Endangered eels given an easier way to slip through

SOMERSET’S endangered eel population is being given a boost by new eel passes being installed on key water control structures across the county.

- DANIEL MUMBY Local democracy journalist [e-mail]

Eel passes allow eels to safely navigate weirs, sluice gates and flood defences - with some species travelling up to 4,000 miles from their breeding grounds in the Sargasso Sea (part of the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the USA).

European eels are critically endangered, with their numbers falling by around 95 per cent in the past 40 years. Natural England is now doing its bit to reverse this decline, installing 12 new eel passes at water level control structures in the North Moor and Kings Sedgemoor area in partnership with the Parrett Internal Drainage Board.

Further passes will be installed in the coming months and years by the Environment Agency (EA) as part of the Bridgwater tidal barrier project, which is in the early stages of construction. Large numbers of European eels arrive in the Severn Estuary each spring, before swimming inland via the River Brue and River Parrett.