Our Policy Asks for Scotland
Wild Atlantic salmon will have a thriving future if we choose to act now by giving them free access to cold, clean water and restoring their habitat.
1. Appropriate legislation which puts wild salmon first.
Integrate salmon conservation into broader biodiversity, climate, and environmental policies and targets and ensure regulations are effective and enforceable.
Act immediately to deliver the crucial commitments in the Scottish Wild Salmon Strategy.
Increase enforcement penalties for wild salmon offences such that financial deterrents are commensurate with other wildlife crimes.
Deliver statutory nature recovery targets that benefit wild Atlantic salmon and their habitats through the forthcoming Natural Environment Bill
Scottish Government to achieve the NASCO obligations for farmed fish interactions.
2. Make polluters pay.
Ensure that fines serve as a genuine deterrent to illegal activities, are strictly enforced and require polluters to cover the full cost of environmental harm.
Ensure strict enforcement of all relevant SEPA regulations including general binding rules.
Ringfence relevant financial penalties towards salmon and habitat conservation.
3. Free access to cold, clean water.
Accelerate the removal of physical barriers to migration ensuring free-flowing rivers, natural processes and free access to habitat.
Fully deliver the programme of barrier removal and easements identified in Scotland’s River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs).
Design subsequent river basin management plans to address existing gaps and ensure that new RBMP targets provide robust protection for salmon and their habitats at local and national scales.
4. Manage land for water.
Adopt a collaborative approach to water and land management to enable recovery of wild salmon and their habitat at scale.
Reform public funding for agriculture and forestry subsidies to provide greater incentives for land use changes which benefit climate mitigation, water quality, water quantity, and biodiversity.
5. Improve wild salmon survival at sea.
Protect all life stages of salmon through better understanding and minimising impacts on wild salmon in the marine environment.
Ensure that the National Marine Plan provides appropriate protection for the marine phases of wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout.
Gain a full understanding of the impact of salmon bycatch in marine fisheries through international collaborative working between governments.
Ensure that knowledge gaps associated with impacts of marine renewables on wild salmon are urgently addressed by the Scottish Government and developers.