THE River Wear has been praised as one of the most improved waterways in England and Wales.
Ten rivers, including the Wear, have been selected by the Environment Agency for shrugging off their industrial past to become attractions for wildlife, walkers and anglers once again. In 1965 just two salmon were caught on the then-polluted River Wear which contrasts with last year’s catch of 1,531 – the best salmon rod catches ever recorded for the river.
The transformation has been achieved thanks to habitat improvement projects, tighter regulation of polluting industries and work with farms and businesses to improve water quality.
Phil Rippon, fisheries technical specialist for the Environment Agency, said: “There has been a lot of work done to improve water quality and fish passage and now the results are really paying off. Salmon can only thrive in good quality water and the Wear is now the second best salmon river in England and Wales, after the Tyne.”
He said that there was still more work to be done on the Wear to encourage the development of coarse fish such as dace and chub.
Earlier this year the agency stocked the Wear with chub and bream to help recovering fish stocks, and provide increased angling opportunities.
Work by the fisheries enforcement team to crack down on illegal fishing also means more mature fish are now reaching their spawning grounds.
Staff have also been working with angling groups to improve fish passage on the Wear and its tributaries such as the River Gaunless, and Cong Burn near Chester-le-Street, by removing obstructions and installing fish passes.
The team is also reinstating reed beds on Cong Burn, which were once a common feature of the floodplain in England and Wales. Reed beds attract a variety of wildlife but many have been lost due to land development.
The agency has also directed improvements in the river’s water quality which have led to the rebuilding of all the sewage treatment works in the Wear catchment and improvements in the sewerage network.
The Wear rises in the Pennines and flows eastward to join the North Sea at Sunderland. It is approximately 100 kilometres long from its source to where it becomes tidal at Lamb Bridge between Chester-le-Street and Washington.
This year, the Environment Agency, with partners such as Natural England, is targeting £18m of funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to help more rivers meet the new EU targets.
The Agency’s most improved rivers also included the Thames, the River Dee flowing from Wales and the Mersey Basin.
