11 Sep 2024

The State of the South-West’s Seas Report

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Article, Articles, Sea Angling, Sidebar | 0

The below report gives a fasicnating insight into the complex marine eco=systems that surround us. Well worth a look through.

The State of the South-West’s Seas Report

‘It was an astounding year for marine life in south-west England – but not everywhere.’

Every year brings exciting and interesting observations of marine life and environmental conditions that help us to understand how the marine environment ‘works’, how it is changing and whether management of human activities and impacts is making a difference to the health of our seas. Capturing and interpreting those observations and activities is what the group of specialists reporting in the ‘South-West Marine Ecosystems in 2023’ do. Their report on 2023 has just been published.

During 2023, we have seen a species new to science being identified in south-west waters, an unprecedented bloom of string-like gelatinous plankton accompanied by dinner-plate sized jellyfish popping-up in late August and proof that ‘common’ (Mediterranean) octopus are breeding in our waters. Seawater temperatures during 2023 were warmer but there were no spectacular impacts – just some range extensions of southern species already here. Whilst there were no additional non-native species found in 2023, some of the ones that are already here increased in abundance and extended their distribution. There are increased sightings of whales and dolphins and some unusual fish species have been caught or sighted. 2023 saw the most turtles recorded in the south-west area for nine years. 2023 saw continued increases in burrow-nesting seabirds and auks: both continuing to benefit from rat eradication on Scilly and Lundy.

Changes that occurred or started some years ago persist – examples are the recovery of spiny lobsters after local extermination in the 1960s and 1970s, and the return of bluefin tuna to south-west waters.

Numbers of seals are ‘steady’ but more seals were recorded dead across Cornwall in 2023 than born and entanglement in litter and disturbance by human activity remains a concern.

There are ‘old friends’ that the interested public may think are signs of warming or changing seas but which have in fact been known from our waters for more than 200 years – such as the tropical-looking grey trigger fish and slipper lobsters.

Meanwhile, some seabed marine life is not looking as vibrant as in previous years. One example is a cold-water species, the spectacular and colourful plumose anemones – abundance seems to have reduced dramatically in inshore areas of the mainland coast but so also, it seems likely, have many other sea anemone species. Also, a group of hydroids (relatives of sea anemones) collectively known as ‘flower-head hydroids’ seem to be much less abundant in enclosed waters at least. Marine life at Lundy continues to be in poor condition compared to the mid-1980s and there is no clear sign (yet) of recovery of populations of the nationally rare sunset cup coral around the island.

The report is the ninth report in the series. It includes detailed chapters on oceanography and storms, plankton, the seashore and seabed, fish and turtles, coastal birds, seals, whales, dolphins and porpoises. Management chapters include fisheries, marine planning, marine protected areas, water pollution and plastics pollution. Webinars on these topics for 2023 can be viewed on this YouTube channel

The report, published by the Plymouth-based Marine Biological Association, reflects the work of both hundreds of volunteer citizen scientists and professionals working in the south-west. This summary of conclusions below is from the report.

Oceanography. The year started with relatively warm conditions throughout the water column with temperatures around 9.5 °C off Plymouth. This cooled to the minimum recorded temperature (for 2023) in mid-March of 9.3 °C. June 2023 was noteworthy in that sea surface temperatures were 2 – 3 °C above the long-term (1991-2020) mean in the Celtic Sea and 1 – 2 °C above the long-term mean in the western English Channel. By late June off Plymouth, surface waters were around 17.8°C and, at depths below 30 m, around 13.9 °C; both associated with a sustained meteorological (and marine) heat wave. Contact: Tim Smyth [email protected]

Storms. The patterns of storms in the spring of 2023 were unremarkable but were more normal in the autumn of 2023 and in the winter of 2023 to 2024. There were very few named storms in the January – April period of 2023. The impact on natural systems, species and habitats was on the unremarkable side of normal, but seal pups and juveniles were seriously affected by the autumn storms in 2023. Contact: [email protected]

Plankton. There were unusual reports in terms of numbers and geographic extent of both salps (colonial seasquirts) and hydrozoan ‘Crystal Jellyfish’ Aequorea sp(p) in late summer in the English Channel. Whilst blooms of both have previously been recorded, they have not been concurrently reported at so many different locations. Sightings of true jellyfish in 2023 revealed similar patterns to those seen in previous years with barrel jellyfish making a return, having been only rarely reported in 2022. Contact: Angus Atkinson (for general plankton): [email protected] and Jeanette Sanders (for observations of jellyfish): [email protected] ; South Devon Jellyfish Survey

Seashore and seabed marine life. There were no increases in extent or abundance of warm water species that might suggest significant climate change effects although a record of eggs of a Common (‘Mediterranean’) Octopus suggests that they are breeding in our waters. There were declines in the occurrence and abundance of some species including, conspicuously for divers, of cold-water Plumose Anemones in inshore areas. Contact: Keith Hiscock [email protected]

Fish. Sharks. On 1^st May, a c. 293 cm subadult female Smalltooth Sand Tiger Shark was found floating dead off Lyme Regis. The observation followed one found stranded in Hampshire and about 320 km north of any previous record. Bony fish. The recent pattern of changes continues with several less familiar species becoming more established around south-west England: these include variable blennies, combers and axillary sea breams. Contacts: Douglas Herdson [email protected] and Simon Thomas (sharks and rays) [email protected]

Reptiles. 2023 saw the most turtles recorded in the south-west area for nine years. The majority of the reports were of juvenile Loggerhead or Kemp’s Ridley turtles most of which were ‘cold shocked’. Contact: Douglas Herdson [email protected].

Marine. and coastal birds. 2023 saw continued increases in burrow-nesting seabirds and auks: both continuing to benefit from rat eradication on Scilly and Lundy. HPAI (‘bird flu’) badly affected terns and black-headed gulls in Dorset, but there was good news for sea-watchers with thousands of southern-breeding shearwaters flooding into the south-west in late summer. This included an estimated 16,000 Cory’s shearwaters in one day off Scilly. Contact: Alex Banks [email protected]

Seals. More seals were recorded dead across Cornwall in 2023 than born (half the dead seals were less than a year old) The largest seal disturbance on record and caused directly by people, saw 250 seals stampede off two adjacent SSSI beaches resulting in an enforcement letter from Natural England. Contact: Sue Sayer – [email protected]

Whales, dolphins & porpoises. There continued to be high numbers of cetaceans inshore in 2023. Since 2015 there have been marked increases in many cetacean species in inshore waters. There is limited ongoing research investigating this shift and cetacean research in the UK continues to be poorly funded. Contact: Duncan Jones [email protected] (toothed whales and dolphins) and Dan Jarvis (Baleen Whales) – [email protected]

Fisheries. In 2023, the landings of many traditional fisheries such as brown crab and mackerel continued to decline, whilst landings for other species such as crawfish and spurdog increased as a result of stock recovery. Analysis undertaken by the MMO showed an overall reduction in the quantities of fish and shellfish landed in the south-west since 2016. It is likely that climate change will continue to benefit some species, such as black seabream, red mullet and anchovy and to result in declines of some other species, such as lemon sole, Atlantic cod, haddock and megrim. Contact: [email protected]

Marine protected areas. Currently 81% of MPAs within the IFCA Devon and Severn area are closed to bottom-towed gear, compared to 75% in the Isles of Scilly and 40% in Cornwall. The MMO is responsible for introducing fisheries management measures to all offshore MPAs by the end of 2024. There is an increasing recognition of the need to adopt a whole site approach to MPA management for effective marine nature recovery. Contact: Carli Cocciardi [email protected]

Water quality. The year 2023 was the sixth wettest on record contributing to a higher percentage of sewage overflow spills. One hundred percent of storm overflows have now, however, been fitted with event duration monitoring devices which will allow complete coverage, real-time data and targeted improvements. Contact: [email protected]

Marine planning. ‘The Marine Planning Monitoring Surveys 2023 Two-Page Summary Report revealed that, overall, the MMO South West Marine Plan remains widely utilized by a diverse array of stakeholders for decision-making and supporting development proposals. Policies related to biodiversity and heritage are among the most frequently applied. The development of floating offshore wind turbines represents a significant technological advancement and demonstration projects are anticipated to be operational within the next few years, with further commercial deployments in the pipeline. Contact: Mae van Loef [email protected] and Ellie Hoad [email protected].’

Marine plastics. Excellent volunteer work continues in the southwest to remove plastics from the marine environment. Analysis of debris from coastal cleans in 2023 by the Clean Ocean Sailing (COS) organisation also highlighted high density polyethylene (HDPE), plastic bottles and nets and ropes to be the most commonly removed debris. Contact: Dan Wilson [email protected]; and Delia Webb [email protected]

For information on SWME contact

Bob Earll – [email protected]

Keith Hiscock [email protected]

Ruth Williams [email protected]

Neri Campbell at the Marine Biological Association [email protected]

Kelly Marie-Davidson at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory [email protected]

Some key points:

This is the tenth report in this series
The South-West is the only English region currently to produce such a report
The State of the South-West Seas report has been prepared by a group of specialists working within the umbrella of the South-West Marine Ecosystems (SWME) programme. The SWME programme brings the marine and coastal community together annually to consider and communicate the changes that are taking place in our local seas.
It includes detailed chapters on oceanography and storms, plankton, the seashore and seabed, fish and turtles, coastal birds, seals, whales, dolphins and porpoises. Management chapters include fisheries, marine planning, marine protected areas, water pollution and plastics pollution.
Webinars on these topics for 2023 can be viewed on this YouTube channel
The report reflects the work of both hundreds of volunteer citizen scientists and professionals working in the south-west.

17 May 2024

Fading Silver

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Article, Articles, At the Waters Edge, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

It’s almost Mid-May and the evenings are long with dusk now lingering well past 9.00pm. I always seem to be caught out not fully appreciating the onset of Summer realizing all too soon that it’s getting towards the longest day and that those days will once again start to shorten. In the words of that Pink Floyd song;
Staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long
And there is time to kill today
And then one day you find
Ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run
You missed the starting gun

I arrived at the fishing hut early evening pleased to be at the beat for only the second time this season. I was half expecting there to be another angler fishing but I had the fishing to myself. I had brought my salmon rod and a light trout rod just in case the trout were rising and could be tempted on a dry fly.
The river looked to be in fine fettle a perfect height and good clarity. I watched the river carefully for signs of life but no fish moved.
I left the trout rod in the hut and approached the water’s edge extended a line across the water and drifted a silver stoat’s tail across the river. I made my way carefully negotiating the slippery rocks coated in slimy algae. My casting could be better I thought, no sweet rhythm this evening.
After a few steps I was startled by a head appearing just a couple of feet from the rod tip. The large otter rolled again a further few yards down river. There are some who curse the otter for it predates upon the salmon and sea trout. I take a slightly different view for whilst I fear for the salmon I accept that otters have hunted this river for centuries. There was once an abundance of salmon in this beautiful river more than enough for angler and otter.
I feel sure that if I had stood on this river bank just thirty years ago salmon and sea trout would be leaping from the water crashing back with loud splashes that would fuel the anticipation.

*In the shadows sea trout would have leapt their heavy splashes rising the anglers anticipation.*

This evening the ever flowing river heads to the estuary and the ocean beyond. During my two hours I drift my fly in fading hope. There are no glimpses of silver, the river banks are lush and green. The scent of wild garlic drifts in the warm evening air. But despite the natural beauty all around I cannot help but dwell upon the lack of salmon and sea trout. As a young angler I assumed the salmon and sea trout would always run the river or at least throughout my lifetime. Sadly I realize that this may not be so as the actions of mankind decimate the natural world and in particular the rivers those arteries of the land.
In recent months I have been involved in the screening of the film Riverwoods to audiences across North Devon. The film suggests solutions to the demise of salmon. After the film I give a presentation about salmon decline in the South West and beyond. I talk of the plight of salmon, their decline in my lifetime and suggest ways that we can all delay their route to extinction.
I ponder upon the salmon’s plight as I pack away my tackle. The angler, the otter and the salmon are all perhaps on borrowed time unless we act to bring our rivers back to life.
As I step from the River I again see the Otter heading back up river where Henry Williamsons fictional Tarka may well have swum. I read the tale recently a book that records a time of abundance full of cruelty but all within a more balanced natural world before a burgeoning population brought us to our present place in history.

*Spot the otter – Right of the rivers centre.*

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun but it’s sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way but your older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

My next trip to the river will be to the higher reaches where the water still glistens running clear with vibrant beautiful crimson spotted brown trout in abundance.
Fishing is good for the soul and we really need to celebrate the wonderful nature that we still have around us. The fleeting glimpse of electric blue as a kingfisher flashes past. The swooping swift, the evocative call of the cuckoo, the cheerful chirp of the chiff chaff.
That great Countryside writer BB’s books include the rather poignant words.
The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colours, lights and shades, these I saw, Look ye also while life lasts
I wonder what BB would make of today’s world?

16 Apr 2024

RIVERWOODS at The Clinton Hall – Merton

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

If you haven’t seen this superb film yet then there is an opportunity to see it at Clinton Hall – Merton

5 Mar 2024

RIVERWOOD SCREENING AT HALF MOON – SHEEPWASH

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Article, Articles, At the Waters Edge, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

The hour long film is a fascinating documentary made by rewilding charity Scotland The Big Picture https://www.scotlandbigpicture.com/riverwoods, about the current challenges Atlantic Salmon are facing in Scotland’s rivers, and the project that is trying to solve these issues.

Riverwoods is equally applicable to solving Atlantic Salmon decline in North Devon’s rivers, and the hope is that a community based solution will emerge from the North Devon screenings.

The film will be followed by a short presentation by Wayne Thomas of North Devon Angling News on his experiences of fishing for West Country salmon, and an audience conversation about how to reverse salmon decline in North Devon.

The Riverwoods film tour of North Devon is being run by Adrian Bryant of Earth Collective community interest company, founder of the Caen Catchment Beaver Project at Braunton, who will introduce the film

7 Jan 2024

RIVERWOODS – Screening Museum of Barnstaple – Saturday 13th January 2.00pm

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Article, Articles, At the Waters Edge, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Another chance to see this engaging and enlightening film that highlights some of the issues facing salmon. It will be followed by a short talk and discussion. I look forward to seeing a few of you there.

19 Dec 2023

Pithily-Shit – Richard Wilsons Fish Rise

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Many thanks to Richard Wilson for once again sharing his thought provoking prose with North Devon Angling News. The alarming picture painted by Richard is mirrored here with Atlantic Salmon suffering a similar catastrophic decline to those steelhead of North America.

https://fishrise.substack.com

Pithily-Shit

Prizes! Nominations! Wazzat?

If you have any doubts about whether or not 2023 was a good, bad or just indifferent year for fish, I have some news. It comes, unexpectedly, from the people who like to put a gloss on the world and reassure us all is well.

Sometimes reality intrudes on their seasonal good cheer:

“This year wasn’t so bad, if you make allowances for the conditions,” Salmon Fishing Travel Promo.

I’ll translate: 2023 was so bad they’re worried their clients might take up rock collecting or puddle-jumping instead of spending their money on fishing. It was the year of malevolent spirits known collectively as TheConditions. To save time listing them, I jammed my head into a free online word-cloud generator, shouted ’FISHING CONDITIONS’, and it spat this back:

‘Lying bastards’ should be in a bigger neon typeface (it’s between excrement and death), but otherwise, it’ll do. You can add/subtract your own ideas.

This is deadly serious: At stake is an entire ecosystem. Salmon prop up everything from bears and forests to orcas at sea. Their loss would be an ecological and economic disaster with terrible consequences.

I know nobody who fished anywhere in 2023 who’s celebrating greatconditions. According to one globe-trotting contact, the year’s fishing was all, and he said it pithily, Shit. Which scans like an old-fashioned train rolling down the track … Pithily Shit, Pithily Shit, Pithily-Shit. Try it out loud. And it’s a great name for a fishery mismanagement award. Imagine: “And the winner of this year’s Pithily-Shit Prize is ….”. Suggestions? I have a hatful.

These Conditions come in two principal varieties; dire fishery management and climate-driven. Like many others, I’m playing catch-up with the speed of it all.

Fishing is big business in sea & river, with economic muscle and political clout. And that has consequences. And so does this: North America is a significant hold-out against science generally and climate science in particular – an astonishing 10-15% are sceptics whose scintillating mental arithmetic makes mainframe computers gasp with envy.

So, when environmental (science) data is unwelcome, route one is to attack – it’s bullshit, being a top technical rebuttal. And route two is to twist political arms.

We can follow the dollars and see this playing out just about everywhere. For example, in British Columbia – where it’s been making the news recently.

Canadian Salmon and Steelhead, a sea-run rainbow trout, swim in much the same pithily-shit word cloud as everywhere else. Although, according to the BC authorities, they don’t. Bear with me – this is relevant wherever fish migrate.

We have a lot of good data on BC’s Steelhead runs. The Skeena River test fishery, for example, shows 2023 was the 2nd weakest run in decades (10k fish), coming just 2 years after the worst (5.5k) on record. The yearly average over nearly 70 yrs is about 35k.

That’s the number arriving in the estuary, so before the lethal river gill nets and then the myriad anglers – including me – who catch (and I hope release) their share along the hundreds of miles of main river and principal tributaries.

So how many female fish in prime condition will make it to the redds in this shrunken-run year of desperately low flows and high water temperatures? Surely, not enough. And we also know that juveniles, the smolts, are surviving the return journey to sea in ever smaller numbers (everywhere). Warmer water makes for smaller smolts – and size is a matter of life or death.

This, you might think, is dreadful news for the fish. Not so, according to British Columbia’s fishery dons (the Dept of Fisheries and Oceans). It was business as usual.

Awkwardly, for the dons, Canada’s Auditor General has just released yet another report revealing how they’re screwing things up, big time. It gets worse when you look at how and why.

It seems the dons, whose remit features conservation, happily grant legal protection to species of no commercial value while just about always blocking it for $ high-value species, like salmon. And why would they do that? I think you just guessed.

They make their decisions with the help of unverified data supplied by anonymous ‘collaborators’ who, according to the AG, have conflicted interests in, for example, the commercial fishery. Who’d-a thought it? And while the dons are legally obliged to report and root out such conflicts of interest, they regularly don’t (says the AG). Because maybe they’re mates, or siblings or neighbours? Or some such.

It reeks of cronyism and corruption.

As said, the Skeena is just one among many. The report covers all Canadian regions. And, worldwide, fishery managers are bigging up stocks, mismanaging and covering up threats like disease and climate change while piling on the nets and rods – and trousering the $s.

Unsurprisingly, more fishermen are staying away. Once-exclusive beats on famous rivers are becoming easier to access – and disappointing to fish.

So it should come as no surprise that a senior DFO official wrote this of the dire 2021 run: There’d be no protection for the fish because the Skeena data is “…a measurement problem and it’s not precise enough to warrant massive socioeconomic impacts and alienating those that care about Steelhead the most.” There were just 5.5k fish, a record-busting low, andhe’s suddenly spotted a measurement problem with near-70 yrs of continuous data? And who are these most caring victims of ‘massive socioeconomic impacts’. Whose money? Well, it sounds like those vested interests outed by the AG. So there’s the playbook: Undermine the facts, falsely claim the moral high ground and hug your collaborators tight. And screw the fish (and the Auditor General).

I nominate the writer for a Pithily-Shit Award (a turd on a styrofoam plinth, perhaps). I’ll have to make a lot.

When a species gets into as much trouble as the Steelhead on the Canadian and US West Coast, the moral and scientific imperative is to prove fishing is sustainable. We shouldn’t keep hammering them to see if the population collapses. Here’s another DFO “measurement problem”:

The estimated spawning abundance of Thompson River steelhead. The last data point is the expected ‘23 run (ie spawning spring ‘24): about 230 fish. BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship

As a general observation, endemic corruption is very hard to shift.

So what to do to help the fish here, there and everywhere? If we are so minded, there’s a lot. We can start by putting people in charge who care about them. We can clean up our rivers, get rid of dams, restore headwaters, limit fishing pressure everywhere and treat them as a precious gift from Mother Nature and the foundation of an entire ecosystem. But will we?

And then there’s the really grim stuff: Events already underway that we’re powerless to influence. This is where I fear the Conditions may get impossibly tough.

For example: What was, at the time, the most powerful marine heatwave on record, “The Blob”, brought havoc to the North Pacific from 2014 to 2016. The impacts ranged from massive algal blooms to Baleen Whale die-offs.

It triggered a food chain collapse. Small bait fish are eaten by just about everything bigger than they are. The warmer water reduced their food supply (and the oxygen content of water) while increasing their metabolic rate, so they needed to eat more, but had access to less. Inevitably there were mass deaths and the survivors lost body weight and fat content.

This worked its way back up through the food chain. Everything had to consume more to keep pace with over-heating metabolic needs – but there was less to eat. Scientists estimate 1 million fish-eating sea birds, Common Murres, died of starvation and 100 million Pacific cod vanished from the waters off southern Alaska – and cod do not spawn in waters warmer than 9.6c (IMR, Norway). We’ll never know how many Salmon and Steelhead died.

This year has seen ocean temperature records aplenty (below) as the world hits its warmest for 125,000 years. There is more and worse to come.

We have it in our power to stop the rot but, oh my, there’s a lot to do. The flight of capital out of fossil fuels means that carbon emissions could start to fall in the next year or three. It’s a start, but we need to do the massively scaled-up equivalent of an emergency stop with a planet-sized supertanker.

Meanwhile, a handful of small-time idiots with mates and money in the game behave as though business as normal will deliver a happy ending for Salmon and Steelhead. They are the Pithily-Shits with the wilful negligence to fuck it up for everyone.

On a more cheerful note, good conservation practice is becoming a major project on some rivers. It’s a fearsomely complex puzzle …. but I want to go fishing in places where conservation drives management decisions and my presence (and money) make a net contribution for the better. Is that too much to ask? I can at least try – and I’ll start by not going anywhere beholden to the Pithily-Shitters.

And finally, here are some global sea surface temperatures to ponder (live link below). Is anyone dumb enough to call this Bullshit? Sadly, yes.

World Ocean Temperatures 1981 – 2023 (top). University of Maine click graph for a live & interactive link

To read more of Richard Wilsons fishrise click on the link below : –

https://fishrise.substack.com

13 Dec 2023

“Don’t it always seem to go, That you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Articles, At the Waters Edge, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

Data is vital in telling a story it’s not exciting, entertaining but it can be depressing and in the case of salmon and sea trout it’s a horror story. I caught my first salmon from the River East Lyn back in 1981 a year when 22,190 salmon were landed by rod and line anglers in England and Wales. Most of these fish were killed and taken for the table.
In 2022 the total rod catch for England and Wales was 6,388 of which 6.111 were returned. I doubt if 2023 will reveal any improvement in catches. The most alarming part of this is perhaps the steep decline in stocks since 2017 with catches plummeting from 13,571 to 6,388.
I am no mathematician and I know that data can be manipulated to some extent but this is stark.
To some extent the data is impacted upon by changing fishery regulations and fishing effort.
I am often asked what is the cause and I reply its complex.
An imbalanced eco system, Survival at sea, pollution, consequences of intensive farming, habitat loss, sewage, predation, poaching, salmon farming, overfishing, climate change, pollution, disease.
Beneath each heading there are many variables but I would hazard a guess, no lets google it. The world population in 1981 was 4,524,627,658 (around 4.5 Billion) it now stands at 8,045,311,447 ( just over 8 billion). So, the common denominator is likely to be a rapidly increasing population and an obsession with increasing GDP.
Where on the political agenda is the environment?
Salmon are of course just one iconic species that anglers take pleasure in catching but they are surely an indicator of a wider decline / collapse in the natural worlds eco systems. There is a growing awareness of nature’s decline as marvellous films like Planet Earth bring nature into our sitting rooms where we watch entertained as the splendour of the natural world is revealed and tales of its demise exposed in an unfolding horror story to surpass any Hammer Horror production.
As a young angler in 1981 I thought that salmon would always be present throughout my lifetime. If I am lucky enough to live another twenty years I could witness the extinction of these magnificent fish in UK waters.
“Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”

DATA MAKES FOR GRIM READING
Research and analysis

See Link Below

Salmonid and fisheries statistics for England and Wales 2022
Published 5 December 2023
Figure 1: Salmon stock status in England 2022
Risk value Number of rivers Percentage of total
Not at risk 1 2%
Probably not at risk 5 12%
Probably at risk 6 14%
At risk 30 71%

Is it too late? Maybe not for as nature and its demise climb up the political agenda there is a chance that those who care will do what needs to be done to address the many issues that impact upon salmon and the wider natural world. They say that where there is a will there is a way and there are some clever people out there and if given a chance nature is resilient and can recover.

11 Dec 2023

SALMON MOVES TO ENDANGERED

by Wayne Thomas | posted in: Articles, Game Fishing, Sidebar | 0

WILD FISH

BREAKING NEWS

Main UK population of Atlantic salmon moves to endangered

In the species reassessment released today by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the main UK population of Atlantic salmon is reclassified as endangered – meaning they are threatened with extinction. Global populations are reclassified from least concern to near threatened.

Here in the UK, we are set to lose this incredible species before anyone else unless urgent action is taken.

IUCN’s reassessment indicates that the mechanisms in place to protect Atlantic salmon are not working. The regulators responsible for their protection are failing both the species and the habitats on which they depend.

The main threats to the UK populations of Atlantic salmon come as no surprise and include declining water quality, in-stream barriers, salmon farming, exploitation and climate change.

In response to today’s announcement, our chief executive, Nick Measham, said this:

“Thanks to the money raised by our supporters, we commissioned IUCN to reassess the status of Atlantic salmon stocks across the world. The outcome, although not unsurprising, is very grim. The UK population is in crisis thanks to our government’s and its regulators’ failures. We need the government to give our regulators the mandate and resources to act urgently to save our Atlantic salmon and their rivers”.