New Research on Atlantic salmon asks if size matters
Conservationists and salmon fishermen are united in their concerns about the dwindling number of Atlantic salmon now residing in rivers across the UK. Pollution, predation even climate change are thought to be potential causes of a massive 70 per cent decline in recent years. But in truth no-one really knows why salmon stocks are disappearing.
However, remarkable new research being carried out in a state-of-the-art natural river laboratory on the River Frome in Dorset by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust could shed light on some of the critical factors affecting our Atlantic salmon stocks in rivers across the country.
With more than 40,000 young salmon now tagged with Passive Integrated Transmitters (PIT tags), these fish, many of which will migrate to the sea in the spring, will enable the researchers to build an accurate picture of how the river environment is affecting the success of salmon at sea. For example it will help to clarify whether their size when leaving the river affects their survival and the length of time they spend at sea.
Dr Anton Ibbotson, who runs the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Salmon and Trout Research Centre at East Stoke, in Dorset, explains the latest findings of this long-standing research, “This autumn was the fourth year that we have tagged more than 10,000 salmon parr. In total 40,000 fish have been tagged over this period and we are monitoring their progress closely as they leave the river and significantly, if and when they return from the sea in two or three years time.â€
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