14 August, 2015
£3.5 million project to restore River Dee
‘Pearls in Peril’ LIFE project: In-stream restoration on the River Dee at Banchory and Sluie/Commonty
Improvements in the River Dee, as part of a £3.5 million UK project to improve habitat for freshwater pearl mussels and salmon, are set to go ahead next week.
Twenty-four large fishing platforms or “croys” will be broken up to restore habitat for the rare freshwater pearl mussel and for salmon.
The fishing croys were constructed in the 1990s from large boulders taken from the river bed. Once a common practice in Scottish rivers, the hope was that they would create pools for salmon and so increase fish catches. This was not the case, and the croys instead reduced habitat for freshwater pearl mussels, salmon and trout.
Colin Simpson, the Ghillie at Lower Blackhall & Kinneskie fishing beat in Banchory, was frustrated by the construction of the Banchory croys in 1995: “All the large boulders which made up the river bed were dragged out of the river by a large digger and heaped up to create the croys, others were used to reinforce the banksides, and in the end the river had changed completely. The damage to the freshwater pearl mussels was devastating and the salmon fishing at the beat has never recovered, in fact the catches got worse.”
All the boulders will now be re-distributed in the river bed from where they were taken to provide habitat and 'lies' for adult salmon. At Banchory, 15 croys will be broken up, and a further 9 croys will be removed from Sluie/Commonty with the additional benefit of allowing gravel salmon spawning beds to recover.
The work is being done as part of the Pearls in Peril project (PIP), co-ordinated by Scottish Natural Heritage and working in partnership with the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and the River Dee Trust. Edwin Third, of the Dee Fishery Board, said: “Freshwater pearl mussels in the River Dee are under immense pressure as they have been affected by river engineering, sediment pollution and the spread of the aquatic non-native plant Ranunculus.”
Freshwater pearl mussels are rare molluscs that live in the gravel beds of clean rivers. They feed by filtering water and removing fine particles and so help to keep our rivers clean. The mussels are critically endangered and Scotland is one of their few remaining strongholds.
There may be some disruption to canoeists as machinery will be operating in the river from Monday to Friday. Please check the River Dee Office for details.
MEDIA QUERIES
Lorna Wilkie – Pearls in Peril Project Officer (Scotland) 07825 185178 lorna@rafts.org.uk
The Dee District Salmon Fishery Board is the statutory body responsible for the protection, preservation and development of salmon and sea trout fisheries in the Dee system. www.riverdee.org
The River Dee Trust is a community-based charitable company, registered in Scotland, No. SC028497. It was set up in 1998 and is tasked with the following aims and objectives:
1. To improve our knowledge of the ecology and associated fish stocks of the River Dee so that practical improvements and restoration of the River and the wildlife it supports can be achieved.
2. To deliver educational information to schools, organisations and individuals living in the North East of Scotland.
Pearls in Peril: PIP is a European funded project aimed at improving and restoring habitat and conditions for salmon and freshwater pearl mussels in rivers across the UK. It is funded through the European Commission LIFE Nature programme and 22 UK partner organisations and runs until September 2016. The in-stream restoration work on the River Dee is being funded by SEPA and the LIFE Nature programme.
Freshwater pearl mussels: Mussel larvae spend the first few months of their lives attached to the gills of young salmon and trout, so healthy fish populations are vital to their lifecycle. Freshwater pearl mussels have historically been fished for the pearls they can produce. However, they very rarely contain pearls and they are fully protected under law – it a crime to kill, injure, take or disturb them.
Contact information
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- SNH Media
- snhmedia@snh.gov.uk
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