CONSERVATIONISTS have launched a major fundraising drive to help boost dwindling salmon numbers on the River Frome.

Members of fishing group The Frome, Piddle and West Dorset Fisheries Association warned last month that salmon could disappear from the Frome unless urgent action was taken to help the fish reach their spawning grounds.

The group now hopes that work by the Environment Agency to create ways through for the fish at Bindon Hatches near Wool and the weir at Louds Mill, Dorchester, will be carried out next year.

They hope to raise £28,250 to help pay for half the work in Dorchester and to fund a survey by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group - FWAG - to find out why silt is running off land around the upper spawning grounds of the river.

Members hope the findings will help improve land management in the area.

Group spokesman Charles Dutton said: "We are working in conjunction with FWAG who will be doing a land use survey in the upper catchment of the Frome to try and identify possible causes of fine silt, which causes massive damage to the spawning grounds of trout and salmon.

"The Frome is the major chalk stream river of the South West. Historically there was a natural run of big fish but that's all changed." He said that any work carried out to reduce silting would not only help spawning salmon and trout but would also improve the habitats for otters. "Otters, in my father's lifetime were quite plentiful in the river. We hope that any future work will improve the habitat for both salmon and otters."

Richard Slocock, chairman of The Frome, Piddle and West Dorset Fisheries Association, added: "The Frome salmon, sea trout and brown trout need your help. We appeal to all those who love the Frome, its wildlife and its fish."

Salmon numbers in the Frome have dropped from around 4,000 a year in the late 1980s to an average of around 700 a year now.

To make a donation to the appeal or to find out about the group's work, phone Richard Slocock on 01305 848460 or Charles Dutton on 01963 23161.