The project delivers a removal-ready, multi-dimensional inventory and prioritisation framework for small barriers in the Ceyhan River Basin in Türkiye, providing the foundation for future barrier removal and the river's restoration.
Ceyhan River is one of the largest river systems in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Türkiye. The river flows approximately 509 km through the upper, middle and lower sub-basins before reaching the Mediterranean Sea. An approximately 21,300 km² catchment area contains twelve main tributaries and a river network that exceeds 1,000 km. The river extends across mountain streams, agricultural plains, reservoirs, rural settlements and urbanised corridors within the provinces of Kahramanmaraş, Adana and Osmaniye.
The basin supports 30 fish species and forms part of the neighbouring Ceyhan-Seyhan-Asi freshwater biodiversity region. Eighteen species are endemic to the river systems, while six occur exclusively within the Ceyhan Basin. Its freshwater fauna includes the endemic Ceyhan trout (Salmo chilo), Adana bleak (Alburnus adanensis), Ceyhan scraper (Capoeta erhani) and the critically endangered European eel (Anguilla anguilla). This ecological diversity depends strongly on connectivity between tributaries, headwaters and the main river corridor.
| Project status | Live |
|---|---|
| Project type | Barrier identification and prioritisation |
| Country | Türkiye |
| River | Ceyhan River Basin |
| Focal species | Salmo chilo, Anguilla anguilla, Capoeta damascina, Capoeta erhani, Alburnus adanensis, Squalius kottelati |
| Organisation | Nature and Sustainability Association (DOSDER) in partnership with Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University (KSU) |
| Website | dosder.org.tr |
The Ceyhan Basin is heavily fragmented by nine large dams and numerous hydropower structures. While 58 major barriers have already been documented, the basin is estimated to contain approximately 300 barriers in total, many of them small in-stream structures constructed for irrigation, diversion, recreation and local water use that remain undocumented.
Although individually modest, small barriers interrupt tributaries and seasonal migration routes used by endemic and migratory fish, including Salmo chilo, Capoeta damascina, Alburnus adanensis and the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Existing studies demonstrate the ecological consequences of disrupted longitudinal connectivity, yet the location, ownership, function and current condition of many small barriers are still unknown.
Compared with large dams, obsolete or low-functioning small barriers may offer more technically feasible, lower-cost and manageable restoration opportunities, creating a significant opportunity to transform established ecological knowledge into a basin-wide, removal-oriented assessment that can identify candidates for future river restoration.
The project will integrate existing scientific knowledge, official spatial datasets and field verification to produce the basin-wide, removal-oriented inventory of small barriers in the Ceyhan Basin. Each structure will be assessed using ecological, technical, socio-economic and governance criteria, including ownership, operational relevance, local dependency, target species access, potential river kilometres reconnected and removal readiness.
The resulting prioritisation framework will identify barriers with the highest ecological benefit and implementation feasibility while establishing the stakeholder and governance pathways required for future removal initiatives involving municipalities, public authorities, landholders, NGOs and local users.
The project team will deliver a removal-ready portfolio of priority barriers that can support subsequent ORP implementation projects. The methodology and multi-dimensional prioritisation framework will also provide a transferable model for other river basins in Türkiye where numerous small barriers remain undocumented despite their significant ecological impacts.
Funded by
