Fish Pass Phase I
In October 2012 we built a fish pass just upstream of the bridge between Kennet Place and Town Mill in Marlborough to enable fish to swim up and down the river and repopulate the river towards Manton, Clatford, West Overton and above. It was operating in time for the winter spawning season.What is a fish pass?
A fish pass is a way to make it easy for fish to swim up and down the river. At Town Mill the existing weir, which had a drop of more than a metre, was replaced with a series of 3 pools and steps. The structure was constructed from oak and concrete.
Why was it needed?
In 2011/12 the river upstream from Marlborough dried up completely and thousands of fish died as a result. Now the river has water in and the fish pass makes migration upstream possible for fish, to repopulate the river towards Manton, Clatford, West Overton and above. Further information and diagram.