This World Fish Migration Day, the Somerset Eel Recovery Project hosted an event in Somerset which brought issues around river restoration and migratory fish passage to a broader audience. The discussion considered the practical implementation of fish passes in lowland catchments, the extent to which existing policies are producing ecological connectivity, and the role of community stakeholders in driving changes in governance approaches and delivering tangible outcomes on the ground. The main theme of the day was the gap between policymakers’ recognition of fish migration and what is actually delivered in practice. River networks in England and Wales remain fragmented by numerous small structures, of which twenty per cent are no longer in active use, while water management assets are rarely addressed in a coordinated way. Across contributions there was consistent reference to the cumulative impact of these barriers, the need for more integrated planning and management approaches, and the limitations of incremental mitigation in restoring connectivity at catchment scale.

The event was organised by Vanessa Becker-Hughes, who coordinated the programme as part of a broader social outreach initiative. Her approach to river restoration is based on sustained community engagement with eel conservation, with major projects including eDNA sampling to assess relative abundance of eels in local ‘rhynes’ and regular engagement with landowners, conservationists, and commercial stakeholders via the Somerset Eel Working Group. Her work has included education and training activities, alongside the revival of traditional skills relevant to waterways such as rush weaving and straw rope making, and she was recently recognised by the Campaign to Protect Rural England for her innovative and effective approach. The latest meeting at the Avalon Marshes Centre was typically SERP in that it explored practical, creative, and emotional responses to environmental changes; and heavily managed systems in which environmental objectives need to be balanced with flood risk management requirements, economic constraints, and the interests of the communities they support.

The Sustainable Eel Group’s contributions followed a clear sequence across the day, covering three related areas of work. Alex addressed fish passage policy and implementation, focusing on cumulative barrier effects across catchments and the limited effectiveness of current approaches which involve achieving connectivity at system scale. He then turned to more positive case studies involving individuals in New Zealand, Zambia, Brazil, and the United States, who have moved from river obstruction or pollution towards active engagement with restoration through World Fish Migration Day. Andrew addressed eel trafficking, highlighting enforcement limitations and the persistence of illegal trade within existing regulatory structures, and pointing to fragmented oversight and cross-border supply chains that continue to enable exploitation despite formal protection. Emelline took an alternative approach, introducing and explaining her ‘eel pilgrimage’ project, then taking her audience on a guided walk from the conference venue along part of the South Drain. The ‘pilgrimage’ was framed as a structured interpretation of a managed drainage landscape from an eel’s perspective, and linked back to her wider conceptual work on movement, loss, and the meaning from landscape and inter-species experiences.

The guidebook for the eel pilgrimage will be published shortly and is designed as a visually compelling and saleable object and will feature artwork by Somerset painter-printmaker Julia Manning, whose presentation on her Decline of Eels woodblock print cycle formed part of the wider programme during the event. It forms part of a wider social impact agenda developed collaboratively by SERP and the Sustainable Eel Group and is intended to explore how cultural interpretation, landscape experience, and public participation can contribute to broader engagement with river restoration and European eel conservation. A forthcoming social impact study will assess the wider effect of SEG’s expanding social programme, including how experiential projects, field-based interpretation, and community engagement shape attitudes towards rivers and migratory species. More information will follow in June.