Talking Chalkstream Salmon: Event Recording
Did you miss our ‘Talking Chalkstream Salmon’ Event on 8th September?
Catch up with the recording below, where we are joined in conversation with Stuart Singleton-White, Charles Rangely-Wilson, Mike Blackmore, Dylan Roberts, and Penny Gane. These expert voices talk us through some of the vital work taking place on our UK chalkstreams from the practical work on rivers, to legal pursuits, scientific research being carried out, and the advocacy taking place for governmental, regulatory, and policy change.
We promised to answer some outstanding questions. See our answers below.
Q.1 Is climate change extending salmon habitat, perhaps even expanding populations, at the northern edge of their range?
It might be more likely that the range is moving north rather than expanding. It seems likely climate change will result in a loss to at least some of the southern range.
Q.2 Is there no concern over disease occurrences/impact in wild salmon stocks in the rivers mentioned?
Yes there is concern, especially as oxygen/temperature stress make salmonids more vulnerable to such impacts.
Q.3 Are we any closer to resolving the water resource issue? The water companies appear to be in their silos and are pushing water sparing. What about inter regional transfer? It seems the only way given housing/population growth.
We are closer, but such projects move at a glacial pace. We must enact whatever short-term actions we can in the meantime. The same applies to the glacial pace of water quality improvements.
Q.4 With Test and Itchen salmon close to extinction, is it not time we called a halt to angling for salmon, to allow time for their numbers to recover? Who wants to catch the last salmon on the Test or Itchen?
We would say no (because humans are terrible at appointing value to wildlife they don’t interact with) but we should at least focus on the manner of their catching; arguably calling for a halt of catch-and-kill along with any catch-and-release angling that relies on or exacerbates significant delaying of migration. We need to seriously consider whether we should be catching and exhausting salmon in resting pools below significant obstacles for example.
Q.5 Do you think historic recreational angling practises typical of 50+ years ago, whereby large adult Salmon were frequently caught and killed, have a part to play in exacerbating the decline of Atlantic Salmon? Has fishery / river management done the same? My concerns are for the degradation of population genetic diversity, at a time when all other anthropogenic and climate pressures were (and are) intensifying. The term ‘Extinction Vortex’ comes to mind.
Intensively stocked put-and-take fisheries have no inherent need of spawning/nursery habitat and many have been managed as such for decades (if not longer). I think that these days fishery owners/managers/keepers do value such habitat for its own sake but to a certain extent the damage has been done. Undoing it requires a re-think and re-marketing of chalk stream fishing. It needs bringing into the 21st century.
Q.6 Engineered wetlands are being promoted strongly for nutrient removal. Are they sustainable along chalk streams? Temperature must be an issue. Are they effective? Where is the research?
A good question. To be effective in treating wastewater, engineered wetlands need to be highly artificial in nature, which limits their habitat value. This is even more the case on chalk geology, where they will most likely need to be lined. Arguably they end up being so artificial that they have no real benefit for wastewater treatment over additional hard-engineered capacity increases within sewage treatment works. However, less engineered, more natural wetlands, which process nutrients to a lesser degree, yet provide add significant wildlife and hydrology benefits, could play a significant role in intercepting agricultural run-off, and if delivered at scale (i.e., via floodplain restoration), could have a significant impact.
Q.7 Wylye Valley Farmers cluster has set up a lab to monitor phosphate and nitrate from 17 points, source to confluence, plus now 5 silt traps to monitor and identify sources of silt along the river's length. The objective is to identify and remove point sources as well as to understand and deal with more general influxes. Is this a key development or a sideshow and would it be worth replicating across the chalkstream system?
The Wylye Valley farm cluster is a great step forward. The monitoring is only part of the cluster’s aspirations and time will tell if new subsidy systems are accessible and effective enough to capitalise on the opportunity the cluster represents. If all goes well it certainly could provide a template for others to follow. That is however, a big “if”.
Q.8 We have open water swimmers on the Itchen in Eastleigh and Winchester. They swim every day throughout the year in groups of up to 20 swimmers. The EA have no policy on these very destructive people and do nothing. The erosion of the river is becoming more and more evident. What are your views?
If we want the public to care about our chalk streams, we need to be more inclusive and facilitate greater access to the public. This doesn’t necessarily mean a free-for-all, and it is something that could be controlled in a not dissimilar manner to angling clubs (i.e., with membership and access dependant on obeyance of club rules that protect the river). Engaging with wild swimmers and finding common ground, mutual respect and compromise will be key.
Q.9 Could Charles expand on his idea of the chalk streams as an ‘Ark’ for salmon? Are you suggesting they could be an Ark for all UK salmon?
Charles: Not as such … I was suggesting that we have in our chalk streams a potential resource - untapped because of the conditions in the rivers at the moment - for nurturing salmon in the face of all the issues at sea. If we undid the damage begun by milling and then added to by dredging, pollution etc. we could restore our chalk streams as really good salmon nursery habitat. As Mike says, it’s what we can do: it won’t fix the warming Atlantic however. But it might make a difference and is amazingly cost effective in the scheme of things. Ref habitat restoration we need to THINK BIG!
Mike: I agree wholeheartedly with Charles. We need to think big. Our chalk streams have enormous potential, but each has lost hundreds of km of salmon habitat to dredging, channelisation and impoundment (not to mention obstacles to migration). Genetic studies suggest high levels of population mixing between the Wessex area chalk streams, suggesting that each of chalk river may be an Ark for the others. It may be that improving salmon habitat on the Frome or Avon helps preserve populations in the Test and Itchen (and vice versa).
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