About - Atlantic Salmon Trust

WHO WE ARE

Putting wild salmon first

Wild Atlantic salmon are a keystone and indicator species – critical to the overall structure and functioning of their ecosystem. They report back to us about the health and condition of the places in which they live. However, their numbers have fallen by over 70% in the last few decades and the species is now endangered in Great Britain – a warning sign of much larger environmental problems facing our rivers, coasts and seas.

This iconic species is also deeply connected to communities across the North Atlantic. Our shared natural and cultural heritage has been interwoven with the species for centuries. That is now at risk.

The future of wild Atlantic salmon needn’t be one of continued decline and disappearance. Though the challenge to halt and reverse the decline is great, wild Atlantic salmon can have a thriving future if we choose to give it to them.

Our strategy

Our Strategic Values

A solid foundation, and reputation of fifty years of evidence gathering and understanding, enables us to not only mobilise our existing evidence base into workable restoration solutions right away, but also to prioritise the next research projects

Future projects will aim to fill knowledge gaps relating to the pressures currently thought to be causing salmon decline. Continuing to refine and build on this foundation is essential, particularly in a fast-changing world where salmon and their cousins, sea trout, need to adapt quickly to emerging threats too.

We’re a founding member of the Missing Salmon Alliance, whose project, The Likely Suspects Framework, brings together evidence from international research partners across the salmon’s North Atlantic range to inform the actions which should be taken on the ground in river catchments.

A solid foundation, and reputation of fifty years of evidence gathering and understanding, enables us to not only mobilise our existing evidence base into workable restoration solutions right away, but also to prioritise the next research projects

Future projects will aim to fill knowledge gaps relating to the pressures currently thought to be causing salmon decline. Continuing to refine and build on this foundation is essential, particularly in a fast-changing world where salmon and their cousins, sea trout, need to adapt quickly to emerging threats too.

We’re a founding member of the Missing Salmon Alliance, whose project, The Likely Suspects Framework, brings together evidence from international research partners across the salmon’s North Atlantic range to inform the actions which should be taken on the ground in river catchments.

A solid foundation, and reputation of fifty years of evidence gathering and understanding, enables us to not only mobilise our existing evidence base into workable restoration solutions right away, but also to prioritise the next research projects

Future projects will aim to fill knowledge gaps relating to the pressures currently thought to be causing salmon decline. Continuing to refine and build on this foundation is essential, particularly in a fast-changing world where salmon and their cousins, sea trout, need to adapt quickly to emerging threats too.

We’re a founding member of the Missing Salmon Alliance, whose project, The Likely Suspects Framework, brings together evidence from international research partners across the salmon’s North Atlantic range to inform the actions which should be taken on the ground in river catchments.

Evidence. Solutions. Partnership.

Our Impact

4,600km²

Of wild salmon catchments under restoration with our partners

2025 Impact Report

28

Rivers in the UK and Ireland currently supported by research and restoration

Our Projects

5,300

Salmon tagged in Europe’s largest ever tracking projects

Knowledge Hub

STRATEGY

Act on what we know.
Learn what we don’t.

Evidence

Science and evidence form our foundation, enabling us to act on what we know and learn what we don't. Research projects fill knowledge gaps on the causes of wild salmon decline to inform restoration and advocacy.

Knowledge Hub

Solutions

A network of catchment-scale restoration projects put science into action on the ground, delivering strategic restoration programmes to support wild salmon and wider nature recovery.

Our Projects

Partnership

Together with our partners in the UK-wide Missing Salmon Alliance, and wider partnerships across the Atlantic and Pacific, we're transforming wild salmon recovery into a global movement for change.

Work with us

CURRENT PROJECTS

Project Laxford

Find out more

CURRENT PROJECTS

Project Laxford

Find out more

5 GOALS FOR 5 YEARS

Short term targets to enable long term goals

While our strategy aims to secure a long-term future for wild Atlantic salmon in biodiverse and resilient catchments, it’s also vital that we set some short-term targets. The salmon crisis is upon us right now, and we need immediate progress too. These are our 5 goals for the next 5 years, launched in 2023.

1

Define why salmon are declining and continue to fill knowledge gaps.

2

Identify and prioritise the manageable pressures influencing that decline, and publish up-to-date reports on the efficacy of interventions including predation management and hatcheries.

3

Design and conduct a catchment audit and roll out a suite of restoration solutions on each of the Core Rivers, using salmon restoration as the driver to achieve wider biodiversity and climate goals.

4

Demonstrate that our strategy is working, through proven short-term successes on the Core Rivers. Then create a predictive model to demonstrate the potential long term restoration success.

5

Create catchment partnerships to share successful solutions, supporting others to implement them in their own river catchments.

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