Hampshire eels Living Life in the Fast Lane In a bid to protect the vulnerable eel, the Environment Agency inHampshire are installing special devices at various locations acrossHampshire that will help make their journey up stream easier.
Environment Agency Officers are installing individually made bristlemats to the walls of weirs to help eels and elvers (baby eels) swim upstream. The work is being carried out in time for the run of eelsmigrating up through the catchments. The Environment Agency is concerned about a national decline in eelstocks. An assessment of wiers and structures on Hampshire rivers hasidentified a need for improvements. The eel is an economically andecologically important species for our rivers, providing an income forfisherman and a food source for species such as otters. Stocks of thevulnerable fish are in decline as a result of several factors, such aschanges in the Gulf Stream, pollution, barriers to freshwater migrationand overfishing. For this reason the Environment Agency affords as muchprotection to the species as possible. The success of the new passes will be evaluated this year with a viewto improving eel passage on other river systems in the future. Hannah Wright, Environment Agency Fisheries Technical Officer, said: “”The poor old eel is often a forgotten species and we are all veryexcited at the prospect of giving these incredible creatures a helpinghand in reaching high quality upstream habitats. “”This is a rewarding project that will have many environmentalbenefits. It will not only help protect this vulnerable species, it willalso support the surrounding wildlife that depend on them.”” |
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