The ACA Forum

Conserving the Devonshire Avon from source to sea

salmon

AVON WATER AT A CRITICAL LEVEL

As a ‘spate’ river, the levels of water in the Avon can rise and fall dramatically in response to rainfall; an effect made even more acute by the construction of the Avon Dam in the early 1950s, which effectively shut off much of the water and gravel flow arising from...

Gravel augmentation helps salmon to breed in upper Avon

A programme of gravel augmentation has been successfully carried out on the upper Avon by the Westcountry Rivers Trust, funded by South West Water, as an extension of collaborative work to improve the riparian environment for fish.   Gravel is an essential component...

FIRST EVER ‘ECOLOGICAL’ WATER RELEASE MADE FROM AVON DAM

In mid-April, the first ever water release was made from the Avon Dam in the hope that the extra water would facilitate the natural movement of salmon smoult which takes place at this time of year.    The release, the first in the 60-odd years since the dam was built,...

Electrofishing report on the Avon, Erme & Yealm

This report by Scott West, the SHRImP project manager from The Westcountry Rivers Trust (WRT) describes a semi-quantitative fry index electrofishing survey throughout the Rivers Avon, Yealm & Erme in July and August 2014. This was the second year of fish...

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