Using a technique called ‘electrofishing', the team – working with Glandŵr Cymru, the Canal & River Trust in Wales – removed almost 2,000 brook lamprey and hundreds of European eels, both of which are legally protected in the UK due to their declining numbers.
Although not navigable by boat, the canal is an important wildlife habitat and water source, as well as a green corridor used by residents, and is the subject of ongoing restoration work aimed at revitalising the waterway. The findings are positive news for the canal, much of which was filled in over the past 50 years.