Technical case supporting a public consultation on proposals for new fishing controls to protect salmon and sea trout stocks in Wales. www.naturalresourceswales.gov.uk 2 | P a g e About Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales’ purpose is to pursue sustainable management of natural resources. This means looking after air, land, water, wildlife, plants and soil to improve Wales’ well-being, and provide a better future for everyone. Evidence at Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales is an evidence based organisation. We seek to ensure that our strategy, decisions, operations and advice to Welsh Government and others are underpinned by sound and quality-assured evidence. We recognise that it is critically important to have a good understanding of our changing environment. We will realise this vision by: Maintaining and developing the technical specialist skills of our staff; Securing our data and information; Having a well-resourced proactive programme of evidence work; Continuing to review and add to our evidence to ensure it is fit for the challenges facing us; and Communicating our evidence in an open and transparent way. This document is the Technical Case produced by Natural Resources Wales to support decisions on new fishing regulations. It contains background, evidence and an appraisal to identify the preferred option to secure the future for our important salmon and sea trout stocks. It forms part of a collection of documents supporting a public consultation: please see:- https://naturalresources.wales/catchcontrols2017 3 | P a g e 4 | P a g e Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 10 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 17 1.1. Mission Statement ....................................................................................... 17 1.2. Objectives ................................................................................................... 17 1.3. A shared vision ............................................................................................ 19 1.4. Sustainable management ........................................................................... 19 1. Our statutory fisheries duties ............................................................................. 20 1.5. International commitments .......................................................................... 21 2. Assessing and managing stocks of salmon and sea trout in Wales................... 26 2.1. Monitoring stocks and fisheries ................................................................... 26 2.2. Management of mixed species .................................................................... 26 2.3. Salmon ........................................................................................................ 27 2.4. Sea Trout .................................................................................................... 29 2.5. Juvenile population assessments ................................................................ 34 3. Description of Fisheries ..................................................................................... 39 3.1. Salmon and sea trout net fisheries in Wales ............................................... 39 3.2. Salmon and sea trout rod fisheries in Wales ............................................... 42 3.2.1. Participation .......................................................................................... 44 4. CURRENT STATUS OF WELSH SALMON AND SEA TROUT STOCKS ......... 48 4.1. Adult stock status ........................................................................................ 48 4.1.1. Salmon assessment ............................................................................. 48 4.2. Sea trout assessment ................................................................................. 50 4.3. Juvenile salmon and trout stock status ....................................................... 54 5. CHALLENGES TO STOCKS ............................................................................. 62 5.1. Marine survival of salmonids ....................................................................... 63 5.2. Water quantity ............................................................................................. 66 5.3. Water quality ............................................................................................... 67 5.4. Agricultural pollution .................................................................................... 70 5.4.1. The Wales Land Management Forum .................................................. 75 5.5. Forestry ....................................................................................................... 75 5.6. Predatory birds ............................................................................................ 77 5.7. Disease and Parasites ................................................................................ 77 5.8. Illegal fishing ............................................................................................... 79 5.9. Pelagic fisheries bycatch ............................................................................. 81 5 | P a g e 5.10. Impact of a changing climate ................................................................... 81 5.11. Fish introductions and hatcheries ............................................................ 84 6. OPTIONS FOR SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT .............................................. 85 6.1. Analysing stock status and the need for additional regulations ................... 85 6.2. Regulating fishing to achieve stock savings ................................................ 87 6.3. Current net fishing regulation by NLO ......................................................... 88 6.4 Current net fishing regulation by byelaws .................................................... 89 6.5 Current rod fishing regulation by byelaws .................................................... 91 6.6 Engagement and liaison with stakeholders ..................................................... 92 6.7 Options for salmon ....................................................................................... 93 6.8 Options for sea trout........................................................................................ 97 6.9 Management in other Jurisdictions ................................................................. 98 7. LEGAL FRAMEWORK AND POTENTIAL MANAGEMENT OPTIONS ............. 99 7.1. Byelaws proposed for net fisheries ........................................................... 102 7.1.1. Salmon ............................................................................................... 102 7.1.2. Sea trout ............................................................................................. 103 7.2. Byelaws proposed for rod fisheries ........................................................... 108 7.2.1. Salmon: .............................................................................................. 108 7.2.2. Sea trout: ............................................................................................ 111 7.3. Maintaining fisheries under C&R in the rod fishery ................................... 111 7.4. The Benefits of C&R ................................................................................. 116 7.5. Socio-economic and cultural impacts ........................................................ 116 7.5.1. Rods ................................................................................................... 119 7.5.2. Nets .................................................................................................... 120 7.5.3. Heritage value .................................................................................... 121 7.6. Allocating catch between net and rod fisheries ......................................... 122 7.6.1. Analysis of impact on net fisheries ..................................................... 124 7.6.2. Analysis of impact on rod fisheries ..................................................... 127 8. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 137 9. NEXT STEPS .................................................................................................. 141 10. GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................... 143 11. Abbreviations ................................................................................................... 147 12. References ...................................................................................................... 149 6 | P a g e List of Tables Table 1 Risk Status Categories ................................................................................ 31 Table 2 Welsh net fisheries ...................................................................................... 40 Table 3 Number of licences sold in Wales (2012-2016) ........................................... 44 Table 4 Income from sales of rod licences in Wales (2012-2016) ............................ 44 Table 5 Rod Licence numbers and income from anglers in Wales .......................... 45 Table 6 New licence duties and structure (2017-2020) ............................................ 45 Table 7 ‘Risk’ Status and egg shortfall/surplus for the main salmon rivers in Wales 2016