Salmon seen in once lifeless Dearne

A survey team from the Environment Agency have spotted a 14cm long juvenile salmon in the River Dearne which means the species is back after a gap of more than 150 years.

The return of the fish shows the river is now clean enough to support the species and that engineering work to create a special fish pass at Sprotbrough Weir now allows the species to travel upstream to spawn.

The fish pass also allows coarse fish living downstream of the weir, like barbel, to reach their spawning grounds further upstream.

Weirs were built to power industry or provide deep water for boats during the Industrial Revolution but they also acted as barriers to fish reaching their spawning grounds.

Environment Agency fisheries technical officer, Jerome Masters, said: “Our rivers are the healthiest for more than 20 years and otters, salmon and other wildlife are returning for the first time since the industrial revolution. But there is still more to be done. The construction of the fish pass at Sprotbrough Weir is a significant step in getting salmon back to rivers across South Yorkshire.

“The River Don already supports a healthy population of coarse fish, and adult salmon have been caught in the river in the recent past, but the discovery of this juvenile salmon in the River Dearne is hugely exciting.

“The size of the fish indicates that it was born in early 2014, which means that its parents probably used the fish pass at Sprotbrough Weir shortly after it opened.”

Karen Eynon, project officer of the Don Catchment Rivers Trust, said: “This is great news for the catchment as this species depends on very clean water in our rivers.

“It might be only one juvenile salmon that the Environment Agency found but it shows that salmon are coming up our rivers and spawning. The conditions are right to allow this to happen.

“Since Sprotbrough weir had a fish pass installed by Canal and River Trust and the Environment Agency, this lets fish move up to the next obstacle in the river. On the Dearne this is Bolton-upon-Dearne and on the Don this is Thrybergh weir which is having a fish pass installed alongside a hydroelectric scheme by Canal and River Trust and Yorkshire Hydropower. Once this is completed by the end of September, the next barrier on the Don is at Aldwarke.”