the watershed and a lack of fresh water in other parts. If nothing is done this will devastate the current population surrounding the Thames.

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"From 2000 to 2010, about 800 hectares of forest cover were cleared for other uses, such as urban development, agriculture, and aggregate extraction, the report said." Randy Richmond

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"Forest cover is considered a key measuring tool for watershed quality for two reasons. Healthy and connected forests support a range of terrestrial species. Second, forests filter runoff, slow erosion and shade water, adding to water quality" Cathy Quinlan

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Water quality has remained stable but forest cover in the Thames river watershed has declined slightly, a new report from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority says.

The good news in London is water quality at the fork of the Thames, although still low, has improved the past five years.

The trees we're planting are for future forest cover

Every five years the conservation authority releases report cards for the 28 sub-watersheds it manages, with grades for forest conditions and water quality.

The individual report cards are to be released Wednesday, but the conservation authority provided an overall assessment Monday.

It concludes that the Upper Thames watershed, through an agricultural and urban stretch of Ontario, is mostly holding its own.

Forest condition grades range from C to F, with D being the most common grade, the conservation authority's terrestrial biologist Cathy Quinlan said. Individual grades haven't changed since the last report in 2012, but overall forest coverage declined 2.1 per cent during 10 years, investigators found, using digital mapping for the first time to analyze the loss.

From 2000 to 2010, about 800 hectares of forest cover were cleared for other uses, such as urban development, agriculture, and aggregate extraction, the report said.

"Forests are being lost a little bit here and a little bit there," Quinlan said. "It is disheartening."

Planting programs have put trees on 324 hectares in the same time period, but it takes 20 to 50 years for planted trees to be counted as forest cover.

"The trees we're planting are for future forest cover," Quinlan said.

Forest cover is considered a key measuring tool for watershed quality for two reasons. Healthy and connected forests support a range of terrestrial species. Second, forests filter runoff, slow erosion and shade water, adding to water quality, Quinlan said.

The best grades for forest cover, C, went to the Dorchester, Komoka Creek, River Bend watersheds in the London area and Trout Creek in St. Marys.

The poorest grade, F, went to the North Mitchell and Whirl Creek watersheds in Mitchell.

Water quality grades in the 28 sub-watersheds range from C to D, again with minimal change from the 2012 report cards, the conservation authority's water quality specialist, Karen Maaskant, said.

No watershed scores have declined in the past five years and scores in two areas improved, she said.

"We've seen improvement in the Thames River over the long term, when we look back 60 or 70 years. In the last 20 years, it's been a bit of a levelling off and a plateau in the last five to ten years," Maaskant said.

There's only so much river quality can be improved in an area full of farms and urban areas, she said.

"This is really a developed part of the province. This watershed is no different than our neighbouring watersheds for land use, and the results we're getting."

The two areas that showed improvement in water quality are the fork of the Thames in London and Otter Creek.

Watersheds getting the best grades in 2017 for water quality were Plover Mills (a stretch from St. Marys to London), Komoka Creek and the Middle Thames in the Thamesford area.

Although it improved, the fork of the Thames shared lowest grade honours with Cedar Creek in Woodstock and Reynolds Creek, south of Ingersoll.
rrichmond@postmedia.com Twitter.com/RandyatLFPress

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Thames watershed conditions stable as forest cover declines

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Water quality has remained stable but forest cover in the Thames river watershed has declined slightly, a new report from the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority says. The good news in London is water quality at the fork of the Thames, although still low, has improved the past five years.

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Based on the Thames river quality report from the AODA "Based on an average for the period 2012 to 2016 inclusive, 84% of phosphorous
loading in the Thames River originates upstream of London. The City of London PCP’s
contribute about 13% and other city sources contribute 2.7% of the phosphorous
loading on an annual basis. There are seasonal variations for phosphorous loading in
the Thames River. In the summer, the Wastewater treatment plant loading contribution
increases to 31% of the load due to decreased river flows. Other sources within London
contributed 11% of the load in the spring. "

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The weighted average concentration of suspended solids discharged from the PCPs in
2016 was 5 mg/L. This can be a possible concern for bottom dwelling organisms. The full report is in the link below.

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Coliform levels do not meet standards.

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Used to help decrease bacteria levels.

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"The Cleaner Thames campaign was launched in September 2015 to combat plastic waste. "
This article talks about steps made to bring bacteria levels down, oxygen levels up, and clean up the plastic waste.

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On a sunny autumn morning in London's financial district, Rod Guzman is looking for his favourite seal. Right next to the banking hub of Canary Wharf, between the grimy docks that once formed a global shipping port, lies a hidden hotspot for herons, cormorants, moorhen - and seals.

"When I do this, it usually comes," says Guzman, who works at the Billingsgate fish market next door, as he kicks a metal rail with his heavy boot, producing a deafening clanging sound. "I think it can feel the vibrations in the water. It's massive. Some give it names, like Alfred. I just call it the seal."

More than 2,000 seals have been spotted in the Thames over the past decade, according to a survey by the Zoological Society of London that ran from 2004 to 2014 and was published in August 2015, along with hundreds of porpoises and dolphins and even the odd stray whale.

Even though other problems now are threatening the health of the river and its animals - namely, its abundance of plastic - that's a big change for a river once so polluted, not even fish could survive in it.

In 1957, the Natural History Museum declared the Thames biologically dead. News reports from that era describe it as a vast, foul-smelling drain.

A member of the House of Lords was reported as saying purifying the river was unnecessary

" The tidal reaches of the Thames constitute a badly managed open sewer," the Guardian, then called the Manchester Guardian, reported in 1959. "No oxygen is to be found in it for several miles above and below London Bridge."

Wartime bombings had destroyed some of the old Victorian sewers that previously helped keep the river clean. Post-war Britain did not have the resources - or, it seems, the energy - to fix the problem quickly.

In another Guardian article from 1959, a member of the House of Lords was reported as saying purifying the river was unnecessary: rivers were "natural channels for the disposal of waste," and letting them break up organic waste gave them "something to do."

But although bacteria help rivers break down sewage, they use up oxygen in the process - potentially leaving none for other life forms.

It was only from the late 1960s onwards, when London's sewage system gradually improved along with the country's wider post-war recovery, that the river began to breathe again.

There are now 125 species of fish in the Thames, up from almost none in the 1950s

Other factors played a role in the clean-up, too. In the 1970s and 1980s, as part of a general increase in environmental awareness, concerns grew over the pesticides and fertilisers that were washed into Britain's rivers with every rainfall. Tighter regulations followed, says Chris Coode, the deputy chief executive of Thames21, a charity dedicated to improving London's waterways.

Other trends are more complex. For example, pollution from toxic metals in the river has dropped since the early 2000s, according to David Morritt, an expert in aquatic ecology at Royal Holloway, University of London in Egham, Surrey, UK. While partly due to stricter industry regulations, in the case of silver - a common pollutant from the photographic industry - the change was simply the result of people switching to digital photography.

Whatever the reasons, the result has been clear: the fish came back. There are now 125 species of fish in the Thames, up from almost none in the 1950s.

"You make the river as natural as possible, with clean water and proper flows, and then you'll see the community return," says Coode. "This wasn't about people breeding species in captivity and releasing them. The fish returned naturally."

The Thames is definitely cleaner that it was

The fish in turn feed marine mammals, including seals. While the public's attention tends to be on the playful seals and porpoises - what conservationists call "charismatic megafauna" - Coode is more excited about the return of a somewhat less photogenic species: sea lampreys.

"They're ancient, jawless, eel-like creatures that latch onto the sides of larger fish and suck their juices out," he says, with genuine enthusiasm. "They are very sensitive to pollution."

But while some threats have receded, others have emerged.

"The Thames is definitely cleaner that it was," says Morritt. "But there's a new kid on the block that we've become aware of, and that's plastic."

The central London section of the Thames is hemmed in by high walls and teeming with passenger boats

In 2015, one Royal Holloway study found that up to 70% of flounder in the Thames had bits of plastic in their guts.

The plastic can affect large animals, like the much-written-about albatross chicks that were fed plastic by their parents. But it also affects smaller creatures that are prey for the bigger ones. When they become ill, so do their predators. That finding has not yet been published and is currently under review with a journal, Morritt says.

The Cleaner Thames campaign was launched in September 2015 to combat plastic waste. It's a difficult battle, because there are so many sources.

Small pieces of plastic, like the plastic sticks of cotton buds and microbeads from facial scrubs and toothpaste, are often flushed down the toilet or the sink. They can pass through the filters and screens in sewage treatment plants, and they take decades to decompose.

Sometimes I think it's like an oasis

Meanwhile, plastic bags and thin plastic cigarette wrappers, even if properly disposed, can enter the drains by blowing or spilling out of overstuffed public bins. Thames Water, a private utility company in charge of London's water supply and waste water, says it removes more than 25,000 tonnes of debris from their sewage system every year.

The Thames wildlife revival faces other limits.

For example, the central London section of the Thames is hemmed in by high walls and teeming with passenger boats. That means it is too noisy, crowded and fast-flowing for porpoises or dolphins to ever swim upstream in great numbers, Coode says. Seals stand a better chance because they don't rely on sound for hunting, making them more resistant to noise.

Even the sewage problem has not been completely solved. Heavy rainfall typically overburdens London's creaking sewers, and the excess - rainwater mixed with sewage - is discharged into the river to prevent floods in the city.

Coode hopes that the planned Thames Tideway Tunnel, a major new sewer, will provide relief. Construction is expected to start in 2016.

Regardless of the problems, for Guzman the river's beauty outweighs the grime. He and his colleagues relax after early-morning shifts by feeding the seal. They give it salmon heads and other market scraps.

The animal has become a Billingsgate mascot

Munching on a chocolate bar as he waits, Guzman points at some ducks and other birds resting on a crumbling concrete pier. "Sometimes I think it's like an oasis," he says. "I take my break over there, enjoy the sun and just start looking."

The market has closed for the day. Guzman tries one last time to attract the seal by banging on the metal rail. The animal has become a Billingsgate mascot, written up in newspapers and even appearing on the BBC. But today, it seems to have other plans.

Guzman isn't perturbed. He takes one last look at a couple of birds basking in the autumn sun, against a backdrop of steel-and-glass skyscrapers. "It's amazing to think we have wildlife here," he says.

Share your video and photos of the world's rivers with Earth Capture.

We will share the best contributions on the BBC Earth website and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Don't forget to add your name and a caption to your upload.
This story is a part of BBC Britain - a series focused on exploring this extraordinary island, one story at a time. Readers outside of the UK can see every BBC Britain story by heading to the Britain homepage; you also can see our latest stories by following us on and .

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How the River Thames was brought back from the dead

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On a sunny autumn morning in London's financial district, Rod Guzman is looking for his favourite seal. Right next to the banking hub of Canary Wharf, between the grimy docks that once formed a global shipping port, lies a hidden hotspot for herons, cormorants, moorhen - and seals.

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Thames Water, a utility company, says it cleans up 25,000 tonnes of plastic debris a year.

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The tidal Thames has had to deal with increasing flooding in the London area due to global warming and changes in sea level.

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Flood Planning Policies can be found from 1988.

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UTRCA Environmental Policy Manual | UTRCA: Inspiring A Healthy Environment

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The Flood Plain Planning Policy Statement Implementation Manual (1988) was prepared by the Province in cooperation with the Conservation Authorities to assist with implementation of the 1988 Flood Plain Planning Policy Statement. The manual provides clear guidance to implementation agencies (Conservation Authorities, Municipalities, MNR and MMAH) on how to integrate the risk management concepts of flood plain management into local municipal planning documents.

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This extensive 110 page report details plans and policies with conservation efforts for the environment of the upper thames.

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"The sewage was reported to be six inches thick and black as ink. The water itself was turgid and dark, with a viscous quality created by the mountains of sludge poured into its depths." That dismal description, fortunately, was not of a river in Connecticut, but of the 19th-century Thames River in London, described by author Peter Ackroyd in his "Thames: The Biography."

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"The sewage was reported to be six inches thick and black as ink. The water itself was turgid and dark, with a viscous quality created by the mountains of sludge poured into its depths." That dismal description, fortunately, was not of a river in Connecticut, but of the 19th-century Thames River in London, described by author Peter Ackroyd in his "Thames: The Biography."

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For decades the Thames was used to transport sewage. In 1858 the weather heated up and the smell was so bad it was named "The great stink". This spurred on great changes in water use for London.

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Establishes the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers.

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Stink is so bad and a concern that the smell was bringing illness rushed the Act allowing the Board of Works to raise money to pay for new sewage works.

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Raw water quality improves with chlorinated drinking water.

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UK passes the Water Act which enabled some parts of the industry to be privatized

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The Thames water ring main was designed to bring clean water to London. It now provides 1,300 litres of water a day.

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Bussi, Gianbattista, et al. “Impacts of Climate Change, Land-Use Change and Phosphorus Reduction on Phytoplankton in the River Thames (UK).” Science of The Total Environment, vol. 572, 2016, pp. 1507–1519., doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.109.

“Facts about the River Thames & Useful Information.” Facts about the River Thames & Useful Information - Visit Thames, www.visitthames.co.uk/about-the-river.

Jolley, T.J., & Wheater, H.S. (1996). Finamore, Emma. “Where Does London's Tap Water Come From?” Londonist, 2 Nov. 2016, londonist.com/london/features/where-s-my-tap-water-from.

Water and Environmental Management : Journal of the Institution of Water and Environmental Management, 10(4), 253-262.

NERC. “Groundwater Quality and Protection.” Groundwater Quality and Protection | British Geological Survey (BGS), 2017, www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/quality/home.html.

Prodanovic, P., & Simonovic, S. (2010). An Operational Model for Support of Integrated Watershed Management. Water Resources Management, 24(6), 1161-1194.

Whiteman, & Rose. (1992). Thames River sediments of the British Early and Middle Pleistocene. Quaternary Science Reviews, 11(3), 363-375.

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Ready Player One took place in a world where many animals had gone extinct. The disappearing of much of the aquatic life in the Thames shows this as a reality. However, many policies have been made and in recent years there has been a growth in fish species that live in the Thames River.