10:00pm Friday 12th March 2010
By Neil Docking
WORK has begun on a 'fish ladder' to help salmon and sea trout repopulate parts of an East Lancashire river.
Town leaders in Padiham were promised the improvement at the town's weir to help regenerate the River Calder seven years ago.
The series of steps, or mini weirs, will help fish to travel upstream and spawn in new areas.
The Environment Agency has started preparing the site for the £220,000 project, which follows in the footsteps of successful fish passes installed at Birkacre, Duxbury, Pincock, all near Chorley.
Town clerk Elizabeth Bolton said the Environment Agency and the River Ribble Conservation Trust had worked “extremely hard” to fund the project since plans for a canoe slalom centre were rejected in 2003.
She said: “The town council, having pressed for this for a very long time, is delighted that there is going to be some work carried out that will make a considerable improvement.”
Dave Massam is a director for the environmental charity Friends of the River Yarrow, which was involved in the creation of a fish ladder at Birkacre in 2002.
It relies on a series of concrete boxes that fill with water and allow fish to jump up the weir in stages.
He said they were essential to help get fish up to the higher regions of the river where the water was less polluted, colder with more oxygen and has better gravel in which they could lay their eggs.
He said: “Anglers and conservationists have always been aware of the value of these fish passes.
“At Birkacre it opened up perhaps another two miles up to Duxbury, and the one there opened up another six miles of spawning areas.”
Environmentalists said they were hopeful similar ladders could be installed in other rivers in East Lancashire to help their fish populations.
Steve Powell, Environment Agency technical specialist, said the work at Padiham would not only provide a better environment but also “massive financial benefits” to the local economy.
He said: “We will get a much more sustainable fish population.
“This will attract more anglers, who will spend a lot of money in the area.”
It is hoped work in the water will be underway by the end of the month and the project will be completed by June.
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