Wild Salmon Welfare and River Management

Atlantic salmon face multiple welfare challenges across their life cycle from climate change and river barriers to sea lice from fish farms and illegal fishing.

Key Facts

Atlantic salmon have declined by around 70% in UK rivers since the 1970s
They migrate thousands of miles between river birthplaces and North Atlantic feeding grounds
River barriers including weirs and dams prevent upstream migration to spawning grounds
Warming rivers reduce dissolved oxygen and increase disease pressure
Sea lice from salmon farms amplify parasite loads on juvenile wild salmon in coastal waters
The Tweed, Dee, and Tay are among the UK's best remaining salmon rivers

Welfare Considerations

Wild salmon welfare is threatened across multiple life stages. Juvenile salmon blocked by river barriers fail to reach the sea, experiencing disorientation and stress at impassable structures. Sea lice acquired near fish farms impair osmoregulation and cause lesions. Adult salmon migrating upstream in warm, low-oxygen conditions experience physiological stress. Those that reach spawning grounds expend enormous energy reserves, and spawning stress is itself a welfare event. Wild salmon populations that collapse eliminate the welfare experience of millions of individual fish. River barrier removal, fish pass installation, and sea lice management around farm sites are the most direct welfare interventions.

What You Can Do

Support the Atlantic Salmon Trust's wild salmon monitoring and advocacy
Back river barrier removal campaigns to restore salmon migration routes
Advocate for buffer zones between salmon farms and wild migration corridors
Choose certified wild-caught salmon over farmed where welfare standards are uncertain
Report suspected illegal salmon netting or electrofishing to Environment Agency