Freight traffic suspended following fish deaths

THE Canal & River Trust has temporarily suspended freight traffic on the Aire & Calder Navigation in West Yorkshire as investigations continue into the harm being caused to wildlife.

A significant number of fish deaths have occurred in a localised stretch of the navigation at Knottingley. While commercial barges have been limited to slower speeds and reduced loads in the past few weeks, the impact on fish has continued without explanation.

On January 11, 2022 – the first passage post-Christmas – the trust estimated it sighted around 100 dead fish following commercial passage.

Sean McGinley, Yorkshire & North East regional director, explained: “It is a priority to complete our investigation to establish why, on this short stretch of the navigation, fish are being harmed in this way. While there are environmental benefits of barge traffic in taking lorries off the region’s roads, we are told by the operators that to reduce load sizes further would make passage uneconomic. We have taken the difficult decision to temporarily suspend freight and will continue to work with freight operators as part of our investigations.

“A series of pre-arranged, carefully monitored passages to determine and subsequently avert the impact of freight vessels on wildlife will continue alongside sampling to identify the presence of any toxins.”

The trust supports freight by water where possible on its waterways, as a greener, more sustainable alternative to lorry loads. Within the last 18 months it has spent £5 million to facilitate freight passage on the Aire & Calder Navigation – dredging sections of the waterway, training freight volunteer lock keepers and repairing the navigation following the major breach in December 2020.

Richard Parry, chief executive of Canal & River Trust, added: “We appreciate the frustrations of pausing freight operations, but we must remain mindful of the environmental impact this is having. To allow it simply to continue to operate as normal, knowing that it is likely to cause numerous fish deaths, would be wrong. We are working urgently to determine the cause and to identify effective solutions working with the freight operators.”

More on this story from Jonathan Mosse on page 14, written before the CRT announced the suspension of freight movements as we went to press.