Wild Atlantic salmon stocks are suffering so we must change our ways, says Will Martin, who offers an alternative to the king of fish
Salmon numbers have dropped like a stone.” This chilling pronouncement silenced the audience at the Curzon Theatre in Mayfair, London.
The Editor and I were at the Atlantic Salmon Trust’s (AST) Christmas drinks to see a new film, Lost at Sea. The Trust — founded in 1967 in response to concerns over exploitation of wild salmon in the Faroes and the waters of eastern Greenland — now strives to protect our wild Atlantic salmon and sea trout. Using modern acoustic tracking projects and state-of-the-art scientific gene monitoring, the Trust, in collaboration with universities and international organisations, is now trying to discover where our salmon are being lost.
Working as a gillie, I heard many reasons for the decline; from too many seals to loss and destruction at sea, from over-fishing to a population explosion of mergansers. But one reason kept cropping up — the practices of salmon farms. There are 530million salmon farmed every year around the world, compared with 3million wild Atlantic salmon.
Open-caged aquaculture in its current form produces one more barrier to our wild fish as they embark on their journey to their adult feeding grounds. To learn more I asked Sarah Slater, AST executive director.
Hello Sarah, how did you get involved in the AST?
Denne historien er fra January 3,2018-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
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Denne historien er fra January 3,2018-utgaven av Shooting Times & Country.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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United we stand
Following United Utilities' decision to end grouse shooting on its land, Lindsay Waddell asks what will happen if we ignore our vital moors
Serious matters
An old gamebook prompts a contemplation on punt-gunning
They're not always as easy as they seem
While coneys of the furry variety don't pose a problem for Blue Zulu, he's left frustrated once again by bolting bunnies of the clay sort
Debutant gundogs
There's lots to think about when it comes to making the decision about when to introduce your dog to shooting
When the going gets rough
Al Gabriel returns to the West London Shooting School to brush up on his rough shooting technique
The Field Guide To British Deer - BDS 60th Anniversary Edition
In this excerpt from the 60th anniversary edition of the BDS's Field Guide To British Deer, Charles Smith-Jones considers the noise they make
A step too far?
Simon Garnham wonders whether a new dog, a new gun and two different fields in need of protection might have been asking too much for one afternoon's work
Two bucks before breakfast
A journey from old South London to rural Hertfordshire to stalk muntjac suggests that the two aren't as far detached as they might seem
Stalking Diary
Stalkers can be a sentimental bunch, and they often carry a huge attachment to their hill
Gamekeeper
Alan Edwards believes unique, private experiences can help keepers become more competent and passionate custodians of the countryside