Yorkshire Water and partners to help bring salmon back to the River Don

Yorkshire Water and local partners are to start work at Masbrough Weir in Rotherham town centre to help bring salmon back to the River Don which they haven’t been able to call home in over 200 years.

Over two decades ‘fish passes’ have been built on weirs on the Don between Doncaster and Sheffield to enable salmon to freely swim up the river. Now, a multi-partner project has come together to build the last fish pass needed on the Don, to enable fish to return back to their spawning grounds.

The project has been a collaborative effort between the owners of the weir (Canal & River Trust), Don Catchment Rivers Trust, the Environment Agency, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council, and Yorkshire Water.

Speaking about the partnership Ben Gillespie, Technical Specialist (River Resilience) from Yorkshire Water said: “Yorkshire Water is proud to support this project which will help to reinvigorate the environment of the River Don. We’ve been working with the Don Catchment Rivers Trust to improve the River Don for many years, and it’s fantastic to now fully connect up the river from sea to Sheffield! We’re hoping to see an improved river environment, and knock on societal benefits, with people understanding and valuing their local river more than ever before”.

The fish pass is due to be finished this May.