Norway And UK Share Salmon-Management Secrets

Environment Agency News Release

Norwegian fishery managers and scientists will be visiting the Environment Agency’s salmon and sea trout facilities in Northumberland on Friday, 13 March, to pick up lessons on the best way of establishing their own facilities back home.

The Norwegians are on a fact-finding mission, following a severe flood in 2006 in one of the best-known salmon rivers in Norway, the Verdal River, which is feared to have badly affected the juvenile salmon population and disturbed salmon spawning and feeding areas.

Part of their guided tour will be to the Environment Agency’s well-established and successful salmon hatchery at Kielder Water, at the headwaters of the River Tyne. The hatchery rears salmon from eggs in order to restock rivers such as the Tyne, Yorkshire Esk and Trent. It has been important in supporting the recovery of the River Tyne, the best salmon river in England and Wales.

The Norwegians are in the process of establishing a new hatchery, and want to visit the Kielder facility to pick up tips on the Environment Agency’s success.

As well as looking at the rearing facilities, the visitors will be able to see the new Kielder visitor centre, part of the recent improvements that are helping the hatchery to build on its reputation for innovation and excellence over the past 30 years.

At Riding Mill, near Corbridge in Northumberland, they will see fish counters and video technology, filming the fish as they swim past underwater. The information is being used to monitor the health of the Tyne’s salmon and sea trout populations, as part of a wider investigation on the impact of the Second Tyne Tunnel development.

Environment Agency ecology officer Niall Cook said: “We aim to share our good practice in salmon management and monitoring with our guests, and explain how we have helped make the Tyne the best salmon river in England and Wales. We’ll also take the opportunity to gain a Norwegian perspective and learn from our visitors how they do things.”

In 1959 there were no rod-caught salmon on the Tyne. Recent years have seen all-time records, with more than 4,000 salmon caught. This is the biggest recovery increase of any salmon river in the UK.