Atlantic salmon

Wild Atlantic salmon populations are at historically low levels and scientific advice recommends that no catch takes place.

Despite restrictive management measures and reductions in exploitation rates, salmon stocks across the Northeast Atlantic remain at historically low levels. ICES recommends that fishing for salmon only takes place in rivers where stocks have been shown to be at full reproductive capacity i.e. above conservation limits (CLs). Atlantic salmon is also listed by OSPAR as a threatened and declining species.

Exploitation rates on Northeast Atlantic stocks continue to decline and catches in 2022 were 568 tonnes. This was a reduction from recent years and both 2021 (487 tonnes) and 2022 were notably lower than the preceding years and below the previous 5 year average (897 tonnes, 2016-2020) and 10 year average (1027 tonnes, 2011-2020). The 2021 total catch in the Northeast Atlantic area was the lowest in the time-series. The reported catch do not include salmon that have been caught and released (these are reported separately).

In addition to fishing, the decline in salmon stocks is also attributed to freshwater habitat deterioration and impediments (e.g. dams) to upstream movements. Fishing pressure on wild stocks has decreased due to intensive farming of salmon and worldwide production of farmed salmon is over 1000 times the reported catch of Atlantic salmon in the Northeast Atlantic, but other problems have increased such as disease spread. Climatic factors modifying ecosystem conditions and impact of predators of salmon at sea are also considered to be contributory factors to low productivity of wild salmon.

Salmon are managed by a variety of measures which may differ by country. Salmon conservation is coordinated by NASCO.

Due to the Atlantic salmon's oceanic migrations, international cooperation is essential to its conservation, restoration and rational management. The forum for such cooperation is provided by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO). NASCO is an intergovernmental organization that works to conserve and manage Atlantic salmon throughout its range. It facilitates cooperation among countries with salmon stocks in the Northeast Atlantic, develops conservation measures, and promotes research and monitoring.

Under NASCO's Convention, fishing for salmon is prohibited beyond 12 nautical miles of the baselines in most parts of the North Atlantic Ocean, thereby creating an enormous protected zone free of directed salmon fisheries. NASCO has established regulatory measures or decisions for the distant-water fisheries at West Greenland and around the Faroe Islands in most years since its establishment. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has provided scientific advice to NASCO since its establishment in 1984. This advice indicates that there has been a marked decline in abundance prior to any fisheries, and while marine survival indices in the North Atlantic have improved in some index stocks in recent years, the declining trend has persisted and survival indices remain low.

Each country in the Northeast Atlantic is also responsible for implementing and enforcing regulations within their respective jurisdictions. These authorities set fishing quotas, establish fishing seasons, and enforce regulations to protect salmon stocks. Specific regulations differ between countries but often include closed seasons, catch and release requirements, or gear limitations.

Factors other than marine fisheries, acting in freshwater and in the ocean (e.g. marine mortality, fish passage, water quality) are also contributing to continued low abundance of wild Atlantic salmon. In response to the declining abundance, there have been major reductions in fishing effort around the North Atlantic. In 2001, NASCO established the International Atlantic Salmon Research Board (IASRB) to promote collaboration and co-operation on research into the causes of marine mortality of Atlantic salmon and the opportunities to counteract it. The Board developed and implemented, through a public-private partnership, an innovative and comprehensive programme of marine research, the SALSEA Programme, investigating the distribution and migration of salmon at sea and is currently reviewing the need for further research to partition marine mortality at different stages along the migration route (see www.nasco.int/sas).

There is limited knowledge on the impacts of salmon fishing on the environment and wider ecosystem.

Wild Atlantic salmon can be harvested in a range of gears, including set and drifting gill nets, various traps and rod and line. High seas and coastal drift netting takes large numbers of fish as they return to rivers to spawn.

Salmon fisheries are thought to have only minor impact on the marine ecosystem. However, the exploitation of salmon in freshwater may affect the riverine ecosystem through changes in species composition but there is limited knowledge on the magnitude of these effects.