Atlantic salmon swim into Derbyshire for first time in 150 years

ATLANTIC salmon have been found in a Derbyshire river for the first time since the Industrial Revolution, after work to improve polluted waters.

The fish were spotted in the Ecclesbourne river, near Duffield, Derbyshire, marking the first time they have been recorded there since checks began. They disappeared from the area in the 18th century, when weirs were built to serve water mills producing textiles. Factories polluted the water, and the weirs stopped the fish reaching their breeding grounds.

Matt Buck, an Environment Agency fisheries specialist, told the Derby Telegraph: “Salmon is an important species. After two decades of work to improve water quality and the habitat for fish in the Trent catchment area, we have a recovering population of salmon. We are particularly excited to have found juvenile salmon in the Ecclesbourne for the first time in living memory, which indicates the success of salmon in this part of the river. Last year, we saw a record number of sightings of adult salmon.”

The fish came from the North Sea, swam past Hull and down the Trent and Nottingham, on to the Derwent through Derby and then on to the Ecclesbourne. Salmon migration has been given a helping hand with the use of “fish passes”, installed by the Environment Agency and Trent Rivers Trust. Passes are put into waters where man-made or natural obstructions like dams, weirs and culverts interfere with fish migration. They can take the form of ramps or ladders that allow fish to get around the obstructions.

The Environment Agency is taking action across the country to improve salmon stocks, with its Salmon Five Point Approach, launched in 2015. Atlantic salmon are also under threat from a Norwegian parasite, Gyrodactylus salaris, which is just 0.5mm long but is lethal for the fish. Some Norwegian rivers have lost their entire salmon populations because of the parasite.