Atlantic Salmon

Every autumn salmon return from the sea to mate in our British rivers. One of autumns greatest spectacles is seeing them leap up waterfalls to reach their spawning grounds. But this spectacle could be in trouble. In recent years there have been many alarming reports of declining numbers of salmon. In August the salmon are coming back from their feeding grounds way out in the atlantic. They will travel to the most northern tip of Scotland and other parts of the U.K. The salmon have to leap fast to get up the waterfalls, they do this by tucking their pectoral fins (these are located just behind their gills) in when they leap. They do this to make them as streamline as possible enabling them to make a successful jump. Their pectoral fins are then pushed back out to cushion the blow for when they fall back into the water. For this a swollen fast flowing river is essential for the salmon to be able to leap up the waterfalls. They also need deep water so they can have a good long swim up before they jump. The brown salmon that you may see have been in the river since spring waiting for the river to be swollen by the autumn rains, the silver salmon have come straight into the river from the atlantic. The movement of these fish has created a massive fishing industry that dates back for hundreds of years. The Atlantic salmon used to be fished very commonly, but now only a few fishing boats remain. The salmon are caught as they return back from the open ocean, when they are looking for their spawning ground rivers. But local fishermen  believe that the number of salmon are actually increasing. Last seasons catch was the best for the fishermen for over two hundred years. So are all the reports of the species being in trouble a myth, if the local fisherman's accounts are true. The St andrews university have been monitoring the local fisherman`s catches for over a decade. Their results show that although the quantity isn`t a problem the quality of the salmon is. The weight is the first thing that's important, the second is the fat reserves that have been stored up. All of the fish need this for their energy, to get up the river, spawn and then back out to sea. Low fat reserves mean less energy for the salmons migration  up the rivers. Size is an issue to, in 1997 the average size of salmon was about 29% higher than today, the salmon are a third smaller now than they were fourteen years ago. Large fish produce more eggs than smaller fish, so if the size of the females are a third down then the amount of eggs being deposited in fresh water is down aswell. It appears though the research being done, their numbers might be up but their physical quality(thats for their ability to reach their spawning grounds and mate) is definatly going down. The obvious reason is climate change, oceans warming and the salmon are migrating out to the norweigen sea. Their disrtibution of their food seems to be changing beacause of the ocean temperature. They are arriving in the right place but the food isn`t there. What can we do about it? In short probaly not a great deal, but we can maximise the quality of their fresh water habitats. Manage these habitats better, making sure the adults have every oppurtunity of spawning so the rivers can produce as many juveniles as possible. Only time will tell if the change in the quality of salmon through our management of fresh water habitats will make them bettter fish for the future. They are in urgent need of conservation.