A collective of passionate conservationists working together to save Wild Atlantic Salmon.
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The Rivers Trust is the umbrella body for more than 60 member Rivers Trust charities in the UK and Ireland working to restore rivers and their catchments by implementing collaborative, nature-based solutions.
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The Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST) was founded in 1967 in response to growing concerns about over exploitation of wild salmon. AST has acquired a reputation as an influential advocate for salmon conservation within the United Kingdom.
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The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) is the leading UK charity conducting conservation science to enhance the British countryside for public benefit. For over 80 years the GWCT has been researching and developing game and wildlife management techniques.
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The Angling Trust are a not for profit organisation, representing anglers, fighting for fish, fishing and the environment. They are recognised by the Government as the governing body for angling in England and partner with Visit Wales and NRW to promote fishing in Wales and cover all disciplines.
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Fisheries Management Scotland is the representative body for Scotland’s District Salmon Fishery Boards, Rivers and Fisheries Trusts and the River Tweed Commission. Promoting and ensuring the best evidence-based fisheries management for the conservation of Scotland’s wild salmon and native freshwater fish.
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Fish Legal is a not-for-profit organisation of dedicated lawyers who use the law on behalf of anglers to fight polluters and others who damage and threaten the water environment. Fish Legal secures compensation for its members to help restore polluted waters and challenges Government and regulators when they fail to protect fisheries.
“We have no time to waste. We need to accelerate the funding and the consequent research. The Missing Salmon Alliance brings together the expertise, the resources and commitment from all the members.”
David Mayhew CBE, Chairman of the Missing Salmon Alliance
Establish the facts
Good decisions require strong evidence. We know that Atlantic salmon face threats from climate change effects, lack of habitat, predation, disease and exploitation and the MSA are committed to investing their resources to establish the facts.
Changing Policy
The MSA uses science to provide the evidence base to facilitate meaningful dialogue with politicians and stakeholders. Our goal is to inform and influence decision making at the highest levels to protect wild Atlantic salmon.
Protect our salmon
By combining expertise, coordinating activities, developing effective management solutions, and advocating for change we can help save the wild salmon from extinction. Action must be taken to arrest and reverse the decline in wild salmon populations.
MSA represents a group of organisations who together care deeply about the future of Wild Atlantic salmon.
The MSA brings together leading salmon conservation organisations across the UK - the Atlantic Salmon Trust, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Fisheries Management Scotland, The Rivers Trust, the Angling Trust , and Fish Legal - to fight to reverse the devastating collapse in wild Atlantic salmon around the UK. By combining expertise, coordinating activities and advocating effective management solutions we can help wild Atlantic salmon survive and thrive in our rivers and seas for the next generation.
Collaborating with International Organisations
The MSA are committed to collaboration and communication. The MSA Likely Suspects Framework initiative has gained support from North Atlantic Salmon Organisation (NASCO), members of the the ICES Working Group North Atlantic Salmon (WGNAS) and has been adopted by the Atlantic Salmon Trust as a signature project for the International Year of the Salmon (IYS) . We work closely with colleagues from many international organisations in the Atlantic and Pacific basins to develop complimentary approaches to our actions to help wild Atlantic salmon
The MSA’s work fully endorses the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, it supports the UN’s goals to:
Goal 14 Life below Water
To conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development.
Goal 15 Life on Land
To protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
The whole Likely Suspects Framework initiative, for example, is about taking a wider ecosystem-based view of salmon and salmon management across the life cycle, which is entirely in line with the UN’s aspiration for national exclusive economic zones to be managed using ecosystem-based approaches.
© Gordie Broon Photography
‘Wild Atlantic Salmon in Hot Water’
This booklet reports on the 2021 projects the Missing Salmon Alliance partners were engaged in.