DORSET'S River Frome has seen the highest number of young salmon leave its waters in eight years.

The annual Fisheries Research Review, published by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), shows signs of hope for the long-term future of salmon in the Dorset river.

Following successive years of decline in adult salmon, numbers of young salmon leaving the river in 2020 to go to sea were 40 per cent up on the 10-year average, according to the latest figures.

An estimated 13,062 salmon smolts left the River Frome, the highest number of emigrating smolts recorded since 2013.

Head of GWCT fisheries research Rasmus Lauridsen said: "As well as the high number of smolts – young salmon leaving the river for their marine journey – leaving the river, it’s encouraging that they were larger than average too, making them better equipped for life at sea.”

Previous GWCT research has shown larger smolts are more than three times more likely to return from the sea than smaller ones, so wildlife experts hope the adult salmon passing through their Wareham-based monitoring station on their return will be higher than in recent years when they are back from the Atlantic this summer or next.

Mr Lauridsen said: "The past three years have seen below-average numbers of adult salmon returning to the Frome, although our monitoring in 2020 showed a surprisingly good number of the smolts leaving in 2018 returning, having spent two years at sea.”

However, further research has shown a combination of warm winters and cool springs have negatively impacted the recruitment of juvenile salmon in the predominantly groundwater-fed River Frome.

This builds on previous GWCT research on the predominantly rainwater-fed rivers of Wales where the GWCT found similar impacts of temperature, highlighting how similar freshwater conditions in contrasting river types can significantly affect salmon populations.

A spokesman for the GWCT said: "These insights will be pivotal in planning future conservation measures, with the GWCT one of the founder members of the Missing Salmon Alliance, a group of organisations fighting to reverse the devastating collapse in wild Atlantic salmon around the UK.

"By combining expertise and data, coordinating activities and advocating effective management solutions they aim to help wild Atlantic salmon survive and thrive in our rivers and seas for future generations."