CELEBRATION OF SALMON IN THE RIVER DON
This event was held online this morning. It was supposed to be a get-together of all parties involved, but circumstances prevailed and it had to be a zoom meeting. However, that didn't detract from the message that the River Don is so much cleaner today than it was 30-40 years ago so that salmon are now able to swim up river as they used to do 200 years ago.
Several people from the Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water, Don Catchment River Trust and Lottery Fund spoke, saying how working in partnership has turned the river from being water in which nothing could survive and had only 'one in a billion chance of ever doing so' (Chris Firth MBE 1980). But in 1989 the government made a decision to change its organisational approach to rivers and the combined working of all the agencies meant that by 1997 the first spawning salmon , an 11 pounder, had been found, unfortunately dead, at a sluice in Doncaster, as it had been unable to get any further.
At that point it was decided that the only thing to do was replace the sluice with a fish pass, which was done with great success when in 1998 another salmon was seen at Sprotbrough weir.
The Don Catchment River Trust then initiated the installation of 12 fish passes and other easements and, although there are still a few left to do higher up the river's higher reaches, salmon are now being seen on a regular basis as far as Sheffield. Lampreys have also been discovered showing that the river is healthier now then it has been for a great many years; kingfishers, herons and many other species are now a regular sight around The Flash, as can be seen from our Don Gorge Calendar for 2021, to which members of the Flash Facebook page have contributed.
The work is ongoing, with the aim of making the river more accessible to local people and our group continues to be part of that, so if you are free on a Tuesday or Thursday please give consideration to joining our volunteers as they enhance the area in so many ways.
It is hoped that a video that was shown at the meeting will be available soon and I will then post a link so that you can watch it.
THE DON GORGE CALENDAR 2021
Orders are now being taken for this, price £6, by Liz Reeve:
We would welcome any enquiries and will always answer to the best of our knowledge.
Please email: lizreeve@dongorgecommunitygroup.com
