A view of the Tees Barrage in Stockton which opened on 22 April 1995 after four years of construction. The barrage is used to control the flow of the river, preventing flooding and the effects of tidal change. The Tees Barrage comprises a river barrage, road bridge, footbridge, barge lock, fish pass and white water course. The waters above the barrage are permanently held at the level of an average high tide and are used for watersports such as canoeing, jet skiing, dragonboat racing and incorporates a 1 km rowing course.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
I was at the Tees barrage at dinner time and a group of ladies had travelled from Sunderland because they had been told they would see Salmon leaping. Its very rare you see fish leaping down there i told them. I showed a lady where the new and the old fish passages were and i also showed them the seals that live below the gates eating trapped salmon and sea-trout.If you put Teesbarrage seals on You Tube you can see them slaughtering the salmon daily.Pollution never killed all the salmon and sea-trout, but a lot of fish have been slaughtered by seals and poachers since 1993 when the Barrage closed its gates to migratory fish.
We were treated to a look round the workings of the Teesbarrage on the 19 September.
I am a migratory fisherman so I was intrested in the improvements that have been made into access for the migrateing fish. It was intresting to see the underwater cameras showing sea-trout and salmon past the Teesbarrage. I also visit the site with my small dog and I enjoy the wildlife. I saw an Otter in the tidal water a few weeks ago. And I’ve enjoyed watching seals since 2002 even though they are killing a lot of the migrating fish because nobody thought about the access for the fish when plans were put in place. Lessons need to be learnt if the Tees can ever compete with other North/East rivers as a game river.
Peter Boiston, in 1975 whilst working at Headwightsons steel foundry I was walking down by the river one lunchtime break with an apprentice Davis Harris from Thornaby when I noticed a big fish swimming in and out of the clear river water { river was clear about 2-3 feet from bank } after awhile the fish went behind
a tree trunk half in half out of the water, some how I’d picked up a forked stick and slowly placed it under the fish give a heave and out came a 27″ salmon, me and my mate had our photo’s taken by the gazette, wished I’d have asked for a glossy copy of the photo from the gazette at the time, the river at this time was still awful in terms of pollution but salmon were still going up river, not seen a seal yet as it’s been some time since I last visited Tees barrage.