YOUNG conservationists have released more than 1,000 elvers into the River Wye as part of a sustainability project.

Severn and Wye Smokery Ltd of Westbury-on-Severn runs the Eels in Schools scheme, and they helped Monmouth School for Boys Prep pupils nurture the elvers in a tank in the school library before releasing them into the river.

The second form youngsters set the elvers free from the steps of Monmouth School Rowing Club and a boat in the middle of the river. The boys also had the opportunity to eat cooked samples of the ray-finned fish, courtesy of Severn and Wye Smokery.

“This project is great for conservation,” said pupil, Srinivas Rengarajan, an eel monitor along with classmate, Bill Arrand.

“We learned that eels face problems reaching rivers and wetlands and some species of eel head out to sea and across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea.”