Welsh Journals

Salmon and sea trout in the Taff-past, present and future G. W. Mawle, A. Winstone and M. P. Brooker Over the past decade, salmon (Salmo salar L.) and sea trout (Salmo trutta L.) have, after a long absence, been recorded from some of the industrial rivers of Britain. The salmon of the Thames have received the most publicity but migratory salmonids have also been recorded from the Clyde, Trent and, the subject of this paper, the Taff. The largest of three rivers which enter the Bristol Channel at Cardiff, the Taff is short and steep, falling 900 m between its source in the Brecon Beacons and the sea, about 60 km to the southeast. It has five major tributaries; the Taff Fechan which joins it at Merthyr Tydfil in the upper reaches and the Taff Bargoed, Cynon, Clydach and Rhondda which join it in the middle reaches (Fig. 1). Plate. 1 J. C. Ibbetson's painting of Cardiff in 1789, showing coracle-men netting the river Taff. (Courtesy of Aberdeen Art Gallery and Museums.) Pre-Twentieth century Prior to the industrial development of South Wales in the 19th century, the Taff supported prolific runs of both salmon and sea trout. There are references to valuable fisheries in the lower river and estuary as far back as Norman times (Salmon 1936) and in 1596 it was noted that the Lord of Glamorgan obtained £ 24 per year in rent from his fishery in the lower Taff (Rees 1954). Although no details are given of the catches, it is evident from contemporary prices for salmon and sea trout, at 12d and Id per fish respectively (Lewis 1972; Moore 1971), that the annual catch from the tidal reaches alone was probably measured in hundreds of salmon and thousands of sea trout.