The latest phase of a fund to help save Scotland’s iconic wild salmon is open for applications.
Administered by Salmon Scotland, the wild fisheries fund will see £140,000 invested by salmon farmers over the course of 2024 as part of a wider five-year £1.5 million investment.
The fund is open to all river catchment organisations in Scotland to help enable restocking schemes, restoration of habitats and provision of protection from predators.
Wild salmon and sea trout have been in decline in the UK for decades and now have a survival rate of just one to five per cent compared with 25 per cent 30 years ago. In 2023 the wild Atlantic salmon in Scotland was officially classed as an endangered species.
“Wild salmon is one of Scotland’s most iconic species, but there has been a decades-long decline on the east and west coasts of Scotland as a result of climate change and habitat destruction,” said Tavish Scott, chief executive of Salmon Scotland.
“As well as financial support to projects, our members are sharing their knowledge and experience to support wild fisheries with re-stocking, again showing how collaboration is key to reversing the worrying decline in wild salmon numbers.”
Set up in 2021 as the Wild Salmonid Fund before a rebrand last year, the fund has already invested more than £335,000 in projects such as restoring a dam in the Western Isles, providing in-stream cover for young salmon and measures to reduce riverbank erosion.
Open now until the end of March the fund is once again co-ordinated by Jon Gibb, a fisheries manager based in Fort William.
“As a salmon fishery manager with over 25 years of experience on the west coast of Scotland, I am again delighted to co-ordinate this fund on behalf of Salmon Scotland,” said Gibb.
“I am also delighted that the fund is now available to all Scottish river management organisations including on the east coast of Scotland which has seen a more marked decline in recent years in wild salmon populations than the west coast.”
