Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales 2019
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Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales in 2019 SALMON STOCKS AND FISHERIES IN ENGLAND AND WALES, 2019 Preliminary assessment prepared for ICES, March 2020 Acknowledgement: This report has been compiled jointly by staff from the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Salmon and Freshwater Team at Lowestoft and fsheries personnel from the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. The monitoring and assessment of salmon stocks is funded by Defra and Welsh Government, plus co-funding from the EU’s Data Collection Framework (DCF). All the participating organisations would like to extend their thanks and recognition to the various operational fsheries staff who have collected and compiled the data for this report. Thanks are also due to: the National River Flow Archive at the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology for providing river fow data, the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust for data relating to the River Frome, the General Secretary of ICES for permission to cite the reports of the ICES Working Group on North Atlantic Salmon, and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) for permission to include their summary of regulatory measures for the high seas fsheries. © Crown Copyright 2020 CONTENTS FOREWORD 4 HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2019 5 REPORT ON SALMON FISHERIES IN 2019 7 1. Description of Stocks and Fisheries 7 2. Fishery regulation measures 10 3. Fishing effort 14 4. Declared catches 21 5. Catch per unit effort (CPUE) 46 6. Exploitation rates 50 REPORT ON STATUS OF STOCKS IN 2019 54 7. Stock monitoring 54 8. Assessment of stock status 63 9. Factors affecting stocks, fsheries and catches 74 10. Existing and emerging threats to salmon populations 79 11. References 82 ANNEX 1. NASCO’s request for scientifc advice from ICES in 2020 83 ANNEX 2. Net Limitation Orders applying to salmon net fsheries in England and Wales 86 ANNEX 3. Byelaws applying to salmon rod fsheries in England and Wales 87 Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales, 2019 FOREWORD Annual reports on the status of salmon stocks and fsheries in England and Wales have been produced since 1997. These reports present a preliminary assessment for the most recent year to assist the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) in providing scientifc advice to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) and to provide early feedback to fshery managers and anglers. The list of questions posed by NASCO to ICES for consideration in 2020 is provided at Annex 1 of this report. For much of the period, the annual reports were prepared by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and the Environment Agency (EA). However, from 1 April 2013, the functions of the Environment Agency in Wales transferred to Natural Resources Wales (Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru) (NRW). This body is now responsible for salmon management and regulation in Wales. All three organisations have therefore contributed to production of the annual assessment report since 2013. Until 2013, each annual assessment report was designed to stand alone, to avoid the need to refer to previous reports for background information. However, this resulted in much of the descriptive text being very similar from year to year. From 2014, therefore, and in the interest of streamlining procedures, the report has been split into two separate documents. A Background Report provides the regulatory framework and describes the various methods and approaches used in the assessment process (Cefas, Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, 2020); that report therefore changes relatively little from year to year. The report describing the most recent annual assessment (this report) then provides a relatively short description of developments in the most recent year together with updated tables and fgures. Both reports are available online at the same location on the Gov.UK website. It should be noted that the data for the most recent year are provisional and will be updated and confrmed as complete catch data are obtained and records validated. The fnal confrmed data for the most recent year will be included in the annual compilation of catch statistics published by the Environment Agency and NRW later in the year (e.g. Environment Agency, 2019: also available at Gov.UK: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/salmonid-and-freshwater- fsheries-statistics) and in next year’s version of this report. 4 Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales, 2019 HIGHLIGHTS FOR 2019 • The provisional declared salmon catch by nets and fxed engines in 2019 (488 fsh; 1.7t) was 96% less than the catch in 2018 and well below the average of the previous fve years. These fgures include a large percentage of fsh (70%, 341 fsh) that were released alive in line with existing and new net byelaws. All the retained catch (147 fsh) was taken in Wales. There has been a marked decline in net catches over the past 15–20 years due to a reduction in stock abundance but also due to increased regulatory controls. However, the closure of many net fsheries and mandatory catch-and-release (C&R) in others in England has accelerated this trend in 2019. • The provisional declared rod catch in 2019 (8,985 fsh) increased by 15% on the confrmed catch for 2018, but was the second lowest in the time series (since 1988). The catch of 1SW salmon (grilse) was 30% below the average of the previous fve years and the lowest in the time series, and the catch of multi-sea-winter (MSW) salmon was 28% below the average of the previous fve years and sixteenth lowest in the time series. • Conditions for returning salmon, and for angling, were variable in 2019 due to fuctuating weather conditions, resulting in highly variable fows and water temperatures. This affected both angler effort and catches. • The online reporting system for catches in rod fsheries, frst implemented in 2015, is now fully operational. Therefore, the temporary raising factor that was applied to reported catches in rod fsheries between 2015 and 2018 to account for increased rates of under-reporting has not been applied to the 2019 catch report data. • Since 1993, rod catches include an increasing proportion of fsh that have been caught and released. In 2019, it is provisionally estimated that 7,990 salmon (89% of the catch) were released across England and Wales, the highest percentage ever recorded. Released fsh are estimated to have contributed 16 million eggs to the breeding population. • More than half of the returning stock estimates and counts were below the values recorded in 2018, with estimated returns the lowest in the time series for two rivers. In many rivers with fsh counters and/or traps, there has been a marked decline in the numbers of returning salmon over the last decade. However, for some rivers, notably some of those on the south coast of England, there is evidence of an increase in the number of returns. • Spawning escapement in 2019 was estimated to be above the Conservation Limit (CL) in just 10 of the 64 principal salmon rivers in England and Wales (16%) – the lowest level in the time series (since 1993). Rivers where spawning escapement was below the CL were widely distributed. • Formal compliance assessment in the current year (2019) indicated that no rivers were classifed as ‘not at risk’ (≥95% probability of meeting the management objective, MO, in at least 4 years out of 5) and only 3 rivers (approx. 5%) were classifed as ‘probably not at risk’ (50–94% probability of achieving the MO), whereas 40 rivers (approx. 63%) were classifed as ‘at risk’ (≤5% probability of achieving the MO) which was the highest in the time series. The remaining 21 rivers (approx. 33%) were classifed as ‘probably at risk’. 5 Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales, 2019 • New regulatory provisions approved in England in December 2018 have substantially reduced the exploitation of salmon in 2019. The measures included the closure of many net fsheries and mandatory C&R in others. In many rod fsheries, there were increased levels of C&R, some mandatory and others voluntary. Mandatory C&R of salmon in all net and rod fsheries will apply in Wales from 2020. • The poor juvenile recruitment reported in 2016 is likely to have adversely affected smolt runs on many rivers in 2018, with potential implications for numbers of returning adults in 2019 and 2020. • Salmon returning to rivers with swollen and/or bleeding vents (Red Vent Syndrome) continued to be observed in 2019, with the percentage of incidences at the River Dee trap the highest in the time series. Reports of pink salmon captures were much lower than in 2017, with only three individuals caught in the north east coast fshery and one in the River Dee trap in Wales. 6 Salmon Stocks and Fisheries in England and Wales, 2019 REPORT ON SALMON FISHERIES IN 2019 1. DESCRIPTION OF STOCKS AND FISHERIES There are 49 rivers in England and 31 rivers in Wales that regularly support salmon, although some of the stocks are very small and support minimal catches; of these, 64 rivers have been designated ‘principal salmon rivers’ (Figure 1). Conservation Limits (CLs) and Management Targets (MTs) have been set for the 42 principal salmon rivers in England and 22 in Wales and are used to give annual advice on stock status and to assess the need for management and conservation measures. Rod fshing for salmon is permitted on all rivers supporting salmon stocks, and net or fxed engine fsheries operate on a proportion of these, usually in the river estuaries. Descriptions of the different salmon fshing methods employed in England and Wales can be found in the Background Report (Cefas, Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, 2020).