BREEDING salmon are thought to have returned to a stretch of river for the first time in more than 30 years.

There have been unconfirmed sightings of salmon in the River Calder in recent years, but now there is real evidence that the fish are spawning in a stretch of water near Whalley.

For the first time in three decades, National Rivers Authority bailiffs have confirmed that salmon egg nests have been seen in a 5km stretch of the Calder between the River Ribble and Whalley Bridge.

The news has been welcomed by local angling groups.

John Wood, vice-chairman of the Ribble Fisheries Association, said: "Salmon had always gone up the Calder until the Industrial Revolution.

"From then on, and over the last 20 or 30 years, there has been so much pollution from industry, sewage and farms that it has become impossible for salmon to spawn here.

"My association and the National Rivers Authority have been working hard collecting eggs to put in the river and generally cleaning the water up and it is marvellous to see all that effort finally paying off.

"What we need to do now is keep a very watchful eye on more pollution of the river system and poaching to ensure the fish keep coming." Salmon lay eggs in nests called "redds" and, after a redd was spotted in the river below Whalley Bridge in January, NRA officers set out to count other redds in the Lower Calder.

They found eight more and almost all of them looked fresh.

Mark Atherton, the NRA's fisheries and recreation manager, said it was not yet known whether salmon had returned to the river for good or if this year was a one-off.

He said: "It is the first time we have seen redds in that area for more than 30 years.

"It is very encouraging to see these fish coming back into the Calder and it should encourage further efforts from everyone in the catchment to maintain and improve the water quality so this is not just a one-off."

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