New initiative to protect salmon and sea trout

Work to protect these fish has already improved stocks in some rivers and has helped increase salmon numbers in England and Wales by 40,000 in the last ten years. The new work programme, ‘Better sea trout and salmon fisheries strategy’, which the Environment Agency consulted widely on, now includes goals to protect sea trout as well as salmon. Environment Agency chairman Lord Smith said: “The Better sea trout and salmon fisheries strategy will help us focus our work over the next decade to be more efficient and effective. It’s not just about us – we need everyone with an interest in our rivers to work in partnership, to help bring more sea trout and salmon into more rivers, bringing more benefit. The strategy sets out a number of key aims the Environment Agency wants to see achieved by 2021, including improving the quality and increase the availability of good quality habitats; promoting and realising better land management practices; working with partners to remove or reduce impacts of barriers affecting fish migration and reducing the exploitation of at-risk stocks.