River fish counters broken for more than a year
PA MediaNo fish have been counted on a river for more than a year due to two faulty counters.
The Environment Agency (EA), which owns one of the River Wear's devices, said it had experienced breakages in recent years due to a rise in the frequency of high river levels.
The equipment failure means no salmon or sea trout counts have been carried out since December 2024.
Durham County Council, which owns the other broken counter, said it expected to fix its device by May and the EA said it hoped to fix its counters this year.
It said that despite the broken counter, it was able to estimate fish numbers on the Wear using other statistics such as declared angler rod catches and electric fishing surveys.
Fish counters on the River Tyne have also been partly broken since October 2024 and EA counts since then have also been estimates.
It said in August that these counters would be fully fixed by autumn 2025.
However, in its latest update it said it expected them to be fully operational by the summer and it was reviewing the design of new protective covers for the devices.
The EA also said it could only fix its counters in "conditions that allow us to carry out complex in-river work".
Professor Jamie Stevens, an ecologist at the University of Exeter, previously told the BBC fish counters were important because they gave scientists an idea of how successful the area's fish populations are.
"This is one way of determining whether your population is sustainable," he said, adding: "Are there enough fish coming back to be able to maintain the population?"
