Measures to save English salmon rivers…

THE Environment Agency of England is proposing new measures to protect salmon stocks across England and in the Border Esk, which are currently among the lowest on record.

The 2015 national salmon stock assessment indicated that salmon stocks in many rivers across England had failed to meet their minimum safe levels.

The 2016 assessment showed this trend continued and the new measures proposed are based on this assessment.

They come after an Environment Agency consultation last year to understand how the better management of salmon fishing in England and the Border Esk can reduce the impact on salmon. The Environment Agency is now proposing the following measures to protect salmon stocks:

1. Stop the taking of salmon from the majority of net fisheries by 2019. Other nations have closed their net fisheries;

2. For rivers with the lowest salmon stocks, a mandatory requirement to return all salmon caught;

3. Voluntary catch and release targets for all other rivers;

4. Restriction on the number, size and type of hooks that can be used when fishing.

Other countries that have closed salmon net fisheries include Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland and the Faroe Islands.

Kevin Austin, the Environment Agency’s deputy director for Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment, said the reasons for the decline are complex, there is no single solution, and reducing the catch of salmon can only partly contribute to stock recovery.

‘We continue to work closely with water companies and others to improve water quality and low flows on salmon rivers.

‘It is only through continuing to take concerted action, and through the cooperation of others, that we will successfully protect this iconic species for future generations.’