Something fishy’s going on in canal’s drainage project

Fish are being removed from a West Lothian canal as drainage work gets underway on the 200-year-old waterway.

The Union Canal in Linlithgow is being drained so that experts can inspect the embankments and repair any damage so the canal will be around for future generations.

In order to complete the drainage work needed to carry out the inspections, all the fish must first be removed from the canal using electro fishing equipment - which stuns the fish so they can be removed from the water but does not harm them.

Peter Dennis, aquatic scientist at APEM LTD, is in charge of removing the fish from the canal.

He said: “We’ve taken out about 400 so far but we expect a lot more as the water drains down. They present themselves a lot more readily.”

The biggest fish pulled from the canal by Tuesday afternoon was a 60cm, 12 pound pike.

Around 5km of the canal will be drained so that engineers can carry out their work.

Richard Millar, director of infrastructure at Scottish Canals, said: “This is a critical project for us. We are the keepers and the guardians of the heritage of this 200-yearold canal.

“We need to make sure that we identify the work that is needed so that the canal is here and prospering for the next 200 years.”

The canal should be fully drained by Monday, bar about 350mm, before the water is gradually filled back in over a period of four or five weeks.

A the water goes down it is hoped Scottish Canal workers are waiting to see what are uncovered from the depths.

Dr Olivia Lassiere, heritage and environmental manager at Scottish Canals, said: “There’s all sorts of weird things that we can find.

“There could be old bottles and coins and because there’s so much mud on the bottom they would be well presereved.

“We could potentially find something around 200 years old.”