Salmon and sea trout in the River Tavy are to be given a boost by the Environment Agency with a series of initiatives to improve the habitat of the fish. The agency will be spearheading several projects alongside other partners, including South West Water, to improve salmon river habitats and address obstacles to migration in the river which runs from Dartmoor down through Tavistock and into the Tamar estuary. Like many salmon rivers, the River Tavy has a 'Salmon Action Plan' that pinpoints the main threats to local salmon stocks and helps the agency decide how best to boost fish numbers. The plan includes a target for the number of salmon eggs needed to ensure enough young salmon survive in the river to sustain a healthy population. At present, the Tavy is failing to reach its salmon conservation limit. The agency's Bruce Newport said: 'The River Tavy provides a good example of a river where pollution has been cleaned up, allowing salmon stocks to improve. 'But the salmon population is still under a lot of pressure and there are a number of challenges caused by urban development.' Research by the Environment Agency has revealed several obstacles to the safe passage of the salmon, both upstream and on their way back downstream as young salmon, known as 'smolts'. In some cases smolts can be lost into water intakes. 'Thankfully, these fish are benefiting from cleaner water in our rivers, but they still face major problems. Man-made barriers to migration, such as weirs and dams can block fish migrating to their spawning grounds and back out to sea, thereby severely restricting fish numbers,' added Mr Newport. 'It is important we work with abstractors to make the salmon's journey as safe and easy as possible. We are working with South West Water's hydro power station to assist them to take positive action to help the salmon, by modifying their water intakes on the Tavy. 'The changes proposed will mean smolts cannot go into the hydropower intakes, making this green energy even more environmentally friendly. These voluntary changes are of fundamental importance to the recovery of salmon stocks in the Tavy and we are very pleased that South West Water are taking this initiative.' South West Water's Water treatment manager Mark Beighton said: 'South West Water is committed to working sustainably within the environment to reduce our carbon footprint and that is the reason why we have hydro-electric power generation on the Tavy.' Recent surveys have shown a good increase in young salmon on the Tavy. The agency collects information from every stage of the fish's lifecycle, using trapping, tagging and other survey methods. But equally important is the agency's day to day regulatory work, which goes largely unseen by the public but is vital to wildlife conservation. Enforcing hundreds of thousands of environmental licences and permits has ensured positive outcomes, particularly for water and wetland habitats. The decision to pay fisherman not to use nets to catch salmon has also proved successful in replenishing the numbers. There has also been a concerted effort to clamp-down on poaching and illegal fishing. The clubs have also been working hard on tackling the Japanese Knotweed problem on the river and are beginning to win against this invasive pest, which smothers native wildlife and leads to bank erosion.