A LEAPING salmon sculpture created with the support of schoolchildren has been unveiled in Gargrave to celebrate the end of a three-year project to improve the River Aire for fish migration.

Children from Gargrave Primary School, Gargrave Parish Council and Councillor Chris Rose, vice-chair of Craven District Council, joined the Aire Rivers Trust to unveil the new artwork making the end of the Developing the Natural Aire project, which has seen 60km of river improved for fish including salmon.

Yorkshire artist Alex Blakey worked with children from Gargrave Primary School and Skipton Academy to explore the huge variety of wildlife found in and along the River Aire and turn their ideas and art into cast glass. This glass forms the bodies of a pair of two meter high salmon leaping their way along the riverbank in Gargrave to the shallow streams where they will lay their eggs.

Simon Watts from the Aire Rivers Trust said: “The fish passes are improving access to other parts of the river for important fish species, one of which is salmon. We know that fish species having access to more space to feed, breed and shelter is vital to maintain a healthy river. Monitoring has shown that species like brown trout, barbell, chub and roach are now making journeys that would have been impossible before the fish passes.”

Developing the Natural Aire, a partnership project between the Aire Rivers Trust, their volunteers, and the Environment Agency, has included building fish passes on major barriers to migratory fish in the river which reconnects 60km of flowing water. This reconnection of the river has been inspired by an ambition to see the Atlantic salmon return to spawn in our river after an absence of over 150 years. These magnificent creatures were once so numerous that a 17th century writer described how poor folk above Keighley would spear them with “blazing iron forks” out of season at Michaelmas, in late September.

Almost 200 volunteers from the Aire Rivers Trust have spent the past three years improving the river by taking part in litter picks, creating new homes for wildlife, and improving footpaths along the river from Leeds to Airton. Together they have planted over nine thousand trees across Craven and Bradford.

The Developing the Natural Aire project has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Environment Agency, Craven District Council and Yorkshire Water. It has been a partnership project between the Aire Rivers Trust and the Environment Agency.