Much has been written about the past, present and future of trout on the Sid – and perhaps even more about a possible fish pass on the Sid.
But whilst we wait for that to happen, how can we give migrating fish a (literal) helping hand up the River Sid?
Local fisher Colin considered the state of things back in 2011 on the Devon Rivers Forum:
I live near the river Sid which runs into the sea at Sidmouth. It’s always had a reasonable head of brown trout and in the past, eels. I learnt to fish on the Sid as my childhood home was just up the river from my present home. In recent years we have had runs of fish trying to get over the weir, known as School Weir, but not successfully. The poor fish will never ever make it as it is too high even in the biggest of spates. For the last few years some local people , with help from the EA , have been netting the weir and transporting the fish upstream. Last Saturday we had our record catch and were able to transport 21 brown trout (up to 2lb), 7sea trout (up to 5lb) and two salmon (5lb). These are incredible results for the size of the river and will hopefully lead to even better runs of fish. There is also the possibility of funding for a fish pass.
And in 2015, the then River Warden Peter Brookes reported on progress for migrating Fish in the River Sid:
Trout-netting. Photo taken by Peter Brooks
Since 2007 local volunteers, led by the SVA river warden, have carried out regular ‘fish rescues’ over a period o weeks each autumn. In autumn 2015 a report was received that fish were trying to jump up School Weir (‘some three meters high’). In order to assisted their passage up river, a number of fish ‘rescues’ were arranged whereby fish were carefully netted below the weir and then transported (by wheelie-bin!) to the higher level above the weir, for them to continue their journeyed up stream to spawn. This year we netted 93 larger fish including three salmon along with 90 sea and brown trout, and numerous smaller elvers and younger fish.
There have indeed been reports on how to help migrating fish move up river, including:
There has been significant progress since then, with the publication this year of the 2024 River Sid Engagement Report from the River Sid Catchment Group.
Earlier in the spring, Charles Sinclair of the RSCG gave some excellent context to the work of the group, looking at the project working to bring salmon back to the River Sid.
And this autumn, Ed Dolphin of the SVBG shared some photos of the latest ‘fish rescue’ at School Weir, where hardy volunteers came together to help migrating trout get past school weir to reach the excellent spawning grounds that are in the upper reaches of our river catchment:
First time for five years and the fish count was low, but it is a start and there is a plan to improve many aspects of our local rivers.
Finally, Emily Hobson-Martin of the RSCG reports today that “We have produced a leaflet for a slightly shorter breakdown of the full River Sid Catchment Plan” – and encouragement to join in:
If you’d like to get involved in future projects on the Sid, including the fish lift which we hope to make an annual event, there’s a handy form to complete and someone will be in touch as and when projects come up.
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