A TALK on salmon fisheries was given by Dr Ann Pulsford recently, as part of the popular Wharf afternoon talks programme.

Dr Pulsford said in 2004 a ten-year salmon net fishing ban was implemented for the river Tamar and its tributaries to allow the stocks of salmon breeding in the rivers to recover.

The Environment Agency has been carrying out detailed studies of the salmon stocks and condition with a fish counter and fish trap at Gunnislake weir.

Although there have been improvements in stocking levels it is uncertain if the net fishing ban will be lifted in 2014.

Improvements have been made in the condition of the gravels where the salmon breed in the Tamar headwaters resulting in increased numbers of salmon breeding.

Endsleigh hatchery has also been providing salmon parr to restock the rivers with juvenile salmon.

In the audience for the talk was the grandson of one of the original Endsleigh hatchery employees who worked for the Duke of Bedford and had some archive photographs.

The 11th Duke of Bedford Hebrand Russell and his wife Mary Tribe (The Flying Duchess) were biologists and were keen salmon fishermen.

In 1906-1908 they carried out experiments with the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth to investigate how long it took for salmon parr to mature to salmon smolts and breeding adults.

l The next talk in the series is by John Killingbeck on Huskies in Antarctica is on Monday, January 27 at 2pm at the Wharf, followed by Simon Dell's talk on Bodies on the Moor on Monday, February 10.