Case study:River Dee

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Location: 52° 57' 3.29" N, 3° 0' 34.44" W

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Project overview

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Status	Complete
Project web site	http://www.riverdee.org.uk/welcome.asp
Themes	Economic aspects, Habitat and biodiversity, Hydromorphology, Land use management - agriculture, Monitoring, Spatial planning
Country	England
Main contact forename	Nick
Main contact surname	Elbourne
Main contact user ID	User:NickRRC
Contact organisation	River Restoration Centre
Contact organisation web site	http://www.therrc.co.uk
Partner organisations	River Dee Trust
Parent multi-site project
This is a parent project encompassing the following projects	No

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Project summary

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Obstructions to fish migration on the Dee:

Since 2007, the Dee DSFB and Trust have eased or removed 27 manmade obstructions to fish migration from the river Dee's tributaries.

the aim is simple: To allow fish to gain access to their natural spawning grounds.

These manmade obstructions include weirs, bridges, vehicle fords and culverts. Some are completely impassable to fish, others are impassable in low flows; the latter can delay migration and have a knock-on effect of making fish more vulnerable to predators and stress.

In 2007 we assessed all the known manmade obstructions to prioritise them for easement or removal. For example, removing an obstruction that is on a tributary with poor habitat for salmon, or that is located close to the headwater source, will offer a lot less potential for increasing fish production than removing an obstruction that is low down on a prime-quality tributary.

The physical work of tackling the obstructions is often supported by obtaining external funding, particularly from SEPA's Water Environment Fund and from the EU LIFE fund. The physical works are completed by contractors or in many cases by our staff.

In 2014, the largest manmade obstruction was eased by installing a fish pass to the face of the Culter dam and two weirs further upstream in the Culter tributary were eased

Monitoring surveys and results

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On 3rd October 2014 the first salmon ascended the Culter Dam in over 250 years, thanks to a fish pass we installed on the dam just days earlier funded entirely by businessmen Martin Gilbert and Stewart Spence. This dam, at Peterculter, is the largest man-made obstruction on the River Dee.

• 2014 Season: Numbers up the fish pass to date (June 2015): 43 Salmon 69 Sea trout

Why install a fish pass on the Culter?

The fish pass has opened up 76 miles of habitat in the previously inaccessible Culter burn for migratory salmon and sea trout to re-establish natural populations in.

Only the lowest one mile of burn is below the dam and so accessible to salmon and sea trout. The spawning and rearing habitat in this part of the burn is fully utilised, resulting in high juvenile fish densities. High juvenile fish densities mean lots of competition and higher mortality rates. Creating more rearing habitat for juveniles will result in lower mortality rates and so higher fish production.

Once habitat restoration work is completed in the Culter catchment we expect to see an additional 1,500 salmon returning to the Dee each year.

These salmon may be available to the catch and release rod fishery as far up river as Banchory, as our radio tracking studies show how fish may wander up to 20km upstream from where they eventually spawn.

Monitoring Fish Pass Success

A Vaki fish counter is installed at the top of the fish pass to record how many fish are using the pass to ascend the dam. The counter records the length of each fish. We assume that all fish longer than 50cm are salmon, fish between 30 and 50cm length are sea trout and fish less than 30cm are brown trout. In practice, there is some size overlap, particularly between small salmon and large sea trout. Our scale data show we would expect 6% error in these classifications.

Lessons learnt

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Image gallery

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Catchment and subcatchment Select a catchment/subcatchment Edit the catchment and subcatchment details (affects all case studies in this subcatchment) Catchment River basin district Dee River basin Middle Dee Subcatchment River name Dee - Chester Weir to Ceiriog Area category 1000 - 10000 km² Area (km2) Maximum altitude category 100 - 200 m Maximum altitude (m) 136136 m <br />0.136 km <br />13,600 cm <br /> Dominant geology Calcareous Ecoregion Great Britain Dominant land cover Improved grassland Waterbody ID GB111067057080 Other case studies in this subcatchment: QUERCUS Dee Site Edit site Name Dee Restoration WFD water body codes GB111067057080 WFD (national) typology WFD water body name Dee - Chester Weir to Ceiriog Pre-project morphology Single channel Reference morphology Sinuous, Pool-riffle Desired post project morphology Heavily modified water body No National/international site designation Local/regional site designations Protected species present No Invasive species present No Species of interest Dominant hydrology Quick run-off, Groundwater Dominant substrate Gravel, Cobble River corridor land use Extensive agriculture Average bankfull channel width category 5 - 10 m Average bankfull channel width (m) Average bankfull channel depth category 2 - 5 m Average bankfull channel depth (m) Mean discharge category Mean annual discharge (m3/s) Average channel gradient category Average channel gradient Average unit stream power (W/m2) Project background Edit project background Reach length directly affected (m) Project started Works started Works completed Project completed Total cost category Total cost (k€) Benefit to cost ratio Funding sources Cost for project phases Phase cost category cost exact (k€) Lead organisation Contact forename Contact surname Investigation and design Stakeholder engagement and communication Works and works supervision Post-project management and maintenance Monitoring Reasons for river restoration Edit reasons for restoration Mitigation of a pressure Abstraction, Reservoir impoundment Hydromorphology Channel pattern/planform, Quantity & dynamics of flow, Flow velocities, Continuity for organisms Biology Fish: Species composition, Fish: Abundance Physico-chemical Other reasons for the project Fisheries Measures Edit Measures Structural measures Bank/bed modifications Planting, Introduction of spawning gravels, Regrading Floodplain / River corridor Planform / Channel pattern Adding sinuosity Other Non-structural measures Management interventions Social measures (incl. engagement) Other Information provision, Consultation, Participation in design Monitoring Hydromorphological quality elements Edit Hydromorphological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Biological quality elements Edit biological quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Fish: Species composition Yes Yes Yes Improvement Fish: Abundance Yes Yes Yes Improvement Physico-chemical quality elements Edit Physico-chemical quality elements Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Any other monitoring, e.g. social, economic Edit Other responses Element When monitored Type of monitoring Control site used Result Before measures After measures Qualitative Quantitative Monitoring documents Upload monitoring documents Additional documents and videos Upload additional documents Additional links and references Edit links and references Link Description Supplementary Information Edit Supplementary Information