Fresh fish for cleaned-up River Don

THOUSANDS of coarse fish are to be released into the River Don this week as part of the revitalisation of what was once one of country’s most polluted waterways.

Environment Agency fisheries staff will be introducing 500 barbel into the river at Blackburn Meadows and a further 500 at Kilnhurst.

The fish are from the Environment Agency's fish farm at Calverton in Nottinghamshire and are part of an continuing restocking programme to boost recovering populations in rivers where water quality is improving.

“The fish we're stocking later this week will be the last we put into the River Don." said fisheries officer Peter Mischenko.

“We started the stocking programme around 10 years ago to help the river recover from its industrial heritage which had a massive impact on fish stocks.

“Our fish surveys tell us that stocks are now at a sustainable level, with the population breeding well, so there is no need for us to continue to supplement it with additional fish.

“We will continue our other work, including managing obstructions such as weirs to ease the passage of fish, so our rivers can continue to improve for all users of our watercourses.”

This time of year is good for restocking as fish travel better in cold water, which contains more oxygen.

The barbel are one of the native species bred at the Environment Agency’s fish farm and have been marked, meaning they are easy to identify if caught during the annual fish surveys.

This will show fisheries officers carrying out later river surveys whether the smaller fish they catch have been stocked or bred naturally.

The region's rivers are the healthiest that they have been for 20 years and the restocking programme is part of the ongoing campaign to bring further improvements.