The critically endangered
European eel is being given a helping hand
by the Environment Agency after Parliament
stepped in to encourage the species’ recovery.
The critically endangered
European eel is being given a helping hand
by the Environment Agency after Parliament
stepped in to encourage the species’ recovery.
Under the new legislation,
the Environment Agency can require eel passes
and screens to be installed on all rivers
and streams where barriers such as weirs
or sluice gates prevent eels from moving
upstream to grow or downstream to spawn.
In the past 20 years,
the eel has seen a dramatic decline across
Europe. The number of baby eels entering
our rivers has fallen by 95 per cent because
of a range of factors including loss of
habitat and barriers to migration. However
other aquatic wildlife, such as salmon and
otters, has thrived thanks to the Environment
Agency’s continuous work on water quality,
which has improved for the 19th year in
a row - the best it has been for over a
century.
Legislation introduced
in January aims to increase European eel
numbers across England and Wales after the
International Union for the Conservation
of Nature described the species as ‘critically
endangered’.
Starting at a couple
of hundred pounds, eel passes can be cheap
to install and have already proved successful
in giving the species access to new stretches
of water. Plans to install over 100 eel
passes across the country are already underway.
Environment Agency eel
expert Andy Don said:
‘We know that even one
eel pass in the right location can have
an instant effect. Two passes installed
along a watercourse that flows into the
River Parrett in Somerset saw 10,000 eels
queuing up to use them on the first night,
and both 2008 and 2009 saw around 40,000
eels using the passes each year.
‘From now on we are able to stipulate that
eel passes or screens must be fitted where
there are barriers to migration, making
our waterways much more eel friendly. Enabling
eels to get access to habitats they would
otherwise be deprived of gives them the
best possible chance to grow and mature
before making their incredible journey back
to the Sargasso Sea.’
ENDS
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NOTES FOR EDITORS
2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.
Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth,
is essential to sustaining the living networks
and systems that provide us all with health,
wealth, food, fuel and the vital services
our lives depend on.
+ More
Environment Agency outlines
flood investment plans
Environment Agency announces
plans to spend over 57GBP million to reduce
the risk of flood and coastal erosion in
the North West
The Environment Agency
today (Thursday 11 February 2010) announced
plans to spend over 57GBP million to reduce
the risk of flood and coastal erosion in
the North West for the year to March 2011.
The investment includes
funds to:
• build river and coastal defence schemes
• deliver on-going recovery works in Cumbria
following the floods in November 2009
• increase public awareness of the Environment
Agency’s Floodline. Call: 0845 988 1188.
Today’s investment forms
part of the Environment Agency’s strategy
to reduce the risk of flooding to more than
15,000 additional properties in the North
West by 2015.
Some of the key flood
and coastal erosion defence projects planned
to benefit from funding in the 2010/2011
financial year include:
Cumbria: 1.1 GBP million
to progress on-going recovery works across
the county following the floods in November
2009 (including the flood defence strengthening
works in the High Hill area of Keswick due
to be completed by June 10.)
Thacka Beck: 3 GBP million
for the Thacka Beck flood alleviation scheme
in Penrith that will see the creation of
a flood storage basin and the replacing
and repairing of culverts to protect approximately
260 properties.
Altmouth pumping station:
3.9 GBP million to complete the on-going
refurbishment works at Altmouth pumping
station. The scheme will protect more than
9,000 properties when completed.
Warrington: 800,000
GBP has been allocated to continue developing
flood risk management schemes in light of
the current public consultation that is
running until 08 March 2010. Click: www.environment-agency.gov.uk/floodriskwarrington
to take part in the consultation.
Wigan: 5 GBP million
to construct an upstream flood storage basin
and bring improved flood protection to around
600 properties. The Wigan Flood Alleviation
Scheme is due to be completed in March 2011.
The Environment Agency
has welcomed increasing Government spending
on flood and coastal defences, but has warned
that increased funding must continue in
order to reduce risk and protect against
rising sea levels and the more intense rainstorms
that will come with climate change. The
Government’s environmental watchdog has
estimated that investment in the building
and maintenance of defences will need to
increase to 1 GBP billion a year nationally
by 2035 to maintain current levels of protection
across England and Wales.
The Environment Agency
already seeks financial contributions from
those organisations such as developers and
industries who directly benefit from flood
defence schemes, and will look to increasing
contributions from other sources to complement
public investment from Government.
Key schemes completed
during 2009/2010 include the final stages
of a 40 GBP million scheme to protect 3,300
properties in Carlisle. The project, after
emergency Environment Agency repairs to
shore up the incomplete sections, protected
800 properties from flooding during last
November’s Cumbria floods.
Jeff Lawrenson, Flood
and Coastal Risk Programme Manager (North
West), said: “We will invest 57 GBP million
in the North West on protecting lives and
property from flooding and coastal erosion
in the year to March 2011.
“The 2007 floods cost
homeowners, businesses, emergency services
and others some 3.2 GBP billon. The high
costs of flooding underline the importance
of continued investment in reducing flood
risk, particularly in face of the more frequent
and heavy storms and rising sea levels that
will come with climate change.
“It is essential that
we continue to defend communities, businesses
and the economy from the risk of flooding
and coastal erosion. The Environment Agency
has completed flood protection schemes in
Carlisle, Lancaster and Stanah in the North
West over the past two years, providing
increased protection to over 8,000 properties.
“Whilst continued investment
is crucial, flooding cannot always be prevented
so be prepared – call the Environment Agency’s
Floodline on: 0845 988 1188 to find out
if your home or business is at risk of flooding.”
