University of Southampton, Work Package 3

The University of Southampton is involved in the ongoing management of work package 3 tasks. In the upcoming months and years task leaders such as the University of Durham and Ingenieurbüro Kauppert, as well as members from the International Centre for Ecohydraulics Research (ICER) at the University of Southampton , will be undertaking work to:

(1) Develop a barrier planning (removal and installation) decision support tool,
(2) Improve understanding of poor performance of barrier mitigation, and
(3) Investigating the socio-economic drivers and impediments for successful reconnecting of European rivers

Member of ICER are currently working on gathering existing passage data for a range of aquatic organisms to validate existing ‘rapid barrier assessment protocols’. Various site visits will be planned later in the year to undertake and compare the results of each protocol at key barriers. The results of this analysis will help in the formation of a ‘European standard’ that can be used to assess the passability of riverine infrastructure to aquatic organisms and help guide mitigation efforts.

ICER members are also in the process of reviewing the hydrodynamic conditions common at engineered river infrastructure and planning experimental quantification of the response of weak swimming fish and other neglected aquatic biota to hydrodynamic conditions at stream barriers. Key members of the ICER team also recently attended a week long Agent Based Modelling Workshop to plan and discuss options for modelling the response of aquatic biota at barriers and fishways.

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