The 22nd of September is World Rivers Day. Over a million people from one hundred countries are participating all with shared aims in mind: to highlight the many values of rivers, to increase public awareness, and to encourage improved stewardship of rivers around the world.
Following a dramatic decline over the last 40 years, wild Atlantic salmon are in crisis in the UK and are now classified as Endangered on the internationally recognised IUCN Red List. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) operates one of the best wild Atlantic salmon research programs available on the River Frome in Dorset.
The Salmon and Trout Research team are hard at work throughout September, their busiest time of year. Over the last few weeks we have published a number of videos, and we wanted to make sure you didn’t miss any of their exciting updates.
We are currently running a salmon appeal to fund much needed equipment (we need to raise £20,000 - you can see how close we are to hitting out target here). Find out more directly from the team in this video:
Our salmon appeal focuses on parr tagging. This involves fitting juvenile salmon with tiny tags - the same tag a vet would use to microchip your dog or cat - to track their journey up and down stream and study how many survive the 2,000-mile journey to their feeding grounds in the North Atlantic and back.
This is done to learn more about the challenges they face and how we can best support their success. This epic journey is featured in eco poet Helen Moore’s poem, ‘Migration Story’, introduced by actor and advocate for wild Atlantic salmon, Jim Murray – when you have a quiet moment, why not watch and listen here:
The GWCT is unique with our long-term datasets and we are proud to have experts on our staff like Bill Beaumont, who has been working on the river Frome for 50 years and has brought his son Will into the team too; learn about their shared journey into fish research here:
Each year the GWCT Fisheries team spend four weeks in late summer in the river catching, weighing, measuring and micro-chipping the juveniles that have hatched during early spring, as shown here:
In the last few weeks the team have been busy at the river catching and tagging these young fish. We don’t have final numbers yet, but the general consensus is that we are down on last year and we will share our findings as soon as possible. What is clear is that the salmon need our help more than ever.
Year round the team are working hard to identify all the challenges the fish face in our rivers and at sea and begin testing solutions that work, such as removing migration barriers, cleaning the river gravel, and boosting the vegetation in the river. This appeal supports their vital work and helps save an iconic species.
This is why we need your help. Every donation makes a difference.