RIVERS in the North-East have been stocked with grayling this week in a bid to boost natural populations of the species.

The Environment Agency stocked the Clow Beck near Darlington and the Rivers Blyth and Pont in Northumberland with 3,000 grayling – 6,000 altogether.

These rivers have suffered from poor water quality and habitat degradation in the past, but efforts by the Environment Agency is helping turn them around.

The Clow Beck, which flows into the River Tees near Darlington, was hit by pollution incidents last year and again this year.

These new grayling will start to put the stream back on course for recovery.

The stocking on the Rivers Blyth and Pont started near Matfen and are aimed at boosting fish stocks following previous pollution incidents and as part of ongoing work to improve habitat.

Environment Agency Fisheries Officers Paul Frear and Robbie Stevenson introduced the grayling to their new homes on Thursday.

They were helped by youngsters Finlay and Erin Reed at Clow Beck and Mr Stevenson said: “We’re pleased we can help with the restoration of these watercourses and it’s now time to help fish stocks recover.

“It is good news for local anglers and conservation alike as there should be a wider variety of healthy adult fish in our rivers.”

The grayling introduced are one-year-old and some of them will begin to spawn themselves in the spring of 2017.

It is hoped that by stocking these young fish over the next few years, the population of grayling in these rivers and streams will return to healthy numbers.

The grayling all come from the Environment Agency’s Fish farm at Calverton, in Nottinghamshire, where between 350,000 and 500,000 fish are produced to stock rivers across the country each year.