Want to help improve the connectivity of our river network?

Then download a super new app that will enable you to send in photos and details of obstacles that you see when out and about either on, in or by the UK’s rivers.

The River Obstacles project is a joint endeavour by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the Rivers and Fisheries Trust for Scotland (RAFTS), the Environment Agency (EA) and the Nature Locator team. There are thousands of man-made and natural obstacles in our rivers and while some of the former perform important functions (e.g. dams, sluices, weirs and road culverts), they may also cause problems such as restricting the movement of fish, damaging river banks and beds, and posing a hazard to people using water craft.

Of course the location (and the potential impacts) of many obstacles are already known but the organisations above want to harness the power of Citizen Science to locate the ones they don’t know about, particularly in the more remote, upland areas of the UK.

The information received from this app will be used by public bodies, groups of river users, local authorities and private companies to identify redundant man-made obstacles that can be removed from rivers, and prioritise improvements to other obstacles that will yield the biggest environmental improvements. Information on natural obstacles will also be used to expand the database on the natural limits to movement for different species of fish.

Check out the website for more details and how to download the app, here.