Was There Really Salmon In The Rivers Don?

[altus 538]

4 hours ago, PRESLEY said:

There is one  or two John West Salmon tins floating about in the Don thats a cert.  

If they are floating they'll be empty, so I'm afraid that doesn't count as evidence of salmon in the river. 

[Victor Meldrew 33]

A couple of years ago I was talking to a chap fishing the Blonk Street stretch and he told me that he catches a lot of Grayling which is a species in the salmon family and only found in clean water. So certainly possible for salmon to be there now.

[hackey lad 3,955]

48 minutes ago, Victor Meldrew said:

A couple of years ago I was talking to a chap fishing the Blonk Street stretch and he told me that he catches a lot of Grayling which is a species in the salmon family and only found in clean water. So certainly possible for salmon to be there now.

Grayling only live in clean water as do Salmon 

[Findlay 116]

Salmon Pastures or Sheffield Council Waste Services on Attercliffe Road was indeed named because of Salmon in the river. You can see the fish ladders on the Five Weirs Walk.

https://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/jumping-joy-salmon-return-river-don-sheffield-after-200-years-62016

 

Attercliffe could have possibly got its name from Otter Cliff and Otter Road in Attercliffe.

https://longbarrowpress.com/essays/pasts-presents-futures-matthew-clegg/

 

Blackburn Meadows had millions spent on it to clean up the most polluted river in the UK from 200 years of industrial heritage.

Building along the river has resulted in all sorts of chemicals being dumped in the river.

I would like to see a ban on riverside development up to 100 metres from the course so trees and riverbanks can naturally slow down the rates of flow associated in the past with flooding in Sheffield and Doncaster.

It would also create a wildlife corridor all the way through Sheffield. It could take more than a hundred years to create so banning development has to start now.

[Kidorry 189]

I once read the apprentice charter for Sanderson Newbold and it stated that they could not feed their apprentices Salmon more than 3 times a week. So there must have been a plentiful supply then. I think this must have been in the 19th century.

Edited January 20, 2022 by Kidorry
added text

[Annie Bynnol 612]

When the salmon leave the estuary(brackish) water at Doncaster(Kirk Sandall) they can no longer digest food and will live long enough to spawn/milk and begin to die. After spawning/milk the fish are not good to eat.

Having fished for many years on salmon rivers, lore and laws directed that females were always released and the fishing period(not season) was only during flood. Trout are a very much better indicator of a healthy river. 

 

Salmon have had a hard  time getting to Sheffield, the original river passed through miles of bad water between Thorne and the Trent. The Romans did build a drain north from Fishlake to the Aire.

The village of Fishlake near Thorne is the site of was the 'fish farms' and traps dating from at least  the Middle Ages.

Cornelius Vermuyden then made a total mess of the whole area by moving the Don to flow north to the Calder and away from the Trent.

The long lost river is called the "Old Don" and still forms local borders east of Thorne as does the river Went to the north.

Don, Torne and Went are all Welsh words.