Environment Agency eel pass, River Parrett, Somerset
In the past 20 years, the eel has seen a dramatic decline across Europe. The number of baby eels entering our rivers has fallen by 95 per cent because of a range of factors including loss of habitat and barriers to migration. However other aquatic wildlife, such as salmon and otters, has thrived thanks to the Environment Agencys continuous work on water quality, which has improved for the 19th year in a row – the best it has been for over a century. Under the new legislation, the Environment Agency can require eel passes and screens to be installed on all rivers and streams where barriers such as weirs or sluice gates prevent eels from moving upstream to grow or downstream to spawn. These eel passes installed on a watercourse that flows into the River Parrett estuary in Somerset saw 10000 eels queuing up to use them on the first night, with around 40000 using the passes in both 2008 and 2009.
Tags: Somerset, biodiversity, river, Environment, Environment AgencyRelated posts:
- A River Ran Wild: An Environmental History
- Environmental Protection Agency Fail
- Tunkashila 2/13 – Monopoly Money, Banks, River, Currency, Slavery, Environment, Debt, Usury
- How to Keep the Environment Clean
- FRANCE 24 Environment – The color of your clothes: Dipping into dyes and showing your clothes true colours