After years of deliberation, there are now baffles installed in the Greenock Culvert under the B743 near Muirkirk.
This culvert was a difficult obstacle for salmon and trout as water flumed through it and access was only possible during a very short window of opportunity on a rising and falling water.
Ayrshire Rivers Trust negotiated this work with SEPA and contractor’s George Leslie Ltd following the pollution incident at Catrine last yea as mitigation for that incident. It was a custom designed solution by ART that had been developed over several years and fortunately they already had a CAR license in place. ART jumped at the opportunity to make progress and suggested this proposal to the Board which they agreed.
The baffles were supplied and installed by George Leslie Ltd with ART’s supervision. ART staff were on hand throughout the works to supervise and fine tune as George Leslie staff installed it. Being a custom design, fine tuning is essential to ensure each set of baffles had the desire effect.
Fingers crossed we shall see more consistent juvenile results from the excellent spawning habitat that is upstream; some of the best anywhere in the Ayr catchment.
No matter how this work came about, ART staff are relieved that this culvert has finally been eased. Struan Candlish from the Trust stated that ‘At times we doubted this would ever happen but we never gave up trying and always hoped for this outcome. There is now one less obstacle to ease and one major problem solved!’