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.