Pitlochry fish ladder
Encyclopedia
The Pitlochry fish ladder is a fish ladder
Fish ladder
A fish ladder, also known as a fishway, fish pass or fish steps, is a structure on or around artificial barriers to facilitate diadromous fishes' natural migration. Most fishways enable fish to pass around the barriers by swimming and leaping up a series of relatively low steps into the waters on...

 next to the Pitlochry Power Station on the River Tummel
River Tummel
The River Tummel is a river in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Discharging from Loch Rannoch, it flows east to a point near the Falls of Tummel, where it bends to the southeast, a direction which it maintains until it falls into the River Tay, just below Logierait, after a course of from its source...

 near Pitlochry
Pitlochry
Pitlochry , is a burgh in the council area of Perth and Kinross, Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. Its population according to the 2001 census was 2,564....

, Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross
Perth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 that allows salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...

 to travel upstream during the breeding season.

Construction details

The ladder was constructed as a result of a 1943 Act of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...

 which laid a duty of care on the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board
North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board
The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board was founded to design, construct and manage hydroelectricity projects in the Highlands of Scotland...

 to preserve fish stocks in the waterways encompassing its power schemes.

It was completed in 1951 alongside the dam for the hydro-electric power station as part of the Tummel Hydro-Electric Power Scheme
Tummel hydro-electric power scheme
The Tummel hydro-electric power scheme for the generation of hydro-electric power is located in the Grampian Mountains, between Loch Ericht, Loch Rannoch and Loch Tummel, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.-References: – PDF file-External links:*...

 and was installed in 1952. It was the first of its type in Scotland.

The fish ladder consists of 34 separate pools, each 1.6 feet (50 cm) higher than the last and covering a distance of 339 yards (310 m). Each pool has a 3.3 feet (1 m) opening below the water level to allow the fish to pass to the next pool; a continuous flow of water maintains the water level in the pools. There are three larger pools which allow the fish to rest during their ascent, and one of these has an underwater viewing area with a glass wall and CCTV cameras to allow the public to observe the fish making their climb during the breeding season. The ladder is equipped with a fish counter
Fish counter
Automatic fish counters are automatic devices for measuring the number of fish passing along a particular river in a particular period of time. Usually one particular species is of interest.One important species studied by fish counters are Atlantic salmon...

 which allows the number of fish making the journey each year to be recorded. In 2006, 7,238 fish were recorded travelling up the ladder.

The dam across the River Tummell at Pitlochry (that led to the formation of Loch Faskally
Loch Faskally
Loch Faskally is a man-made reservoir in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, northwest of Pitlochry.The loch lies between steeply wooded hills and is approximately in length, narrowing to around wide...

) was constructed between 1947 and 1950 as part of the Board's Tummel Hydro-Electric Power Scheme. Without the fish ladder it would have been an impassable obstacle for the migrating salmon.

External links

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