International Conference on Freshwater Habitat Management for Salmonid Fisheries

The Atlantic Salmon Trust’s (AST) 40th Anniversary Conference on Freshwater Habitat Management for Salmonid Fisheries was held on 17-21 September 2007 at the University of Southampton.

Participants numbering around 130 came from around the globe to hear oral presentations from some 30 speakers from the UK, Ireland, Europe, America and Canada covering such topics as habitat, catchment-wide management, riparian zone management, connectivity etc.

Against a background of declining numbers of returning Atlantic salmon to our rivers, the last 20 years in the UK has seen significant emphasis placed on the managing of freshwater habitats to improve numbers of young salmon migrating to sea. These habitats have been degraded both physically by intensive stock and arable farming, land drainage and migratory barriers and also by pollution from agriculture and industry.

Throughout Europe, American and North America there have been many habitat restoration techniques and land management practices applied to try and alleviate these problems often at huge expense. Despite this investment little evidence through high quality published monitoring and research exists to demonstrate which techniques work and in what circumstances they work. This conference aimed to draw together the most recent thinking and evidence from key players in the salmonid habitat management field.

Speakers gave examples of detailed monitored habitat restoration works ranging from small scale pool creation for trout, migratory barrier alleviation work on hydro dams and catchment scale livestock exclusion fencing programmes. The information gleaned highlights the lack of sound science available on restoration techniques for managers to make management decisions. It was also clear that as some techniques have been proven to work, others have not shown clear benefits in fish abundance. Indeed many of the questions being asked by management 20 years ago regarding the suitability and success of restoration techniques were again being asked by delegates during the conference. There are many pieces missing from the jigsaw which need to be filled. This conference was a success in helping to identify these and hopefully researchers will take this information away to target their research appropriately.

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