If you had enough finances to make a difference to the Atlantic salmon. On what would you spend it? This was a question posed by me to facebook followers yesterday.
Answers –
145 people provided replies and here was the breakdown
Predation do something about FEBs, Estuary/River Seals - 34 people.
Hatcheries - Facebook 44 people
Improve Water Quality - 5 people
Fish Farms - 28 people.
Invertebrate declines – 3 People
Industrial fishing for salmon food in the ocean [pout] smolts as by-catch - 15 People
Too many humans acting irresponsibly - 4 people
Reopen negotiations with Greenland and Faroese to stop netting. Let them know what has happened to stocks since Orri’s death – 6 People
Get rid of Experts/Scientists - 5
Habitat restoration - 5
Invest in what is happening at sea (more targeted science) - 10
With 31% Hatcheries were the number one thing that anglers suggest we can do to help.
With 25% Predator control was the second
With 20% Control of Aquaculture.
With 11% Overfishing of salmon food [ making fish meal] at sea.
With 7% More targeted research into what is happening at sea.
I was quite surprised that more people failed to talk about Water quality and invertebrate decline. Even more shocked I was to find very few people speaking about trying to rekindle Orri’s work and opening new talks or communicating on-going talks with Greenland and The Faroese into their netting of fish in their sector. Only one or two people mentioned the removal of dams as being a priority too. Again, this surprised.
Looking at the above results I would say the angling community is sure as to the main things that need to be done and I would 100% agree with them on this. However, it is split as to which is most important.
Hatcheries, Predator control. The regulation of aquaculture is not my area of expertise.
Aquaculture - It would be fair to assume that it falls within the remit of SEPA to regulate fish farms and there are various plans ongoing to ensure farms deal with Sea Lice properly https://consultation.sepa.org.uk/regulatory-services/protection-of-wild-salmon/ Personally I have not read this as I simply do not have the time. However, I can see something is happening and there is a plan of a kind, albeit it there will be lots of politics involved. Others are far more clued up on this subject than I am. A few of the salmon Conservation Groups are also involved in this right now.
In the following I will deal with what we need to do to deal with Predation - Currently there is no “proper” plan to deal with any rogue seals entering Scottish rivers. Nor is there any “proper” plan to deal with non-native Goosanders.
Given that salmon are now officially endangered, I find it quite incredible that there has been no concerted effort to deal properly with the above. We all know the politics involved; however, we are now at crisis point and eventually common sense must prevail, and we adopt a precautionary approach when it comes to managing salmon and implement physical action. The time for talking, as they say, is now over!
Below is a summary of the remit of the Missing Salmon Alliance, a Coop of all major Salmon Conservation bodies in the UK.
They Promote and use your money for -
Protecting freshwater habitats by addressing barriers to migration and providing cooling shade from native trees;
improving water quantity and quality, by stopping pollution from agriculture and sewage, tackling over-abstraction and better management of river flows;
reducing losses of salmon in our rivers, coastal waters, and the open ocean, by addressing the impacts of aquaculture, predation, and by-catch.
One of the latest Projects is this one -
The Salmonid Management Round the Channel Project (SAMARCH) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD0rjtbYMhM
This is a four-year research program comprising of four sub-projects that will tag and track salmon in the English Channel estuaries and transitional waters. SAMARCH is a €7.8m five-year project (2017-2022) part funded by the France England Interreg Channel programme. The project will provide new transferable scientific evidence to inform the management of salmon and sea trout (salmonids) in the estuaries and coastal waters of both the French and English sides of the Channel
Within the SAMARCH project there are four technical work-packages - fish tracking using acoustic tracking technology, genetic tool development, Salmonid stock assessment models and training and engaging with the stakeholders in England and France to maximise the impact of the results generated.
Another highly publicised idea is - The Likely Suspects Framework https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-PvmF6awy8
is an ambitious project that embraces innovative technology, big data opportunities, and international collaboration to drive forward our efforts to save Atlantic salmon.
The Likely Suspects Framework (LSF) concept was proposed in 2017 by a group of salmon researchers from the Atlantic and the Pacific basins, as such a process with the goal of providing practical advice to managers and decisionmakers by identifying the main sources of salmon mortality and their cumulative effects across the life cycle of a salmon population of interest.
Whilst I am sure there are many driven/passionate people behind all the above, personally, I believe if we want a result with wild salmon then we simply must engage the public, and frankly we are failing to do this at every turn. All over the UK I see the same people making the same noises as they have for decades and getting nowhere with those politicians they are trying to influence.
To get anywhere, we simply must engage the public with regard the plight of the salmon and as we can see with the numbers of people visiting the two costly projects [you tube links above], currently we are failing miserably on this count, and this is where I believe we can be a whole lot better! There is no plan to get the public onside! Like it or loath it, the bottom line is, as far as Jo public is concerned, Salmon are simply a jolly for the Rich! Although everyone reading this knows this to be untrue, it’s not my readers I need to convert, Its Jo Bloggs!
Something I hear so much is - “Unfortunately the salmon is hidden and doesn't have big round come to me eyes”. Of course this is right, but in the 21st Century, if we want to tell an engaging story, I’m sure, just as we did in Finding Nemo or the lion King, we could give her lovely pair of come to me eyes and a evocative/provocative voice! It is all about the story and how you tell it, the plan for the story. Why you are telling it. Who you are telling it to. To engage with politicians, we first must get the public behind an idea.
Once the public see that its not “all” about people with tweed jackets and plummy accents. In fact its about people like them and their families. It is about remote parts of the UK having thriving growing economies rather than the taxpayer reliant “research based” economies we are now increasingly relying on.
It really is about telling the full story and telling it Well, only then will the level of support move from 0.01% of the population to 5% +.
As someone involved in both salmon angling and the tackle trade, I remember well the massive influence of the film “A river runs through it” on the tackle world. This was a positive but unforeseen byproduct. I am sure a properly thought-out animated film penned by someone like JK Rowling, and characters voiced by people such as e.g. Morgan Freeman would light the touchpaper.
I have watched the Whisky industry in Scotland booming on the back of a relevant story. It's time we told a few of our own! Can any readers help with any of this?
The Atlantic Salmon is a gift from the gods, something with the potential to generate so much potential wealth for generations to come in rural areas of the UK.
It is my belief that properly dealing with rogue seals and Goosanders in Scotland would bring benefits to failing runs of salmon. The film would raise awareness of all other problems and do so much to help all.
Successive governments, and many people involved have talked plenty within their own peer groups but have failed to help salmon and the time has come for a new approach. I'll be interested to hear from those who would be interested in helping any way with this initiative?
Companies politically protected whilst flaunting the law on sewage, abstraction, dams, run off, etc need to be held to task too. This would help all.
Hatcheries – It's all about properly run case studies - Next Time!