Zeeland creek getting €1.3 million fish passage

The Scheldestromen Water Board has started building a fish passage on the De Braakman stream in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. The board expects the work to be completed before the start of the storm season on October 1. Scheldestromen has announced that the project will cost 1.3 million euros and that the province of Zeeland will cover part of the costs.

The construction of the fish passage is intended to make the polder behind De Braakman more accessible for fish. "Species such as glass eels and sticklebacks, in particular, should be able to migrate into the polder in the spring and swim back into the sea as mature fish in the fall," says Scheldestromen. The authority also expects the fish population in the Braakman to improve as a result of the measure.

The fish passage will be installed on the outside of a pumping station near the creek. The project is one of the measures that Scheldestromen is taking to comply with the Water Framework Directive (WFD). This is a European directive on clean water that must be complied with by the member states. Various fish species must also be present in the watercourses.

Fish ladders are structures that help fish pass obstacles such as dams and pumping stations.