Fish Passage

Creating Connected Catchments

Many of our freshwater species like to move within the river system and some, like the Sea Trout, migrate from the sea to the catchment head-streams to find spawning areas, returning to the the site of their birth to spawn a new generation. 

Unfortunately, the presence of road bridges, culverts, weirs and sluices can all have an impact on fish movement and cause isolated populations or, in extreme cases, areas where very few fish are present at all. We have designed and used a variety of methods from simple easements to technical fish passes on road bridges and gauging weirs to complete removal of structures or by-pass channels. The result of these projects has increased river connectivity and opened up over 150km of river to migratory species.

However, there are hundreds of barriers to species migration still in-situ across the river systems, many of which are broken or redundant and should be removed or failing that, have a fish passage solution designed and installed to keep our rivers connected for the species which rely on them.