Bex (RebeccaComms)

@rebeccabroad.com

199 Followers 172 Following

Writer, Devon Wildlife Trust Trustee, non-exec director, freelance comms person 🌿 BSc Bio, Exeter alumna. Chatting nature, equality, charity comms, VAWG, governance etc

The River Torridge is one of the main catchments where our Northern Devon Natural Solutions project has focussed its work. So it's very encouraging to hear of the success of a local initiative which is boosting salmon populations in the river. Volunteers from the Torridge Rivers Association have established a hatchery where they are now raising young fish which in coming years should help salmon recover after decades of falling numbers. Last December five adult female salmon, known as hens, were caught during their migration up the river. Their fertilised eggs were then stored in tanks and left to develop. One of the greatest obstacles to successful salmon spawning and egg hatching is the absence of clean unpolluted river water and clean gravels free from a covering of sediment. The tanks provided the ideal conditions - largely free of pollution and with predators absent. In January the eggs began to hatch and the baby fish, known as alevin, were fed and allowed to grow. Then in spring came the moment of release. Volunteers were able to put out a grand total of 33.000 young salmon into areas of the river where the conditions are known to be most favourable. In a few years - all going well - some of these fish will make their journey to the sea where they will mature, before returning as adults to their 'home' river, the Torridge. There they will breed and begin the lifecycle once more.
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