Borders weir removal to help migratory salmon

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

A river restoration project in a remote Scottish Borders valley will see the removal of a disused concrete weir, allowing spawning Atlantic salmon to reach the headwaters of the Halter Burn for the first time in decades.

The works near the village of Kirk Yetholm are being commissioned by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency [SEPA] and will be paid for by the national Water Environment Fund.

The Halterburn Weir, a structure measuring 10 metres across and 1.8 metres high, continues to provide an impassable obstacle for salmon and trout on the six kilometre-long watercourse even though it is no longer needed to serve local agriculture.

Francis Hayes, River Restoration Specialist at SEPA, told us: “Rivers are a vital part of our landscape and a great asset to Scotland. They provide wildlife corridors, opportunities for recreation and wellbeing benefits for local communities. However, there are redundant weirs installed in some rivers, making them impassable to fish such as Atlantic salmon and sea trout.

“The Halter Burn weir is one such barrier. Its removal, made possible through the Water Environment Fund, will bring significant environmental benefits by opening up the watercourse and making it accessible to migrating fish.”

SEPA said the weir’s history - and year of construction - are uncertain. The structure most recently fed a farm pond and then an informal lade that passed water through the neighbouring farm yard probably to water stock. This abstraction and pond had fallen into disuse in recent decades.

The Agency explained: "As yet we do not have a cost for the weir removal works. The activities that will be commissioned this year (2023) will be to survey the area around the works to ensure we understand the structure, the surrounding river character and any potential utilities or other constraints in the area. 

"This will then a allow a detailed design for weir removal to be procured by SEPA. The actual engineering operation to removal the weir would take place at the earliest 2024, or later in 2025."

The weirs SEPA is commissioning fish passage work at are structures which have been redundant for some time. "We do not commission such work on active weirs and dams - for example those which still serve an economic purpose."

Plans for the Halter Burn follow similar initiatives elsewhere in Scotland in a bid to repair watercourses.

SEPA administers the Water Environment Fund on behalf of the Scottish Government and works in partnership with local authorities, landowners, fishery trusts and conservation bodies to deliver an annual programme of river projects.

During 2022, two of the projects completed involved full weir removals from the River Eden at Gateside Mills in Fife and the Bronie Burn near Ellon in Aberdeenshire. 

These schemes, made possible by more than £500,000 of backing from the fund, reinstates the natural migration of fish and allow them to access up to 30 kilometres of upstream habitat that had previously been blocked off. In turn, this will improve the wider health of the rivers by improving their status for fish migration from poor to good.