ANOTHER stage in the recovery of a once-polluted river will see the return of salmon, sea trout and eels for the first time in hundreds of years.
Funding has been secured by the Environment Agency and Gateshead Council to build a fish pass on the River Derwent.
It will be located at Derwenthaugh weir, also known as Lady’s Steps, about a mile away from where the River Derwent joins the River Tyne near the Metrocentre.
The large weir was built in the 18th Century and has stopped fish from reaching spawning grounds up the Derwent ever since. Swalwell Visitor Centre is built on the site of an old forge which was powered by water from the River Derwent.
The work will also benefit species like brown trout, grayling and dace that become stranded below the weir after floods.
The fish pass will be a sloping channel built into the weir with two pools which provide areas for fish to rest as they go upstream. This will also help to reduce the flow of the water.
Work on the fish pass is set to start in January. Jon Shelley, project manager at the Environment Agency, said: “By building a fish pass we’ll be allowing salmon and sea trout to move freely into the River Derwent for the first time since the 18th Century.
“We try to help fish along rivers wherever we can, and are always looking for ways we can increase the opportunity for affordable salmon and sea trout angling. This project will open up access to a salmon and sea trout fishery on the Tyne that everyone can enjoy.”
The project will also enhance the popular Derwent Walk Country Park. The area near the weir was also formerly the Derwenthaugh coke works, which was the subject of a large clean-up project by Gateshead Council in the 1990s.
Some historic contamination from the coking industry still remains below the weir. Special precautions will be taken to prevent any pollution damaging the environment.
Gateshead Council cabinet member for transport and environment John McElroy said: “The River Derwent was once at the heart of an industrial and heavily polluted landscape, but the transformation since is nothing short of amazing. This fish pass represents the latest major improvement for wildlife in the Derwent Valley, an area now known more for its wildlife than its industrial past.”
