Wild Atlantic salmon are essential for our ecosystems, for communities and for our shared natural and cultural heritage. It is vital that we not only conserve what we have left, but take the bold action necessary to restore their numbers for the future.

For the Environment

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 environment.

Wild Atlantic salmon are what is known as a ‘keystone’ species – a species which is critical to the overall structure and functioning of an ecosystem. With their incredible lifecycle, in which they begin life in freshwater, migrate out to the ocean to reach adulthood, and then return to their home rivers to spawn (often dying afterwards), their bodies are a unique transportation vessel for marine-derived nutrients to be delivered far up into our freshwater catchments.

The importance of this nutrient transfer is well-known in the Pacific where many runs of wild salmon are still abundant, but is not largely considered as important in the Atlantic, probably due to the long-term decline of the species and this important ecological function being lost in time. It is estimated for example that the Rhine river system alone once saw runs of 10 million returning adult wild Atlantic salmon each year, five times the now estimated total number of 2 million adult wild Atlantic salmon remaining across the entire North Atlantic. In the past, before industrialisation across Europe and the proliferation of stream-blocking water mills, hydropower dams, the canalisation and modification of river channels, and large-scale urbanisation and agriculture, wild Atlantic salmon runs may well have been as spectacular as the Pacific salmon runs we still see in some places, with rivers quite literally full of fish, sustaining large predators like bears, wolves and lynx, as well as smaller animals such as otters and birds. The nutrient transfer from wild Atlantic salmon populations of this historic magnitude is now lost from our environment, but the benefits to biodiversity and our landscapes which would come from rebuilding this function would be immense.

The nutrient transfer from wild Atlantic salmon populations of this historic magnitude is now lost from our environment, but the benefits to biodiversity and our landscapes which would come from rebuilding this function would be immense.

Wild Atlantic salmon are also known as an ‘indicator’ species. This means that, due to their requirements for an environment that provides cold, clean water both in freshwater, around our coasts, and at sea, they act as messengers, reporting back to us about the health and condition of these environments. The dramatic decline in wild Atlantic salmon is signalling that we have significant problems in these ecosystems, and the loss of this indicator species would represent the loss of a key measurement metric that holds immense value to us, and nature more generally, when it comes to tackling the climate and biodiversity crises. We cannot afford to lose them.

Wild Atlantic salmon play a key role in supporting wider species biodiversity.

Photo: Chris Conroy

There are also symbiotic relationships in which wild Atlantic salmon are essential to the survival of other species, for example some populations of freshwater pearl mussel, whose larvae can only survive by clinging to the gills of juvenile wild Atlantic salmon. Without salmon, the pearl mussels die, and the loss of these two species together has a knock-on impact on the species which rely on them for prey.

For People

Wild Atlantic salmon are deeply intertwined with communities across the North Atlantic and our shared natural and cultural heritage has been interwoven with the species for centuries. From Spain and Portugal on the westernmost edge of Europe, to France, Belgium and the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland, Germany, Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia (which have a genetically distinct ‘Baltic’ salmon), the Scandinavian states of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, as well as Finland, Russia, and Iceland, and all the way across the ocean to Greenland, Eastern Canada and the United States, wild Atlantic salmon are part of our shared story, even if lost or severely depleted in much of this historic range. What now remains is just a fragment of what should be there.

Wild Atlantic salmon are deeply intertwined with communities across the North Atlantic and our shared natural and cultural heritage has been interwoven with the species for centuries.

From the earliest days of human civilization, the ‘King of Fish’ has been revered. The ‘Abri du Poisson’, or ‘Fish Rock Shelter’ located in the Dordogne region of southwest France is a 25,000 year old paleolithic artwork depicting Atlantic salmon, carved during the Ice Age, and represents one of the oldest depictions of a fish found anywhere on Earth. When much of northern Europe was under ice, it is likely that this region, along with the Iberian Peninsula, was the stronghold of the species. As the ice caps retreated and new rivers formed, the Atlantic salmon’s range expanded northwards, through into the British Isles, Scandinavia and beyond. As they made their way through Germania and Gaul, Roman armies marveled at the Atlantic salmon’s abilities to leap incredible heights. In present-day Scotland, the Torridon Stone is a surviving memory of Atlantic salmon from the Pictish people, carved around 500-700AD. There are countless other examples from across the North Atlantic of Atlantic salmon in myth and folklore, on coins and architecture, and in literature and art. Its return to rivers every year sustained communities through subsistence fishing and over time it also became an iconic part of European food culture. Latterly, it became revered as a sport fish for its strength and aggression, and ignited a now centuries old unique angling culture which runs deep through our shared heritage and continues to act as an important way for human beings to connect with nature.

In present-day Scotland, the Torridon Stone is a surviving memory of Atlantic salmon from the Pictish people, carved around 500-700AD. There are countless other examples from across the North Atlantic of Atlantic salmon in myth and folklore, on coins and architecture, and in literature and art.

Fisheries, both commercial and small-scale artisanal, have now all but disappeared with the decline of the species, but today returning wild Atlantic salmon still support an important recreational angling tourism industry, which in many countries is now almost exclusively carried out on a voluntary catch-and-release basis as people seek to maintain their spiritual connection with this iconic species but minimise their impact. Along well-known Atlantic salmon rivers, jobs, businesses and communities depend on this tourism to survive and, in many cases, now lie at the heart of efforts to restore the species.

For the Future

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. We must give them cold, clean water and free access to it, reduce our impact on the environment, and make the case for their restoration as a means to achieve our wider biodiversity and climate goals.

The Atlantic Salmon Trust and our partners in the Missing Salmon Alliance are determined to achieve a future where wild Atlantic salmon thrive once again, sustaining ecosystems, communities, and continue to play a role in our own human story.

We must give wild Atlantic salmon cold, clean water and free access to it, reduce our impact on the environment, and make the case for their restoration as a means to achieve our wider biodiversity and climate goals.