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BREEDING SALMON RETURN TO THE DERWENT FISHERIES officers are confident that salmon populations in the
River Derwent are on the increase after they spotted the first adult
male salmon since 1988.
An Environment Agency officer spotted the fish during a routine
patrol at Costa Beck, north of Malton in North Yorkshire.
The fish, which unfortunately was dead, was sent to Agency fisheries
scientists in York for examination. Scientists confirmed that the
fish, which had been dead for about three days, had weighed around
8lb and had spawned before its death.
Further investigations of the scales revealed that the fish had
spent two years in freshwater before entering the sea for two years
and finally returning to the river at the end of last summer.
Shaun McGinty, fisheries officer for the Derwent, said: “This is a
fantastic find. We suspected that there were one or two salmon in
the Derwent and after last summer’s surveys we knew that they were
once again breeding.
“This fish certainly confirms this and we have been able to draw
valuable information from it. We will continue to keep an eye on the
now increasing population in the hope that it will steadily return
to that of 200 years ago.”
Salmon were a common sight on the Derwent, as they were on most of
Yorkshire’s rivers, prior to the Industrial Revolution. Since then
there have been occasional sightings on the Derwent, with the last
adult caught by the Agency during a survey at Stamford Bridge in
1988.
During the summer last year, fishery officers discovered young
salmon in Costa Beck and Stamford Bridge, pointing to a return of
breeding salmon to the system.
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