CLOSE to 200 fish which were trapped below a weir in Leigh have been rescued by an environmental group.

Officers moved 174 bream from a section of Pennington Brook, back upstream into Pennington Flash following calls to the Environment Agency's incident hotline.

The fish were left stranded after being washed out of their spawning grounds due to heavy rainfall back in May.

Pennington Brook is a shallow watercourse prone to low dissolved oxygen levels during prolonged periods without rain.

Fisheries officers attended the site to assess the situation and found a large number of mature bream stuck below a weir.

Bream are a stillwater fish which are present upstream in Pennington Flash, and at this time of year they congregate to spawn near the flash’s outflow.

It became obvious that these fish had been washed out of their spawning grounds during heavy rainfall at the end of May and were subsequently unable to return due to the shallow summer water levels and the weir itself.

To prevent the Bream from suffering due to a combination of factors such as warm water temperatures, lack of food and with the potential of them being illegally taken and poached, the decision was taken to rescue the fish and return them safely to Pennington Flash.

This was a difficult task due to the nature of the location and limited access however, careful planning by the EA Fisheries Officers ensured a safe and successful result.

In total, 174 fish with a combined weight of around 900lbs were safely returned, which included a number of individual specimen fish.

Environment Agency fisheries officer Trevor Oldfield said: “As part of ongoing work to aid in natural fish migration, we will look at the impeding weir where these fish were stuck to see if it is feasible to remove or alter it, therefore allowing natural upstream fish passage.

"Our thanks go to the observant members of the public who contacted us to report such an unusual occurrence.

"We would always encourage people to contact us on 0800 807060 to report any future instances of fish in distress."

Ian Cunliffe, of Leigh and District Angling Association, who witnessed the fish being returned said: "We're extremely grateful to the Environment Agency and all of the hard work which the Fisheries Officers undertake on our behalf.

"We've worked alongside the agency on a number of fisheries matters from fish theft to pollution, and this is just the latest example of their great work."