Dr Chris Gardner of the South East Rivers Trust has written an article entitled "How Weirs Affect Fish Communities" in which he writes: "River restoration describes a set of activities that help improve the environmental health of a river or stream. These activities aim to restore the natural state and functionality of the river system to promote improved fish populations, biodiversity, recreation, flood management and development. Restoration to improve fisheries tends to focus on increasing habitat quality and diversity, and a popular method of achieving this is by addressing barriers such as weirs. Humans have adapted rivers for our own use, modifying them to facilitate land use for agriculture and development, navigation, water supply, power generation and other priorities. Fish evolved in rivers before humans had this influence and are therefore not adapted to the modifications we have made, such as dredged sections, straight uniform channels and weirs." Read the piece in full online
here.http://www.southeastriverstrust.org/how-weirs-affect-fish-communities/
http://www.southeastriverstrust.org/how-weirs-affect-fish-communities/