As part of the River Ericht Catchment Restoration Initiative, RECRI) the TGA is working closely with Partners on coming up with a plan to stop smolts entering the lade during the migration. At the moment smolts have free access to the lade especialy when there are low flows. In this time of crisis for the Atlantic Salmon, we must ensure every smolt leaves the river and given a chance to return as an adult fish, There are too many pinch points in the lade where smolts could be killed or fatally damaged to allow them into the lade.
This paper shows where and what the pinch points are:
Keeping-wild-fish-in-the-River-Ericht-Feb-1.pdf
Through the RECRI partners’ local network, the project team was put in touch with civil engineer Stewart Robertson. A longstanding Blairgowrie resident, Stewart had been approached by a neighbour and local angler in Spring 2021 about the condition of the Lade Gates at the Brig O’ Blair, which was trapping Salmon smolts, so he was already familiar with the problems that the weirs and the lade were creating.
Stewart kindly volunteered to develop early stage options for the repair of the Lade Gate, which are now in a format which can be shared publicly.
The result is a detailed concept paper of the background issues, engineering design, project plan and costings of a solution which will stop smolts entering the lade. A synopsis of the paper is here:
https://tayghillies.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/TOP-LEVEL-PRESENTATION-01-Feb.pdf
Current projected cost for the baseline concept is £125,000 with a lead time to completion around 14 months. We are updating the concept to include options, after discussion with stakeholders, and these options will be priced and scoped when complete.