A 'major fish rescue' is underway at Toddbrook Reservoir.
Millions of gallons of water have been pumped out of the Whaley Bridge reservoir to ease pressure on the crumbling dam wall.
That's meant the water level is now at about 10 per cent of its usual capacity - and that's too low to sustain the reservoir's estimated 30,000 bream, perch, roach and pike.
So the fish are being caught using giant nets before being stored in large tanks and transported by truck to Upper Bittell reservoir in Worcestershire.
Experts have begun preliminary work, but it's expected the operation will start in earnest in the next day or so.
The painstaking task is expected to last for up a fortnight and involve dozens of journeys from Derbyshire to the Midlands.
Upper Bittell reservoir, near the Birmingham suburb of Longbridge, was drained and later refilled to allow maintenance work to take place two years ago.
That means it's got plenty of room to accomodate the new arrivals.
The Canal & River Trust, which owns both reservoirs said: "We are carrying out a major fish rescue to re-home thousands of fish which have been affected by the draining of the reservoir.
"Coarse fish, such as bream, roach, perch and pike, have been captured in large nets by our fish specialists and transported mostly to Upper Bittell Reservoir, near Birmingham.
"With an estimated 30,000 fish (about 5,000kg) to rehome, this task is due to take another one to two weeks."
"Upper Bittell reservoir has low fish stocks after it was drained and refilled following maintenance works two years ago and therefore is able to accommodate the large amount of fish without upsetting the local ecosystem.
About 1,500 people were evcauted from their homes in Whaley Bridge on August 1 when the dam wall began collapsing.
Emergency crews urgently pumped water out of the reservoir into the River Goyt while an RAF Chinook dumped bags of aggregate to seal the gap in the dam wall.
The fish rescue comes as repairs to the wall and an investigation into the cause of the collapse continues.
The Canal & River Trust added: "Over the weekend, water levels in the reservoir remained very low and pumps dealt efficiently to remove any new rainwater.
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"The Canal & River Trust and contractor Kier have now taken over responsibility for the site from the emergency services and continue to closely monitor water levels.
"Work to investigate the cause of the damage and develop the longer term plans for repairing the dam wall will start shortly."
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