Declining wild fish stocks

What is the issue?

Wild fish stocks in the UK are under pressure, often severely so. There a few good news stories but the stark fact is that many of the rivers failing to meet European designation of good ecological status do so because of degraded wild fish stocks. The reasons are numerous and complex - over exploitation by commercial fishermen and anglers; degraded freshwater, intertidal and marine habitats; pollution from various sources; barriers to migration; predation. In most cases it is human impact that requires management, rather than fish stocks. Fish can look after themselves very well, given freedom from human interference.

What S&TA has achieved so far

There have been several high profile successes in halting declining fish stocks:

• The buy-out of the majority of the North East Drift Nets in 2003
• The closure of the Irish Drift Net Fishery in 2006
• The banning of cypermethrin sheep dips in 2009, protecting trout and salmon upland spawning and juvenile habitat
• The inclusion of brown and sea trout as Biodiversity Action Plan species in 2010
• The gradual acceptance and move towards catch and release as a conservation tool for both trout and salmon
• The inclusion of fisheries organisations within the Blueprint for Water team, putting fisheries firmly in the influential environmental lobby with this ten-point demand of Government for the future management of the water environment
• Our Head of Science, Janina Gray, leading on two of the ten asks during the 2010 Blueprint review for the new Government, further cementing fisheries within frontline environmental organisations
• Recent EA strategies for the management of salmon, sea trout, trout and grayling, influenced in no small part by evidence from S&TA at planning stages

What still needs to be done?

S&TA believes that there is still a basic lack of political commitment to managing the water environment efficiently and effectively, particularly as to do so means a radical rethink in the way relevant industries should be regulated and/or compensated for protecting river corridors and lakes.

S&TA therefore looks to tackle the decline in wild fish stocks on many different levels, and below is a list of links to the relevant issues, including our future policy programmes: