Salmon seen in city for first time in 150 years

A SALMON has been found in the River Don, confirming the species’ return to Sheffield city centre after an absence of 150 years.

The body of the 79cm salmon was reported to the Environment Agency by a member of the public on Wednesday January 2.

The river once teemed with the fish until weirs built to power the mills springing up along the Don began blocking their path during the industrial revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Factories spewing out pollution then made the river too dirty to support salmon, before environmental regulations introduced in the 1970s led to a dramatic improvement in water quality.

The Don Catchment Rivers Trust (DCRT) has been working with organisations including the Environment Agency, the Canal & River Trust, Sheffield City Council and Yorkshire Water to build the passes and improve the habitat so salmon can return.

It spent around £550,000 building five passes as part of its £1.4m Living Heritage of the Rover Don project, bankrolled by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

And now, following the Environment Agency’s recent push to improve water quality and introduce more fish passes to facilitate the migration of our native fish, the re-colonisation of salmon in the Don is becoming a reality.

Jerome Masters, Environment Agency fisheries technical specialist, said: “Although this individual reached the centre of Sheffield, the final two fish passes are still needed in order to re-establish a spawning population.

“Adult salmon do not feed when they enter rivers from the sea and so have only the energy reserves stored in their body to with which to propel them upstream and enable them to spawn successfully. Salmon only leap when they have to and prefer to swim past obstructions when they have the option. Leaping risks injury and as many attempts are often needed ‘drains the fish’s batteries’ before they reach their spawning grounds.”