My primary focus and goal of Natural Living Assets is to aim for a sustainable stock of wild Atlantic salmon in our local rivers in Northern Ireland and Ireland. As a starting point this involves a critical analysis of salmon management in NI.
The Water Framework Directive (WFD) and UK brexit equivalent provides an environmental/ socio economic context to managing Atlantic salmon at river catchment level and local river, when salmon population requirements are fully considered in programmes of measures.
It is recommended that the hydro-geo-morphological(HGM) profile of rivers is considered as a vital measure in addition to chemical eutrophication prevention standards determined in the WFD. The HGM profile of an individual river determines the quantity and quality of the various salmon life cycle habitats, such as pool riffle glide. It is essential that the hydrogeomorphology profile of rivers best suited to Atlantic salmon are maintained and developed for individual salmon rivers.
There are many economic vested interests aiming for a broad array of business and societal goals. The people working to achieve them may have personally preferred goals, geared towards a good quality of life. Many will desire a wide range of unitary outcomes. Atlantic salmon sustainability provides a good example of pursuing a unitary goal in the context of WFD and needs to be implemented into a Programme for Government (PfG) NI.
Whilst it is desirable and common sense to manage” the environment holistically” achieving positive outcomes that please every vested interest is a challenging task leaving many unitary organisational group goals unachieved. SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound) objectives that are unitary, to a purpose, as for example the bottom line in a profit-based business provide a useful bottom line for decision making.
National salmon management plans are delivered by national competent bodies such as DAERA, AFBI, in NI and Inland fisheries Ireland (IFI) in the republic of Ireland and Loughs Agency which straddles the two jurisdictions. Salmon management plans are delivered under the auspices of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO), the umbrella body providing an international context for achieving ambitious salmon goals across the north Atlantic. Though the Institute of Fishery Management (IFM) have criticised a lack of ambition from NASCO, an overarching international context for the sea phase of salmon management is significant given the migrations of salmon across international boundaries. UK and Ireland are likely to be affected by international marine salmon operations as far away as Northern Norway, Faroes and Greenland. NASCO provides and international coordination for Atlantic salmon management, but local groups must develop local plans and take actions to sustainably manage local salmon populations.
Whilst it is accepted that much of the Atlantic salmon decline debate and search for answers has turned to problems with survival of juveniles at sea for answers, juvenile river habitat must not be neglected.
It is encouraging that there is much research taking place at sea to gain a better understanding of sea survival issues. However, there is much to do in the freshwater phase which provides the nursery and productivity source for Atlantic salmon. There are some good examples of freshwater habitat improvement schemes delivered by the Loughs Agency (Faughnan) Catchment Action for Local Management (CALM) and others throughout NI, with local angling clubs working to draw down funding for river protection and habitat improvement.
It is argued here that the salmon management goals need to be given a high priority as they represent the key natural asset for salmon fishing clubs and are a locally important. Surveillance and monitoring provide essential data which needs to be fully quality assured to provide the best basis for effective decision making. Such data includes angling catch returns, fish counts, electro-fishing counts and habitat data. Whilst the broad view environmental outcomes defined by the WFD salmon provide a useful background for good ecological status across catchment and within rivers, a focus on specific unitary salmon specific outcomes would be more productive. Biodiversity initiatives need to be balanced against socio economic benefits of specific species abundance such as Atlantic salmon.
Given good water quality standards salmon management plans need to account for the unique physical habitat-based profile of individual rivers and therefore a unique juvenile output potential.
It is a sad fact that in NI nearly all rivers have to some extent been modified over the past hundred years or so and many are classed as heavily modified (See DAERA Knowledge Hub WFD section). Consequently, these heavily modified water bodies are given the WFD status of, good ecological potential (GEP), as opposed to good ecological status (GES). The difference is explained by the fact that heavily modified waters have been impacted by anthropogenic activities such as drainage, dredging, infrastructure projects damming for hydro power or other riparian impacts. In those rivers classed as GES or GEP it is necessary protect the remaining physical habitat for effective salmon utilization. It is suggested (see my paper) that analysis of quantities and spatial separation the three main physical habitats spawning, nursery and pools will limit the juvenile population size. Protecting all remaining salmon habitat for salmon in rivers with Good Ecological status and restoration project in rivers with GEP will be essential to maintain Atlantic salmon stocks.
Therefore, in aiming to improve salmon management outcomes focusing on enhancing physical habitat quality in addition to chemical pollution measures is needed. The hydro-geomorphological baseline of rivers is influenced and affected by wider catchment factors such as drainage, forestry, urban development infra structure development, pollution, upland bog management and riparian zone management. Reducing erosion, and excessive gravel / sediment movements by managing peak to trough flood ratios is a vital measure in addition to the chemical and biological indicators. There are numerous rivers which have had their gradients increased by dredging which has removed the pool riffle sequence which ultimatley results in more aggressive spate flows with higher peak to trough ratios, exacerbated by climate change. Thus, managing rivers for salmon populations requires specific locally prioritised salmon population development measures within the context of the WFD and supported by NASCO DAERA and other umbrella organisations. Much of the actual work can be guided by input and support of local angling clubs.
Key questions for natural Living Assets value include assessing the extent to which WFD objectives assist the achievement of national and local salmon management plans. There is plenty of data now available from statutory bodies, universities which need to be communicated transparently to accommodate local initiatives as a base line for progress.
It is however a concern that environmental data from NI suggests we are slipping backwards. Ref table from DAERA.
Therefore, in addition to continued monitoring and surveillance projects, there must now be an implementation of strategy to improve the implementation of the WFD objectives (Programmes of Measures POMs). This may mean greater enforcement of the polluter pays philosophy and targeted action where there are known problems, and factors affecting the recovery of streams in NI). In many cases the causes of pollution are known. The key question is do we care enough to collectively act with community buy-in.
Sadly, in the context of NIEA and WFD and salmon management plan implementation local salmon populations in many rivers are well down ( some extirpated) from what they were historically. This suggests that salmon stocks and their environment have been managed unsustainably to current low levels. The extent to which the main problem for this is at sea or in river freshwater is being investigated with most of the research being conducted at sea. Since Atlantic salmon require freshwater for most of their life cycle stages (egg laying and nursery development to smolt) river habitat is as important as ecological challenges at sea. It is therefore critical that the funding allocations for research at sea does not overlook the necessary requirement to maintain freshwater river quality, both in terms of chemical pollution and degraded hydro- geomorphology. The desirable goal of good ecological status (GES) defined by the WFD process is clearly under achieved and represents a failure so far to achieve the desired outcome. There is much work going on to produce ecosystem modelling to answer ecological questions which include hind casting and forecasting and an urgent need to convert these initiatives into positive action to achieve required outcomes.
The standards defined by a one size fits all approach for all rivers is not appropriate for salmon management plans as the unique characteristics of individual rivers, their catchment, and riparian management priorities will assert an influence of salmon population within individual rivers.