From SATA's website...
Angling and conservation groups have expressed alarm at the continued delay in properly regulating the use of hydropower turbines on English rivers despite admissions that the current guidelines for hydropower schemes were ‘not fit for purpose’ and risked long-term environmental damage to fish and other ecology.
At a meeting of on Thursday 11 July, the Environment Agency (EA)
board failed to approve new Good Practice Guidelines for hydropower
developments because of a lack of evidence provided by the EA executive
team to support their recommendations that higher flow protection
standards should be adopted. The Angling Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust,
Buglife, Fish Legal, Salmon & Trout Association and WWF have today
demanded a moratorium on all new developments until the necessary
evidence has been gathered to enable a decision to be taken to protect
rivers from further damage.Angling and conservation groups have expressed alarm at the continued delay in properly regulating the use of hydropower turbines on English rivers despite admissions that the current guidelines for hydropower schemes were ‘not fit for purpose’ and risked long-term environmental damage to fish and other ecology.
This latest delay follows years of broken promises and delays with the process of developing the new guidelines. The meeting was expected to approve the executives’ recommendation to adopt new guidelines which would have reduced the amount of water that could be diverted from rivers into hydropower turbines. The proposed guidelines were supported by angling and fisheries NGOs who have attended more than 20 meetings to help draw them up. Their position was based on the best available evidence world-wide, including scores of scientific papers and a review of flow requirements commissioned by the Agency itself from a renowned expert in the field.
You can read the full article here.