OAKENSHAW SALMON BYPASS OPENED

A new fish bypass has been opened at Oakenshaw Weir on the boundary of Rishton and Clayton-le-Moors. The project has been organised by the River Ribble Trust as part of their catchment-wide programme of enhancements to the river environment.

The £128,000 fish pass project has been funded by National Lottery players through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Environment Agency, Natural Course – an EU LIFE funded project, and the Windfall Fund – a partnership between EnegieKontor and The PROSPECTS Foundation.

The fish pass has been constructed to by-pass the weir and allow migration of salmon and other fish upstream. As part of improving the natural heritage, volunteers will plant 1,650 native trees in the adjacent woodland which will include a mix of sessile oak, alder, hazel, downy birch, rowan, goat willow, hawthorn, holly, hornbeam and wych elm. The woodland was designed with advice from the Lancashire Wildlife Trust and the local farmer to fit in with an existing Biological Heritage Site, designated for semi-natural ancient woodland and existing habitats.

  

Hyndburn Borough Council has supporting it directly by enabling construction access through the adjacent land which allowed a contractors' compound to be installed and machinery to use the track through woodland at the bottom end of Lower Barnes Street in Clayton. All disturbance has now been made good as the work has been completed and they have now left the site.

Cabinet Member for Education, Leisure and The Arts, Cllr Ken Moss, has been involved with the project for several months and was there for the opening along with Leader of the Council, Cllr Miles Parkinson and members of the Hyndburn Prospects Foundation.

Ken said, "There have been no salmon in the River Hyndburn for around 170 years due to the steep weir. Studies further downstream have found salmon fry so the new pass will be very beneficial for biodiversity further up the river."

Volunteers will monitor the effectiveness of the fish pass on 1.3km of river using radio tracking on trout, e-fishing the channel itself and looking at invertebrates colonising the new channel.


Further information can be found at www.ribblelifetogether.org/hyndburnbrook-oakenshaw or you can contact the Ribble Rivers Trust on 01200 444452.