For People

Wild Atlantic salmon are deeply intertwined with communities across the North Atlantic and our shared natural and cultural heritage has been interwoven with the species for centuries. From Spain and Portugal on the westernmost edge of Europe, to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland, Germany, Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, the Scandinavian states of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, as well as Finland, Russia, and Iceland, and all the way across the ocean to Greenland, Eastern Canada and the United States, wild Atlantic salmon are part of our shared story, even if lost or severely depleted in much of this historic range. What now remains is just a fragment of what should be there.

From the earliest days of human civilization, the ‘King of Fish’ has been revered. The ‘Abri du Poisson’, or ‘Fish Rock Shelter’ located in the Dordogne region of southwest France is a 25,000 year old paleolithic artwork depicting Atlantic salmon, carved during the Ice Age, and represents one of the oldest depictions of a fish found anywhere on Earth. When much of northern Europe was under ice, it is likely that this region, along with the Iberian Peninsula, was the stronghold of the species. As the ice caps retreated and new rivers formed, the Atlantic salmon’s range expanded northwards, through into the British Isles, Scandinavia and beyond. As they made their way through Germania and Gaul, Roman armies marveled at the Atlantic salmon’s abilities to leap incredible heights. In present-day Scotland, the Torridon Stone is a surviving memory of Atlantic salmon from the Pictish people, carved in stone around 500-700AD. There are countless other examples from across the North Atlantic of Atlantic salmon in myth and folklore, on coins and architecture, and in literature and art. Its return to rivers every year sustained communities through subsistence fishing and over time it also became an iconic part of European food culture. Latterly, it became revered as a sport fish for its strength and aggression, and ignited a now centuries old unique angling culture which runs deep through our shared heritage and continues to act as an important way for human beings to connect with nature.

Fisheries, both commercial and small-scale artisanal, have now all but disappeared with the decline of the species, but today returning wild Atlantic salmon still support a an important recreational angling tourism industry, which in many countries is now almost exclusively carried out on a responsible, voluntary catch-and-release basis as people seek to maintain their spiritual connection with this iconic species but minimise their impact. Along well-known Atlantic salmon rivers, jobs, businesses and communities depend on this tourism to survive and, in many cases, now lie at the heart of efforts to restore the species.