Online survey to look at future of salmon stocks

AS the start of the new salmon fishing season approaches on 1 February fisheries experts are asking anglers to go online and tell them about the main issues affecting salmon in Northumberland and County Durham rivers.

The experts at the Environment Agency have set up an on-line questionnaire to collect information from those anglers who fish for salmon in the Rivers Coquet, Tyne and Wear.

It’s all part of reviewing and updating the Environment Agency’s Salmon Action Plans, produced in the late 1990s to help increase stocks of salmon in these rivers.

The review aims to make sure the right actions for the next five years are identified, and the Environment Agency wants those who go out fishing the rivers to bring up any issues they feel still need to be looked at.

Anglers can log onto www.environment-agency.gov.uk/regions/northeast and follow the link to Regional Issues, then Fisheries to find out more and complete the survey.

Fisheries specialist Philip Rippon said: “The returns from anglers have already shown us that the Tyne, Wear and Coquet have had high numbers of salmon over recent years, and the River Tyne also consistently records the best salmon catches in England and Wales.

“We do know though that there are still issues that need to be tackled. These include obstructions to the movement of fish, water quality and the effects of climate change.

“We’ve listed these issues in the online surveys and we’d really like anglers to share their opinions, to help us prioritise everything and identify what we can do in the future.”

Anglers have until March to complete the simple survey and are also welcome to add their own comments.

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