Adult salmon have been found before in the Mersey
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Salmon are breeding in the River Mersey for the first time in living memory, according to ecologists.
Environment Agency officers found three young salmon in the River Goyt, a tributary of the Mersey in Stockport.
Work has been ongoing to clean up the Mersey - which runs from Stockport to Liverpool - for 20 years. It used to be one of Europe's most polluted rivers.
Although adult salmon have been found previously, the young fish is the first real evidence of breeding.
The Mersey used to be one of Europe's most polluted rivers
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Oliver Southgate, Environment Agency spokesman, said: "The River Mersey has a fishing history dating back as early as the 12th century.
"In the 1700s salmon and sea trout were so common in the Mersey that the fish supplied markets as far away as London.
"However, the Industrial Revolution, the growth of our cities and changes in land drainage meant that by the middle of the 20th century, the river and its tributaries supported almost no fish at all.
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