The Highways Agency is helping salmon in Cumbria with a redesigned ‘fish ladder’

The Highways Agency is helping salmon in Cumbria to reach their spawning grounds by redesigning a ‘fish ladder’ on the River Glenderamackin under the A66.

Located between Scales and Troutbeck, west of Penrith, the ‘fish ladder’ is a man-made channel with concrete baffles that helps spawning salmon navigate up river and allows gravel and river sediment to flow downwards freely.

The Agency has redesigned the ladder in a £40,000 scheme so that it is more natural, with local boulders being used instead of man-made baffles.

This will help the ladder to avoid becoming blocked with silt and allow fish to travel more easily.

"We believe that this new fish ladder design will benefit many other species of fish and will stop further build up of gravel, which prevents any migration up the river," said Bob Clark, project manager for the Agency.

"The Highways Agency has worked very closely with the Environment Agency and English Nature and demonstrates how seriously we take our environmental responsibilities."

Work on the ladder, which is not affecting road-users, started earlier in june 2006, with the anticipated endpoint for the scheme falling at the end of July 2006.

"The Glenderamackin is an important spawning and nursery tributary of the river Derwent, one of the finest salmon rivers in the UK," commented Keith Kendal, fisheries team leader for the Environment Agency.

"These works help protect and enhance the sustainability of all fish species which need to migrate freely within the river."

The new design could be used to improve spawning rates up rivers and streams that run under other trunk roads and motorways.