Angling Trust Launches Manifesto to Protect Wild Atlantic Salmon in England and Wales
Missing Salmon Alliance member, Angling Trust, has taken the plight of Atlantic salmon to the heart of parliament with the launch of a Salmon Angling Manifesto for England and Wales.
Attended by Fisheries Minister, Mark Spencer MP, the launch on 31st January 2023 called for a more coordinated approach from both the Westminster and Welsh governments to protect salmon and take to action to support their recovery.
Fisheries Minister Mark Spencer with Angling Trust's Stephen Beverley (left) and Mark Owen (right) at the launch of the Salmon Angling Manifesto
The UK government is committed to halting the decline in biodiversity by 2030 and increasing its abundance by 10 per cent by 2042. Yet, currently, that does not include salmon. This is a serious concern and one the government needs to change its position on.
The manifesto is written by the voice of anglers who are pushing salmon in the spotlight and calling for decisive action to avert one of the most worrying examples of climate-related biodiversity loss on our doorstep.
In line with the MSA’s aims to protect freshwater habitats, improve water quantity and quality, and reduce losses of salmon and sea trout in our rivers, coastal waters, and the open ocean, the manifesto sets out the actions needed to return our rivers to a state where large numbers of smolts head downstream and out to sea, and large numbers of adults return to their native rivers to spawn. Highlighting the socio-economic and environmental benefits of the sport, the manifesto demands ‘to see salmon numbers that allow our sport to thrive, expand, and bring pleasure to anglers to generations to come.’
Speaking at the launch in parliament, Mark Owen, Head of Fisheries at the Angling Trust, said: “Governments often talk about the need to protect our environment and to look after nature. None more so than this one, who have reaffirmed, only today, their desire in the words of the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to ‘achieve our target of not just halting, but reversing the decline of nature’.
He continued, “There could not be a more pressing need to see these words put into action than with salmon. Their decline in recent years has been dramatic, only one river in England is not classed as being either ‘at risk’ or ‘probably at risk’ for salmon. Local extinctions are a real possibility.”
Determined to safeguard the future of our wild Atlantic salmon, the partners of the Missing Salmon Alliance are working to take better care of this iconic species. Now, we need the political will to make change happen.
You can download and read the manifesto here.
As an Alliance of six organisations, we will build on the existing work of our partners and maximise our impact by taking a coordinated approach and vital action in order to halt and reverse the decline of wild Atlantic salmon.
The goal of the Missing Salmon Alliance is to build an evidence-base to influence national and international decision-makers to regulate activities that adversely impact wild Atlantic salmon.
The Missing Salmon Alliance
The MSA is comprised of the following members:
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Atlantic Salmon Trust, the Angling Trust with Fish Legal, The Rivers Trust and Fisheries Management Scotland.
https://www.missingsalmonalliance.org