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Around a tonne of fish were moved from the Basingstoke Canal during "dewatering" works.

The Woking stretch of the canal, which has now been refilled with water, underwent maintenance work overseen by the Basingstoke Canal Authority .

An estimated 1,088kg of fish were moved during the work to mend the Rive Ditch Culvert, running under the Woking stretch.

This included around 21,000 common roach, more than 2,000 perch, four eels and five carp.

A large wels catfish was also discovered, and as a non-native fish, it has now been rehomed in Devon.

Canal manager Fiona Shipp said shopping trolleys, road signs, litter bins and bicycles were dragged out of the water , filling around seven trailers.

According to the authority, no items were handed over to police .

“We got out all the big stuff that would cause problems for narrow boats,”she said. “It’s all up and running again. The culvert was damaged, it’s a 200-year-old stretch.”

The authority uses CCTV cameras to check the condition of the culverts. “That was the one that needed some serious work,” said Miss Shipp.

Although there are no "definite" works planned for the Woking stretch in the near future, she said the authority hopes to have trip boats running in the area.

During the work, an eye was kept on pennywort - a plant growing in the canal - and a spray may be used to control its growth.

In order to move the fish upstream, while the water was pumped out between Skew Bridge and Monument Bridge, the authority subdivided the stretch into 50 and 100-metre sections and put in a seine net.

The fish rescue report read: “Catches were higher than expected, with the areas around the bridges being the most prolific.

"The initial section at Skew Bridge contained a shoal of around 100 1kg to 1.5kg bream, while the 200m or so either side of the Chertsey Road Bridge yielded a shoal of roach estimated at over 500kg.

“Between these hot spots, the fish population was relatively low, mainly consisting of small numbers of pike and perch with a few stray roach and bream.

“The only carp were seen in the area between Monument Road Bridge and the flash just to the west.”

Total number of fish moved: