Wissey Siphon Fish Pass

The Environment Agency has recently installed the UK’s first two way enclosed fish pass system, to allow fish to move between two local watercourses on the River Wissey.

The fish pass allows a variety of fish species to move up and down the river, around the existing flood protection systems which had previously hindered their movement and the River Wissey has been failing to meet standards set by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). The new fish pass will help to turn this situation around – allowing sea trout, eels and other coarse fish to migrate up and over the embankments to reach excellent spawning, nursery and adult habitat upstream.

Meteor worked in partnership with the Environment Agency and Aquatic Control Engineering (www.aquaticcontrol.co.uk) to develop a web based GPRS telemetry solution for the pass. This integrates signals from the fish tag counter and siphon control panel to give the EA a comprehensive view of the fish pass, from water level through pump control to actual fish passing through.

The Siphon Fish Pass is widely used in the Netherlands. The Dutch design was tailored to meet specific UK legislation and to increase the variety of species able to use the Siphon Fish Pass. The success of this project could mean that many more waterways with similar challenges are able to provide adequate fish passage.