This is an effort to raise awareness of a simple concept:
If a fish ladder must be installed
Then why not one that acts more like a natural river?
It looks better.
It creates recreational opportunities in the local community.
It is safer.
Whitewater park engineers are the ones who know how to do this.
http://www.pressherald.com/news/a-passageway-for-fish-why-not-for-kayakers__2012-05-01.html
Repost the above link to your Facebook, Google+, or any forums in which you participate. Local people are trying to make the plans for an ugly concrete fish ladder into something more sensible. This will benefit ww boaters. This will benefit fish. This will benefit the local community far beyond boaters and fishermen.
Here is a link to a study re: fish stream habitat and ww parks. You'll see the careful attention that ww park engineers give fish habitat, and how much better ww features are vs. typical concrete steps.
http://www.boaterparks.com/Web%20fish%20report.pdf
I agree. When I have been near weirs I have often thought about how the gradient could be used to create WW features.
ReplyDeleteIn fact such a thing is in the planning stages for Pershore near Worcestershire. There is a hydro plant being installed, but the local club has been granted planning permission to convert the channel into a short WW course. The council seem really enthusiastic as it means more people will come to the town.
The plan is for construction to start this year. The only big question mark is whether they'll do it properly, or make it a cop out G1-2 riffle rather than offer any real play features. We shall see!