Minister for Biodiversity visits Seafield Weir Removal Project on the River Almond
Yesterday, Alison (Director of the Forth Rivers Trust) along with other Trust staff met with Lorna Slater MSP Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity on the banks of the River Almond to celebrate the Seafield Weir removal project funded by NatureScot ‘s Nature Restoration Fund.
We secured just under £60k from the Nature Restoration Fund to work with the weir owner to remove this redundant structure and allow fish to find their own way to habitat up stream. Projects like these are vital in the Forth with many barriers across our catchments stopping fish such as Atlantic salmon, sea trout, brown trout, eel and lamprey from accessing available habitat. With the other works nearing completion on other weirs downstream on the River Almond this will add 38km of headwaters habitat which has been inaccessible for over 100 years.
It was great discussing with the Minister the benefits of these works for the catchment’s fish populations and using this as a model of how organisations like the Trust can tackle these big problems with the weir owner with support from agencies such as NatureScot.
With over 60 other redundant weirs in the Forth rivers to be tackled to open all the rivers and allow them to support our iconic freshwater species including fish and mammals, all stakeholders need to work together and find the best methods of delivery.
We would like to thank the landowner, NatureScot and the minister for being involved with todays site visit. Even the sun was shining!
