A review of management of wild Irish salmon has been initiated by Minister of State for the Marine and Climate Timmy Dooley.
Following a review of Ireland's salmon management framework by Inland Fisheries Ireland (IFI), the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment is seeking views on a package of more precautionary measures for the management of salmon exploitation, with a view to informing arrangements for the 2027 fishing season.
The review has found that only 28% of Ireland’s 144 designated salmon river populations are exceeding conservation limits due to multiple factors.
The leading stressor is reduced survival at sea linked to climate and marine ecosystem change. Only 5% of wild smolts are returning to their home river compared to 15-20% in the 1970s and early 1980s.
Given this reduction in marine survival additional stressors impacting wild Atlantic salmon in freshwater have become proportionally more important to the overall declining conservation status of populations, the review says.
In Ireland the priority threats that are compounding the low marine survival include (in descending order):
- Pollution and nutrient enrichment in freshwater from many sources
- Habitat degradation and destruction (especially spawning habitat)
- Coastal pressures from open-net cage salmon farming due to the impact of sea lice on migrating smolts as well as negative genetic impacts from farm escapes)
- Climate change in freshwater systems (causing floods, droughts and heatwaves).
- Barriers to fish migration (for example dams, weirs, bridge structures)
- Water abstraction from freshwater systems can reduce the amount of water available for wild Atlantic salmon
- Excessive predation by birds, fish and mammals (on depleted populations)
- Potential by-catch of salmon by commercial marine fisheries
- Illegal fishing and overfishing.
The review says that more recent emergent threats that potentially pose a significant risk to salmon and may lead to further declines, include invasive species (including pink salmon and introductions of non-native species) and the spread of existing and new diseases and parasites that affect salmon populations.
