Safe route past man-made weir created for eels

A project to allow eels and other fish to safely by a man-made weir has been completed.

The concrete weir, created by Essex and Suffolk Water in the River Blackwater, near Maldon, Essex, was preventing fish from completing their natural migration upstream.

The route is particularly important for eels, which travel from the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic.

They mature from glass eels to elvers to yellow eels in the River Blackwater and other places in the UK before heading back to the North Atlantic to lay eggs.

Project manager Kerri Russell, of Essex & Suffolk Water, said: "We take a great deal of care to make sure the work we do isn't to the detriment of the local environment.

"It's a bespoke design, with peg tiles for the eels to weave through and baffle tiles for the fish, to slow the flow of water and allow them to rest if they need to.

"We've had a lot of interest from local groups, so recently our teams carried out visits to the site, which is on private land, to explain the work that has taken place and why it is important."

The Environment Agency has set up a camera to monitor the fish that through the new structure.

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