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More success for NASF`s campaign to restore wild salmon stocks
EA and UK Government back salmon nets buy out.
2nd May 2002
North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NI)
Netsmen in the South West of England are laying up their salmon nets as a result of a deal with the Migratory Salmon Foundation (MSF). The agreement has the backing of the British Government. It is aimed at restoring the salmon stocks of two Devon rivers that became internationally famous 75 years ago when author Henry Williamson wrote about them in his books 'Tarka the Otter' and 'Salar the Salmon'.
All but three of the professional fishermen who were following the centuries-old tradition of netting salmon returning from their ocean migration have agreed to stop fishing in return for compensation.
The shoals of salmon in the two rivers, the Taw and Torridge, were still prolific when Williamson died in 1977. Since then, like most salmon rivers on both sides of the Atlantic, their stocks have dwindled alarmingly – the result of commercial over-fishing, changes in oceanic conditions and pollution. The two rivers are now amongst the 70 per cent of English and Welsh rivers that are failing to meet their salmon spawning targets.
The Migratory Salmon Foundation is a charity engaged in the conservation of wild salmon stocks. It is chaired by an Icelandic businessman, Orri Vigfusson. Since 1986 the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF), funded by international contributions, has been buying out salmon nets and long-liners in a number of countries throughout the salmon's North Atlantic range but this is the first project to be completed by the MSF.
Mr. Vigfusson said yesterday that he was delighted with the support the Devon buyout scheme had received from British Fisheries Minister Elliot Morley and the help the Environment Agency (EA) had given in finalising 18 months of negotiations. It is the first time that a government decision to phase out estuary netting on purely conservation grounds has been taken in England and Wales.
Mr Vigfusson also praised the members of England's South Western Rivers Association for launching the negotiations and brokering the agreement. Mr Humphrey Wood, Chairman of the SWRA, said: "This is a wonderful example of what can be achieved when the Environment Agency, anglers and conservation bodies work together with the netsmen in the cause of conservation. We hope this is the first of many similar agreements. Our wild salmon stocks need all the help we can give them."
NASF's work towards its aim of bringing about a voluntary end to salmon netting so that stocks can recover their previous abundance is progressing well in many regions. The same cannot yet be said of NASF's hopes of agreeing the voluntary closure of the drift net fishery off the west coast of Ireland. It takes a large proportion each year of the remaining stocks of Atlantic wild salmon, affects several nations and stands in the way of a general recovery in salmon numbers. Despite the fact that all the netsmen's associations in Ireland have declared their readiness to negotiate set-aside and buyout deals further progress has so far been stalled by the Government in Dublin.
For More Information Contact pauljohnston@btinternet.com
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