Teams from the Environment Agency (EA) and West Cumbria Rivers Trust (WCRT) have joined forces in their mission to protect and improve Atlantic salmon populations in the River Derwent catchment, Cumbria.
Together they have delivered an innovative new method of helping to improve stocks of the iconic species by moving several hundred wild salmon fry in a densely populated area downstream of How Beck into a newly improved habitat area upstream that had been previously devoid of salmon.
How Beck is a tributary of the River Derwent – one of 42 principal salmon rivers in England. Prior to moving the young fish, the teams made improvements to the barriers to fish migration downstream and carried out habitat improvement works upstream by reconnecting the beck to its natural gravel supply.
Many fish, including salmon, need clean and readily available gravel to spawn on. Historically, as in many other areas of the country, different land uses within the River Derwent catchment have disconnected the gravel supply, reducing the available habitat for spawning salmon.
Real gains to salmon numbers
Phil Ramsden, Fisheries Technical Specialist at the Environment Agency in Cumbria said:
This project demonstrates the value of our partnership work with West Cumbria Wildlife Trust in helping to improve the habitat for fish and giving salmon numbers a boost in the Derwent catchment.
It’s an idea we have trialled successfully before, but it is still novel, and very rarely deployed in the UK. We are expecting the project will lead to real and tangible gains in salmon numbers in the Derwent system.