Fish to reach new heights thanks to Sheffield river project

The Salmon Run is the time at which salmon swim back up the river in which the were born to spawn. These two are trying very hard to get "up river".

Yorkshire Water is about to launch the project at Wharncliffe Side which will allow salmon, trout and grayling to move further up river than they have, possibly since the Industrial Revolution.

Three fish passes will be built to bring new life to the upper reaches of the River Don. This is the second project of a wider programme of work which will see £15m invested to create 14 new fish passes built across the region between now and 2020.

Dr Ben Aston, Yorkshire Water’s Lead Ecology Advisor said: “This is a great opportunity to improve the biodiversity of Yorkshire’s rivers through an innovative partnership between ourselves, the Environment Agency, the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and our designers, Jeremy Benn Associates.

“Although there are only a handful of customers who live close to the working area, we’d like to assure them that we’ll keep any disruption to an absolute minimum.”

Contract partner Ward and Burke will start on the project this month, and the work is expected to be completed in July.

The investment into the new fish passes also contributes to the Don Catchment River Trusts ‘Salmon to Sheffield’ project, which aims to return salmon to Sheffield for the first time in 200 years.

The fish pass is being built over the summer to take advantage of lower flows in the river which will make the construction easier. It also means the fish passes will be complete in time for the time of year when brown trout usually start their journey upstream to breed.

The company has completed a fish pass at Langsett Reservoir, Stocksbridge, which will be opened in April to coincide with World Fish Migration Day.