The River Taf 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 Taf this process started during 1999 with the production of the Taf SAP Consultation Document. The Taf SAP Consultation Document: • Set a spawning target 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 River Taf. 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 River Taf supports a locally renowned 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 Taf ranked 12th out of 33 salmon rivers in Wales, and 37th out of 84 salmon rivers in England and Wales for salmon rod catch in 1999. The Taf also supports a Wade net fishery, and an historically important Coracle net fishery, which is unique to Wales and only occurs on two other rivers; the Teifi and Tywi. Along with the rest of the Three Rivers estuary and the Burry Inlet, the tidally influenced stretches of the Taf are proposed for designation as the Carmarthen Bay and Estuaries Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under the European Union, Habitats and Species Directive for the estuary, salt meadows and wintering wildfowl. These designations afford additional protection for the river. The River Taf Salmon Action Plan Salmon stocks in the River Taf have shown an overall decline since the early 1980s, with the exception of 1988 and 1994, which were good salmon years throughout Wales. Other than 1994, catches throughout the 1990s have been poor, with estimated spawning escapement of salmon falling below optimal levels. This is in keeping with many other rivers in England and Wales, which have seen salmon stocks decline over the same period. The reasons for this are many, although survival at sea is thought to exert a major influence. Of particular concern is the decline in the pre- June salmon catch, which comprises mostly larger Multi-Sea-Winter (MSW) salmon. These fish have continued to decline despite measures by the Agency and predecessor organisations to limit exploitation of this stock component. Figure 1. River Taf declared rod catch (1956 to 1998) 300 250 200 5 year mean 150 100 Number of salmon 50 0 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 Year Figure 2. Reported total catch from coracle and wade net fisheries 1966 to 1996 60 Coracle Wade Total nets 5 year mean 50 40 30 20 Number of salmon 10 0 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 Year The River Taf Salmon Action Plan 3. CURRENT ACTIVITIES A considerable amount of work has already been carried out to protect and improve salmon stocks within the Taf catchment. The work carried out in recent years includes the following: • Abstractions. A number of abstraction points exist within the catchment for potable water supplies, agriculture, and fish farms. The Agency continues to monitor these, and ensure that suitable screens are fitted where necessary. • Access to spawning areas. We have mapped obstructions to migration. The upstream migration of salmon on the Taf is impeded by two natural, and two artificial barriers, all of which are located high within the catchment, and thus do not markedly affect the usable spawning area available to salmon. Impassable barriers with a natural brown trout population upstream will not be opened up by the Agency, in keeping with the regional brown trout strategy. • Habitat loss. It is becoming increasingly recognised that maintaining physical habitat is an integral component of managing salmon stocks within home waters. The Agency is currently looking to target degraded habitat, which can act as a bottleneck in the life cycle of salmon. In order to identify potential areas that require remediation, habitat mapping exercises are being carried out in a number of West Wales catchments. On the Taf, a habitat mapping exercise has been undertaken above Whitland, in conjunction with Whitland Angling Club, with the view to identifying stretches of river that could benefit from habitat remediation works. • Farm effluent. The Agency advocates a control at source strategy to minimise the impact of organic farm effluents within the catchment, enforcing the legal minimum standards for new silage, slurry and agricultural fuel oil installations, and undertaking pollution prevention visits where resources allow. • Sheep dip. In upland areas of the catchment, where there is a high intensity of sheep farming, problems relating to pollution of watercourses by sheep dip chemicals have to be monitored. In 1997, a programme was initiated to ascertain the extent of sheep dip related pollution in Wales. The Taf catchment was not monitored at this time, although chemical analysis of water quality has been implemented since, and has shown the Taf to be relatively unaffected by sheep dip pollution. • Industrial and domestic pollution. The Taf catchment is predominantly rural in nature, and most industrial pollution in the catchment has been minor in terms of numbers of fish killed. The Agency will continue to undertake pollution prevention visits within the catchment, where resources allow. • Illegal exploitation. Effective enforcement and public awareness initiatives have resulted in a reduction in poaching in the area, though unlicensed netting in the lower reaches and the use of lamp and gaff and snares to take fish from the spawning grounds, continue to be a threat. The Agency has moved towards a more intelligence-led approach to enforcement. • Legal exploitation. No counting or trapping facilities currently exist on the Taf, although information on the size and timing of adult runs has been obtained through statutory catch returns and fishery staff reports. Staff are keeping a watching brief on juveniles numbers and reported catches; these will be reported soon in relation to the Sea Empress oil spill. Radio tracking studies of salmon in the Tywi catchment from 1988 to 1991 have enabled exploitation rates of available stocks (in season) to be calculated, which are thought to be similar for the Taf. We are currently validating a fish counter on the Tywi which will help to identify trends in the numbers of fish running the river. This will also provide a useful index for Taf stocks. In recent years, the Agency and a section of the angling community have promoted voluntary catch and release as a method of stock enhancement. This scheme was backed by The River Taf Salmon Action Plan the release, in 1999, of a video detailing the benefits of catch-and-release, produced through a collaboration between the Environment Agency, Fisheries Research Services, the Salmon and Trout Association, the Atlantic Salmon Trust and others. This year, there has been a wider collaboration, known as ‘Salmonid 21C’, between fisheries managers, angling interests and scientists across England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, to develop a consensus on the best ways to improve the stocks of wild salmon, sea trout and trout. The work has focused particularly on habitat improvement, stocking and control of exploitation, and a new video entitled ‘While Stocks Last’ was released in the winter of 2000. This video will have been sent out to all those who took out migratory salmonid licences in 1999, and can also be obtained free of charge by contacting the Environment Agency head office Customer Services on 01454 624 400. Catch and release rates are generally low for the Taf, with only 2 to 3 fish released each year, though there has been a steady increase within the catchment and the 1999 season recorded the highest return rate yet at 8.7%. This is an encouraging trend, with anglers increasingly showing restraint at a time when stock abundance is low; nevertheless, an increase in awareness of catch and release still needs to be achieved.