More than 250 people from across the northern hemisphere gathered in London recently to call for urgent action to conserve, protect and restore the world’s wild salmon. Speakers from across the world delivered fascinating and insightful talks on a wide range of issues affecting both wild Atlantic and Pacific salmon and the people who depend on these species.
Wild Salmon Connections (WSC) was organised by the Missing Salmon Alliance (MSA) and held at the historic Fishmongers Hall and delegates were treated to three days of inspiring talks by speakers from the UK, Norway, Canada, the USA, Germany, and Iceland, who linked all salmon species across the world together to reflect on the problems facing them. Schoolchildren and artists also helped bring the issues to life and show how it matters that we act now if we don’t want the lose wild salmon.
As a member of the MSA and a leading research organisation focussing on wild Atlantic salmon, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust delivered two talks; Dr Sophie Elliott, senior fish scientist, spoke about the problems of unrecorded bycatch and the difficulty in obtaining data on it, and CEO Teresa Dent talked about the role the Environmental Farmers Groups (EFG) are playing in delivering catchment-scale river restoration.
Call to action
The message from the event was clear; we need governments, businesses, fisheries organisations and financial institutions to take strong and bold action to restore river catchments at landscape-scale by working collaboratively with both those who manage the rivers and surrounding land. Urgent action also needs to be taken to tackle the issues salmon face in the marine environment, where the fish spend much of their adult lives before returning to their riverine catchment to spawn.
To push for action before it is too late, the Wild Salmon Declaration was launched on the last day of the conference. All delegates and speakers were urged to sign the declaration, share it with friends, colleagues and contact networks, and use it to engage policymakers, businesses and individuals who can affect positive change for wild salmon.
Wild salmon are in crisis. In the UK, the species has declined by 70% in 40 years, in Scotland the figure is 70% in just 25 years and in Wales the rod catch of wild salmon is down by 70% in 10 years.
Human impacts including climate change and the rising water temperatures, unsustainable fishing practices, poor water quality, in-river barriers and parasites all threaten the future of salmon.
Salmon require clean, cold and well oxygenated water to thrive. But agricultural pollution, sedimentation and chemical runoff from industries, wastewater, and roads are degrading Atlantic salmon habitats in our rivers. Levels of sea lice, a parasite of wild fish that can kill young salmon, can be substantially elevated by salmon farms.
The perilous state of wild Atlantic salmon is reflected in a recent species reassessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Global populations of Atlantic salmon have been reclassified from ‘Least Concern’ to ‘Near Threatened’ with some populations, including those in Great Britain, now classified as ‘Endangered’.
In the Pacific, 70% of Pacific salmon are below their long-term average. Here, fish have also been getting smaller, so produce fewer eggs to start the next generation.
The loss of wild salmon would be devastating for humans and the hundreds of other species that depend on them. They are essential for the health of our wider environment and work as a 'conveyor belt of nutrients' - transporting nutrients from marine to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems.
Historical and cultural significance
WSC also highlighted how wild salmon play a hugely significant role in the history of human civilisation, shaping cultures, traditions and societies. They have enormous cultural, economic and ecological significance across their native ranges.
Wild salmon are critical to the cultural, spiritual, and economic well-being of indigenous peoples across the Pacific and Atlantic regions. In North America recognising the leadership of indigenous peoples in salmon conservation is essential to ensuring the survival of wild salmon and the cultures that depend on them.
In Scotland, ancient Pictish carvings like the Torridon Stone (500-700AD) highlight their significance in early history. The city of Glasgow Coat of Arms prominently features a salmon with a ring in its mouth, symbolising a miracle of St. Kentigern (or St Mungo), the city's patron saint. According to legend, St. Mungo restored a ring that had been lost in the River Clyde by sending a monk to retrieve it from the salmon's mouth.
As early as 1215, the Magna Carta ordered the removal of all fish weirs in England's rivers to protect salmon stocks. And then by 1285, a closed season was enacted to protect spawning salmon.
‘Living beyond our environmental means’
The key speaker on the first day was Sir Dieter Helm, University of Oxford, who said wild salmon are a natural asset we need to protect.
He said: “We are living way beyond our environmental means, we are borrowing from the future. If we keep doing that, we are handing down depreciating assets to the next generation.
“Renewable natural capital – like salmon stocks – will keep growing provided we look after its environment. Once it’s been taken away from our rivers it’s been taken away from every generation in the future.”
Sir Dieter suggested digital satellite mapping of river catchments could help build simulated models of how various measures would help improve the habitat for salmon and from this conservation plans could be drawn up. Once you have a plan in place, you can then make the case for securing funding.
There was also hope for the future offered by the model outlined by GWCT CEO Teresa Dent, who like Sir Dieter, spoke about the importance of collaboration and working with farmers along our rivers.
She told the conference about the Environmental Farmers Group (EFG) who are working together with support from GWCT to achieve beneficial environmental outcomes based on catchment-scale conservation plans.
As part of this landscape-scale approach, EFG Members who farm along the Wyle chalk stream in Wiltshire have designed a farmer-led, water quality and sediment run-off monitoring scheme to help them reduce farm pollution to the river. In collaboration with Rothamsted Research, this initiative is being rolled out across other tributaries, establishing on-farm water-testing labs in the Hampshire Avon, Dorset Stour and the iconic Test and Itchen catchments.
Continuing on the subject of chalk streams was actor Jim Murray, known for roles in Masters of the Air, The Crown, and Primeval. Living on the River Itchen in Hampshire, he is a dedicated advocate for wild Atlantic salmon and clean, cold water. Jim has led successful campaigns to protect Hampshire chalk streams and presented Creatures of Light, a film and collection of paintings raising awareness of the salmon's plight.
Jim, who is an ambassador for the Atlantic Salmon Trust, also championed the GWCT Fisheries Wild Atlantic Salmon appeal, which supported the trust’s vital salmon monitoring research on the river Frome in Dorset, from which the GWCT has accumulated 50 years of salmon data.
By-catch and salmon farming
Dr Sophie Elliott, senior fish scientist with the GWCT, gave an insight into the problems faced by salmon through bycatch and failing protection of salmon at sea. She described how although much progress on has been made on the bycatch risk of other more charismatic ‘Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP)’ species such as sea birds, cetaceans and sharks, almost nothing is being undertaken for threatened diadromous fish, species such as salmon that spend part of their lives in freshwater and part in the marine environment. She also mentioned that existing information indicated bycatch of diadromous fish was largely under-reported.
She said: “Atlantic salmon and other diadromous fish have significantly declined in recent years with highest mortality pointing to their marine life-history phases. At sea, protection measures exist for these species, though they do not seem to be enacted on at present. There are no fully Marine Protection Areas (MPA) designated to safeguard salmon and bycatch data on these species is not being is not being consistently recorded, and where it is, it is at best haphazardly. Bycatch reduction measures are not being implemented.
“On the Pacific coast at sea protection measures were implemented as soon as Chinook salmon declines were observed. In the UK and Europe, we have observed Atlantic salmon declines for much longer, yet few conservation measures have been implemented.”
The political presence was impressive, with talks by Andreas Bjelland Eriksen, Norway’s Minister of Climate and Environment, Mairi Gougeon, Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands, and Daniel Zeichner, UK Minister for Food Security and Rural Affairs.
The discussion focussed on the problems caused by aquaculture and the threat salmon farming poses to wild stocks.
Due to sea-lice concerns, the Norwegian government has halted the expansion of salmon farms along much of its coast and ordered the worst-infected farms to reduce their production.
The Canadian government has said it will ban open-pen salmon farming in British Columbian waters by 2029.
The Scottish government has allowed the Norwegian company Mowi to expand its salmon farm in Loch Hourn, despite protests by activists who claim that sea lice from the facility will push local wild salmon to extinction.
One solution to the problems of meeting increased demand for salmon, while still protecting wild stocks could be to invest in facilities that are totally insulated from the sea, such as the Watermoon developed by the 35-year-old Norwegian entrepreneur Sondre Eide. Sondre spoke about his business and how it had invested all its profits in these new ininnovatively designed pens, a model supported by both the Norwegian government and campaigners critical of current salmon farming methods.
The final keynote speaker on day three was Alastair Fothergill, producer of the BBC’s Wild Isles documentary series with Sir David Attenborough. He spoke about the importance of storytelling as a key to engage and urge action.
Showing clips from ‘Wild Isles’ depicting the incredible journey wild Atlantic salmon embark on from the moment they hatch in our rivers to when they return to spawn, Alastair showed behind the scenes shots and talked about how the crew managed to capture the amazing footage which included using an underwater drone and suspending cameras over waterfalls.
Alastair highlighted the importance of imagery in mass communication and felt that artists could lead the way in this. The conference concluded with the launch of the Wild Salmon Declaration, but the event also served as a platform for the Missing Salmon Alliance to launch Policy Asks for England and Policy Asks for Scotland to specify policy areas where we must push for progress politically.
Wild salmon are in crisis, but there is hope. Wild Salmon Connections had one purpose – to bring people together to activate an urgent, renewed international focus on wild salmon.
Through its research and monitoring work, the GWCT will continue to support and inspire action that aims to secure healthy river ecosystems in which our wild Atlantic salmon can thrive once again.