According to Bradley M. Campbell, commissioner for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), department representatives are to team up with the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to construct a US$610,000 fish way freeing up over 12km of spawning and feeding waters upstream of the Batsto river dam, an installation that has blocked the migration of fish for some 200 years.
DEP is to contribute US$142,000 to the construction costs – US$50,000 of which was provided by the Corporate Wetlands Restoration project – with USACE footing the rest of the bill.
Other partners in the work include the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Pinelands Preservation Alliance.
The ladder project is aimed mainly at the Alewife, American eel and blueback herring and is expected to be in place by the end of 2004.
