All Change on the Avon...Update

Just a small update on the post about the weirs on the River Avon which I posted on the 7th February. Last week was the River Avon Barriers Project Public Meeting which was hosted by Rob Mitchell from the River & Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, unfortunately due to distances involved I was unable to attend the meeting however after contracting Rob direct I was given online access to all the information which was discussed & shown at the meeting, and I have to say from the presentation and photographs it will certainly open up the river for easier access to migratory fish.

This is the weir at Millheugh which I was interested in and this is how it is currently before any work has been carried out.








The plans are to put interlocking blocks, similar to giant Lego bricks and natural boulders to make a fish pass on the far right side of the weir.

Schematic view of the fish pass.

And this is how the fish pass is visualized after completion.









After chatting online with Rob and passing on my thoughts it seems like the public meeting feedback a lot of concerns were about the impact this project will cause on the river in the building process,
I raised my points in the previous post about access for anglers to the rest of the river up through the Avon Braes, as yet there is no plans afoot for easier access so it looks like if the migratory fish do get up the river in greater numbers than they are currently the angling clubs will have a bit of a nightmare trying to police the river from poaching which will inevitably happen.
I can only hope that these changes will not destroy the river I was brought up on and love to fish so much, only time will tell!