The River Nevern Salmon Action Plan 1. INTRODUCTION The National Salmon Strategy, launched by the National Rivers Authority in February 1996 and inherited by the Environment Agency (NRA, 1996) sets out four objectives for the management of salmon fisheries in England and Wales: 1) Optimise the number of salmon returning to home water fisheries. 2) Maintain and improve fitness and diversity of salmon stocks. 3) Optimise the total economic value of surplus stocks. 4) Ensure beneficiaries meet necessary costs. These objectives are designed to preserve fish stocks for the future whilst protecting sustainable exploitation and recognising the economic value of the fisheries. A basic principle of the Strategy is that it will be delivered locally following consultation with local interest groups. Consequently, Salmon Action Plans (SAPs) will be produced for each of the “principal salmon rivers” in England and Wales by the year 2002. On the Nevern this process started during 2001 with the production of the Nevern SAP Consultation Document. The Nevern SAP Consultation Document: • Set a conservation limit for the river • Identified the factors affecting the salmon population. • Suggested methods of addressing these limiting factors and • Invited feedback from local stakeholders and interest groups The SAP itself sets out clearly what is required to be done in the next five years or so, how it is to be achieved, who is to be involved, when it will be delivered and how much it will cost. An important element of this Action Plan is that it reflects the feedback received during consultation. Moreover, the SAP will be the means of monitoring progress and reviewing the approaches of salmon management on the Nevern. The Nevern Salmon Action Plan is the sixth in a series of 8 plans to be produced under Ministerial Directive for what are considered to be the main salmon rivers in South West Wales. Other rivers for which Salmon Action Plans are being produced are the Tywi, the Teifi, the Taf, the Cleddaus, the Tawe, the Rheidol and the Ogmore. 2. BACKGROUND The Atlantic salmon has been declining throughout its range and this is believed to be largely due to cyclical factors impacting on fish during their time at sea. There is little that can be done to directly influence these factors. However, it is possible to address some of the problems facing salmon during the freshwater phase of their lifecycle. It is these latter elements that the SAP concentrates upon, with actions falling into three main categories: • Measures to increase the number of spawners by reducing legal and illegal exploitation (e.g. Byelaws) • Measures to improve environmental factors (water quality issues and sustainable land use) • Measures to improve salmon production (in stream habitat improvements and accessibility). The Nevern catchment supports a locally important salmon and sea trout (sewin) fishery. Sea trout are the predominant salmonid in the catchment, though a reasonable number of salmon are also present. The 2001 reported salmon rod catch of 30 from the Nevern ranked 17th out of 33 salmon rivers in Wales and 45th out of 75 salmon rivers in England and Wales, whilst the reported sea trout catch of 1078 ranked 7th out of 43 sea trout rivers in Wales and 13 out of 105 sea trout rivers in England and Wales. 2 The River Nevern Salmon Action Plan The majority of the catchment is within Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Headwaters of several tributaries including the Brynberian, drain from Mynydd Preseli Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), part of Preseli candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) and a site of European importance for conservation. The area is also of archaeological importance with many sites designated as Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs). The reported rod catches show considerable annual variation, Figure 3 details the reported salmon catches from 1961 to 2001. Catches peaked in the early and mid-sixties, early seventy, late eighties and mid nineties. No fish were reported during 1970 and 1974. Since 1976 catches have been relatively stable, with between 10 and 40 fish reported. However, exceptions are 1992, associated with a poor national licence return rate, and 1994 and 1995 when reported catches were two of the highest on record. Overall since 1975 when a national licence return system was introduced the trend has shown a slight increase in catches with recent levelling off during the late nineties. Figure 1. River Nevern reported rod catch 1961 to 2001. 80 70 pre June post June Total catch 5 yr mean 60 50 n 40 30 20 Number of salmo 10 0 1961 1963 1965 1967 1969 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 Year Figure 2. Reported seine net catch 1978 to 2001 180 160 Pos t June n 140 Pr e June 120 5 year mean 100 80 60 Number of salmo 40 20 0 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Year 3 The River Nevern Salmon Action Plan The net fishery reported large numbers of salmon in the late seventies and early eighties, with a particularly high reported catch in 1979. Since that time catches have dropped off to relatively low levels. Effort has been reduced in recent times with the number of available licences being reduced from 2 to 1 in 1985. No salmon have been reported by the net fishery since 1998. However, no net licences were taken out on the Nevern in 2001. Sea trout constitute a far greater proportion of the reported annual rod and net catch than salmon. Since 1978, the mean sea trout rod catch has been significantly higher the the salmon catch. For the net fishery the difference is less defined with a mean ratio of 3 sea trout for each salmon; however, in some years salmon have been reported higher in number than sea trout. The reported sea-trout catch returns show that the rod fishery has consistently exploited the largest proportion of the sea trout stock (mean of 14 fold from 1977). The only exception was 1979 when the net fishery reported a slightly larger number than the rod fishery. Figure 3. Reported sea trout catches from rod and net fisheries 1977 to 2001. 1400 Rod Net 5 year mean 1200 1000 800 600 400 Number of sea trout 200 0 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 Year Reported sea trout catches for the rod fishery have shown an overall increase since 1972. Notable peak catches occurred during 1988, 1994, 1998,1999 and 2001. The highest reported catch occurred in 1994 when 1182 fish were declared. The most recent above average catches have maintained the upward long-term trend. However, catches have tended to fluctuate around a 5- year cycle, with a series of lower than average catches punctuating the peaks. The most notable decline was in the early 1990s. Nevertheless, the reported catches are very high, when one considers the size of the catchment. This shows the highly productive nature of the catchment. In contrast, declared catches of sea trout by the net fishery are less consistent, with several years when no fish were reported caught. The nature of the data tends to preclude any meaningful trend, though less fish have been reported in recent years than were in the period from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. The highest declared catch was 149 fish in 1984. The observed variations in catches are dependent on a range of extrinsic factors, such as river flow and fishing effort, but may also reflect cyclical variation in stock performance. The increase of catches from the 1970s to 1990s may reflect an increase in fishing effort and improvement in techniques. Whilst a decline of catches in the late 1980s and early 1990s are likely to have been influenced by successive drought years, which occurred over this period. In addition, exceptionally low reporting rates occurred in 1992 because of a combined national coarse and salmonid licence. 4 The River Nevern Salmon Action Plan 3. CURRENT ACTIVITIES A considerable amount of work has already been carried out to protect and improve salmon stocks within the Nevern catchment. The work carried out in recent years includes the following: • During 2002 the Agency carried out an investigative study looking at the Duad sub-catchment. A major factor influencing under-utilisation of the Duad by salmon was determined to be the physical nature of the tributary. Recorded widths in all but the lower 2km were near to or less than ranges accepted in literature as suitable for salmon spawning. Status of riparian fencing and bankside habitat degradation was found to be generally poor on all but the Nant Hafren side of the Nant Duad catchment, and substantial siltation of gravels was evident. The extent of farm pollution was generally determined to have just mild effects on invertebrate fauna as a result of minor organic input. There were, however, obvious localised effects on certain sites and recommendations were made for their amelioration. Certain areas were also prioritised for targeted habitat improvements, notably areas where riparian fencing status could be improved. • The water quality of the Nevern is monitored on the monthly basis by the Agency. Certain sites on the Nevern are also monitored for sheep dip. Results are generally good throughout the catchment, but very much indicative of the agricultural nature of the catchment. • The Environment Agency has promoted amendments to local byelaws to shorten the season for salmon and sea trout, thus limiting exploitation. A set of National byelaws was also passed during 1999, designed to allow increased spawning escapement of declining spring salmon through mandatory catch and release of salomn before June 16.