Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust " Wild Salmon Appeal "
Chalk Stream Research Could Unravel Atlantic Salmon Declines Globally
Atlantic salmon have suffered a massive 70 per cent decline in the past 30 years and there is now an international effort in place to provide effective conservation and restoration of the species.
For over 30 years the River Frome in Dorset, once famed for its 30lb salmon, has been providing some of the best evidence of the Atlantic salmon decline in our rivers across the country. The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has recently taken over one of the country‟s leading salmon and sea trout research centres based on the Frome at East Stoke (until recently, the fisheries research based on the river was run by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology).
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust‟s salmon and trout research centre is directly involved in the international effort to research wild salmon declines and their causes and the entire river catchment has been transformed into an impressive natural river laboratory. To date, this research facility, which comprises the most technically advanced scientific monitoring equipment of any river in the country has collected nearly 40 years of data, which will have an important input in the future management of adult salmon.
Over that period a large amount of monitoring equipment has been installed making it the most instrumented natural river laboratory in Europe.
Despite the ongoing international conservation efforts to reduce over fishing at sea we lack the scientific evidence for managing our rivers better. We desperately need to identify which environmental conditions the fish experience in fresh water rivers best prepare them for their survival at sea. To reverse the 70% decline in returning salmon numbers over the last 20 years, and to see more 30lb salmon returning to our rivers, we urgently need to unlock these secrets.
Dr Anton Ibbotson who heads the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust‟s research centre at East Stoke, said, “Over the last ten years we have developed specialist techniques for tagging individual fish to work alongside state-of-the-art fish counting, monitoring and tag detection equipment installed on the River Frome.“We have individually tagged 50,000 salmon parr in the last four years, which could now be distributed anywhere between the River Frome and the icy waters of Greenland. Once they start returning to the river over the next few years we will be able to monitor their arrival and help build up a picture of why some fish have survived in the sea and why others have not. This will help manage salmon populations in the future.” 
A unique feature of the catchment-based laboratory is the 'hands off' automatic electronic smolt counter which counts the delicate juvenile salmon and sea trout as they migrate to sea. The use of Passive Integrated Transmitter (PIT) tag technology enables the scientists to study large numbers of individual fish in order to better understand the factors that influence the life history, survival and migratory patterns of both salmon and sea trout. This facility is not replicated anywhere else in the UK and has far less damaging affect on the fish than using traps or other interception devices.
Dr Ibbotson explains the implications of this research, “This natural laboratory will enable us to answer many of the really important questions about salmon and sea trout stocks that would be difficult to answer elsewhere. A really good example of this is how the environmental conditions the fish experience in freshwater affects their survival in the sea. Too often, we see marine and freshwater sources of mortality as independent, but now we can follow large numbers of individual fish from their early freshwater life -stages through to maturation and spawning.”
Dr Nick Sotherton, the Trust‟s director of research, said, “This is one of the best equipped rivers for salmon and sea trout research in Europe and the research is relevant to every salmon fisherman in the country, whether he or she fishes the Spey or the Test. Working on this influential research laboratory, which has international and national standing is a considerable boost to our existing brown trout research programme and we believe it will save dramatic implications for international salmon research.”
The next stage of research for their survival
The initial conservation focus was to reduce over-fishing of salmon at sea and there is little more that can now be done. We must now focus research effort on ensuring that the freshwater habitat produces salmon that have the best chance of survival at sea. This huge natural laboratory on the River Frome is of both national and international importance – we can study, fish by fish, entire populations of migrating salmon using its unique „hands off ‟ monitoring equipment. The results will teach us how to best manage our rivers to produce more fish that will survive at sea and return to spawn.
Critical questions for the future
A great deal is known about salmon in the Atlantic - they adopt a silver coat to help evade sea predators; they must adapt internally and externally to survive the icy cold salt water; they can swim up to 100 miles a day during their 4,000 mile migration. But we know so very little about
what can be done to improve the freshwater habitat to produce salmon that have the best chance of survival on their epic journey. Is it down to the size of a salmon when it runs to sea? Is it the time of year when it chooses to migrate? Do autumn migrating fish have higher survival rates? Is it far more complicated environmental issues such as climate change, water or air temperature, river flows or rainfall patterns? Are the conditions experienced in the freshwater river affecting the number of years a salmon spends at sea? The longer at sea, the bigger the fish - every salmon fisherman wants to see more 30lb salmon in our rivers!
The River Frome and its monitoring equipment will allow us to find the answers to these questions by conducting experiments that, quite simply, could not have been done before.
Your help is crucial for wild salmon
The Trust has an enviable track record in the conservation of game and wildlife. In the coming years, this work on the River Frome will make a vital international contribution to our knowledge of the factors that affect the health of salmon populations in our rivers. The Trust would therefore like the support of anyone interesting in the conservation of salmon to fund this important research. Your support will have a direct impact on the quality of scientific input to our endeavours to increase wild salmon stocks for future generations.
Why the Trust need extra funds
- The opportunity to save the huge data and knowledge bank waiting to be harnessed from 50,000 fish already tagged.
- The opportunity to continue the crucial long-term monitoring research programme.
- The opportunity of building on decades of goodwill built up with landowners adjacent to the River Frome and their huge co-operation.
- To try and answer these questions in the future we would risk having to raise funds to build a whole new facility - many times more than the funding support required now to keep the existing site running.
- The opportunity for the Trust‟s science to contribute to the international recovery of salmon numbers would be delayed indefinitely, a source of significant concern for game fishing enthusiasts.
- To summarise, the opportunity to contribute to the recovery of this key game species, the king of fishes, is unprecedented and deserves to be supported.
Endorsements
Atlantic Salmon Trust “It is now vital to understand and influence conditions in our rivers and inland waterways. We are supporting the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust because it can be entrusted to produce the science that will help rebuild thepopulation of this species.” Tony Andrews Director
Salmon & Trout Association “We thoroughly endorse and are supporting this research now being carried out by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Finding out how to reverse the alarming decline in salmon numbers will help to ensure the future for game fishing.” Paul Knight Chief Executive
