IT is a human condition to hark back to halcyon days when catches of salmon were bountiful, whether that was in the 1960s, ’70s or even the Noughties. The issue is that salmon are like the weather, you get good years and bad years. To get an overview of what is actually happening you need to step back from the riverbank and look at the Atlantic. The clear view from around the north Atlantic, wherever salmon roam, is that from the mid-1980s – when figures were first collected from all countries – there were between eight and 10 million salmon at sea; today, that figure is between two and three million, with no indication that the decline is slowing.
So do we give up? The answer must surely be a resounding no. Instead, we need to listen to the message that the salmon are telling us: there is something wrong with our rivers and seas, otherwise this iconic fish would be thriving.
If The Field surveyed its readers to find out what they thought was causing the decline in salmon, the range of answers would be staggering. The key is that there is not just one problem but rather a host of pressures combining to cause this relentless decline in wild salmon stocks. We need to pick these problems apart, find out which ones are truly causing the issue and focus on managing the ones we can.
Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin May 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
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Bu hikaye The Field dergisinin May 2021 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
Rory Stewart - The former Cabinet minister and hit podcast host talks to Alec Marsh about the parlous state of British politics, land management and his deep love of the countryside
The gently spoken 51-year-old former Conservative Cabinet minister is a countryman at heart. That's clear: he even changes into a tweed waistcoat for the interview, which takes place at his London home and begins with a question about his precise career status. Having resigned from the Commons and the Conservative Party in 2019, the former diplomat and soldier has reinvented himself, first with an unconventional but promising run as an independent for the London mayoralty (abandoned because of COVID19 in 2020) and then as a media figure, co-hosting one of the country's most popular podcasts, The Rest Is Politics, alongside Alastair Campbell, the former Labour spin doctor.
Fodder
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