Salmon in the City

                        David Hunter, Secretary Trent Rivers Trust.

Having seen a recent presentation by The Trent Rivers Trust on their work to restore salmon to the Trent catchment after an almost total absence of 150 years or so ,the Lady Mayoress of Derby was so impressed by the efforts of the Trust that she asked if she could help in any way  to publicise their work.

So today on the steps of the embankment of the river Derwent, which flows directly in front of the Council House ,she was invited by David Hunter, secretary of, and tireless worker for the Trust, to release 400 salmon parr into the Derwent.

Also present were Jeff Dolby representing The E.A., Tony O'Dowd [another stalwart of the Trust] and members of the press.

The 400 parr were taken from a consignment of 160,000 parr that were stocked into the river Dove yesterday. These parr were brought down from the Kielder hatchery as part of an on-going commitment by the Trust, which has now stocked well over 1,000,000 juvenile salmon into the Trent system mainly via the Dove. These efforts are beginning to reap their rewards as a fairly significant run of salmon, mainly in the autumn, is now appearing in the Dove.

Some of these returnees are also finding their way into the Derwent and this is one of the reasons for the token small stocking today. The Trent Rivers Trust would like to develop a program of stocking salmon into the Derwent, but a lot of work and expense will be involved in providing fish-passes, which the E.A. are not yet willing to help with.

By law passes have to be provided to help the passage of migratory fish, but, say the E.A., there are as yet no such fish. If salmon and sea-trout can successfully be returned to the Derwent ,then maybe the E.A. will have to act. I was told today by the person representing the E.A. that the Derwent is much more likely to be able to successfully sustain salmon as there are more suitable areas for redds etc..

Let us hope that eventually the work of the Trust will result in once again salmon being seen in the city of Derby.

 Mike Bradley

 Anybody wishing to support the Trust can become a member and is asked to make a donation of £15.00, or can simply make any donation they wish. Donations should be made payable to The Trent Rivers Trust and sent to Mr TONY O'DOWD, TRENT RIVERS TRUST, 6, NEWSTEAD ROAD, ANNESLEY,NOTTS..NG15 OAX. Donations can also be made via their web-site www.trentriverstrust.co.uk