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This natural fish ladder could be a future design model

Ducks Unlimited Canada is testing a new type of natural fish ladder at McCarrick's Marsh in P.E.I. that could be a design model going forward.

Made with natural all-Island material, such as red sandstone and logs, the fish ladder differs from the other 58 fish ladders Ducks Unlimited co-manages with P.E.I. Fish and Wildlife, most of which are made of steel and concrete built in the 1970s, explained the group's conservation program specialist Jonathan Platts.

With some older ladders, Ducks Unlimited has added steps to help small fish get from one pool of water to another. But some very small fish, such as smelts and gaspereau, still aren't able to climb the ladders.

"Having smelt and gaspereau in large numbers come up into a system is very productive for the whole watershed because they bring with them … marine drive nutrients, which released into the watershed and helps to have the whole ecosystem flourish," Platts said.

Attractive to fish

The natural fish ladder looks like a typical brook, but the rocks and logs were strategically placed, by hand, to be helpful and attractive to fish.

The natural fish ladder is also about 40 per cent less expensive to build.

The McCarrick's Marsh fish ladder was built in September 2015.

Ducks Unlimited will give the prototype another winter to see how the Island materials and the design holds up to the weather conditions, but may use the model as it replaces its other Island fish ladders in future.

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