Fish species diversity and evenness in River Tees Estuary, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Farinloye, Kolawole and Smith, Pierre and Schroeder, Elena and Ojo, Samson and Ajayi, Olusina (2025) Fish species diversity and evenness in River Tees Estuary, North Yorkshire, United Kingdom. World Journal of Biology Pharmacy and Health Sciences, 22 (2). pp. 223-231. ISSN 2582-5542

The River Tees estuary is North Yorkshire's largest estuarine habitat, supporting diversified fisher folks compared to others. The current study was conducted to analyse fish diversity status in connection to important hydrological locational along the course of the Tees. Fish samples and water quality characteristics were gathered from eight sampling locations along the River Tees estuary between June 2023 and April 2024. Fish samples were obtained for four (4) sapling sites, between Tees barrage and the Seal-sand in Middlesbrough. Generally, fisher-folks separate non-target fish after catching them in the river. These fisher-folks were asked not to toss non-target species and are convinced that both target and non-target species are important in study. 10% of the total catch is collected during the study period were frozen in an ice box, and to the laboratory for analysis, whilst samples were sorted and identified at the species level. The diversity status of all fisheries data was analysed using PAST (version 2.15) software. Total of 11,935 individuals were enumerated, representing 25 finfish species. Salmo trutta fario had the highest number of individuals counted (1289), while Cyprinus carpio had the lowest number (228), accounting for 10.8% and 1.91% of total individuals, respectively along the estuarine of River Tees. Conservation efforts must be enforced to discourage over-fishing from the critical habitat.