THE North-East has some of the best salmon fishing in the UK, thanks to conservation work on the River Tyne.

The Tyne has recorded the highest catch of salmon in England and Wales every year since 1998 - a huge change from the 1960s when no salmon were caught in the river because of poor water quality.

It is thought that as many as 20,000 salmon return to the Tyne each year to spawn.

The transformation of salmon numbers in the Tyne has been put down to the work of the Kielder salmon hatchery in Northumberland, the largest conservation hatchery in England and Wales.

Operated by the Environment Agency, the hatchery was established to compensate for the loss of habitat when Kielder Reservoir was built.

Phil Rippon, technical specialist at the Environment Agency, said: “Anglers on the Tyne have reported the highest catch of salmon in England every year since 1998 – providing evidence that the River Tyne is one of the best rivers in England and Wales for salmon stocks at present.

“This is fantastic news for the North-East. Not only are salmon a valuable ecological and economic fish stock, the current strength of fish populations demonstrates the huge improvements that have been made to water quality and the natural habitat over the past 20 years.

“Thanks to work and investment by the Environment Agency, Northumbrian Water, their predecessors and other partners, such as the Tyne Rivers Trust, the situation has improved greatly.”

Kielder hatchery manager Richard Bond said: ''It's a very important part of the river for spawning and for the young salmon.

''We are the biggest salmon conservation hatchery in England - we get between 30,000 and 50,000 salmon and sea trout in the river and of that I would guess 15,000-20,000 is salmon.

''It's now the best river for salmon in England and Wales and we estimate there is 5,000 rod catches each year.

''But there has been a huge improvement in the water quality over time.''

The latest fisheries statistics reports are available at environment-agency.gov.uk/fishstats