Wild Atlantic Salmon in Crisis: Urgent Action Needed
Wild Atlantic salmon are in serious trouble. Across the northern hemisphere, their numbers are falling fast. The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) is the only intergovernmental body with the remit to protect these fish. NASCO brings together countries to work on conserving, restoring, and managing wild Atlantic salmon.
At NASCO’s recent Annual Meeting in Cardiff from 3 – 6 June 2025, 22 accredited environmental NGOs joined the discussions and played a key role in shaping future plans.
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) reported that in 2023 and 2024, most countries saw record-low numbers of salmon returning to their rivers. The lack of recovery across the North Atlantic points to major environmental pressures in the ocean that are harming salmon on a large scale.
Despite the grim news, there were some bright spots:
- Greenland has successfully reduced its catch to below agreed limits, helping protect wild salmon that migrate from Europe and North America to feed in its waters, before returning home to spawn.
- Norway has made major progress in eradicating the deadly parasite Gyrodactylus salaris from 48 of its 54 infected rivers.
NASCO has completed work to synthesise the latest evidence on the effect of salmon aquaculture on wild Atlantic salmon. Two major scientific papers, on the impact of sea lice and the other on the impact of interbreeding between farmed and wild fish have been submitted to scientific journals. These papers will make a significant contributions to efforts to better regulate the impacts of salmon farming across the wild salmon’s native range.
This year NASCO unveiled its 4th reporting cycle process, requiring parties to identify key stressors impacting wild salmon and associated actions to address these stressors over an eight-year period. However, this process has been framed in the context of NASCO’s strategic goal in NASCO’s 10-year strategy to prioritise and drive actions necessary to slow the decline of wild Atlantic salmon populations. The NASCO NGO group are of the view that this does not have sufficient ambition or urgency and tabled alternative wording to strengthen this strategic goal for consideration by the council in light of stark warnings about the parlous state of wild Atlantic salmon delivered during the meeting. The Council made the ultimate decision to ignore the proposal from the NGOs and has chosen to keep the status quo.
Robert Otto from Atlantic Salmon Federation, co-Chair of NGO group, said:
“If ever there was a time for urgent action to save Atlantic salmon, it is now. We hoped NASCO would exhibit the leadership of the moment and respond commensurately to the challenge before the NASCO attendees collectively.”
Nils Olav Gjone, Norwegian Salmon Rivers, co-Chair of NGO group, said:
“As NGOs, we’re not idealists—we’re scientists and fisheries experts. We understand the scale of the challenge ahead to restore thriving wild salmon populations. We will continue to work to reverse the decline of this magnificent fish across the North Atlantic.”
Alan Wells, Chief Executive of Fisheries Management Scotland, said:
“If we are to restore wild salmon populations across their native range, real leadership is required from all of the parties to NASCO. In Scotland, we need to show this leadership by demonstrating progress on restoring wild salmon through delivering the Wild Salmon Strategy at pace and scale.”
NGOs remain committed to the cause. They will continue their own conservation action across the North Atlantic and advocate for stronger protections. They also pledged to support each other more closely and show the leadership needed to turn the tide for wild Atlantic salmon.
Photo Credit: Alan Walker