In a hard hitting press release the Wye Salmon Association have made it clear that Natural Resources Wales procrastination must end if we are to save salmon in the River Wye.

March 2024
NATURAL RESOURCES WALES MUST ACT IMMEDIATELY TO SAVE WYE AND ALL
WELSH SALMON AT NO COST TO THEM

The only organisation dedicated to saving Wye salmon from extinction is urging Natural
Resources Wales to immediately reopen its salmon hatchery whilst some fish are still in
the system and will raise all the necessary money to fund this.

The Wye Salmon Association’s (WSA) plan involves re-opening salmon rearing and
releasing at NRW’s hatchery at Abercynig using the latest, approved, future proofing
techniques. WSA plan to fund the cost with a crowd funding appeal to ensure it does
not impact on Welsh Assembly budgets.
“Wye salmon numbers are at an all-time low and if NRW does not act immediately it will
be too late. They have admitted that, unless something is done, salmon are likely to
become extinct within a decade. Sadly, their solution to the problem is more of the
same and to undertake more research, which won’t help in the slightest,” says WSA
chairman Stuart Smith.

NRW stopped all salmon fry releases into the Wye in 2015 and, since then, the already
low number of fish has collapsed. The 2023 number of salmon caught was the lowest
on record – ever. Until the 1970s, the Wye was one of Europe’s most productive salmon
rivers.
“NRW claims to follow recommendations from the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation
Organisation (NASCO) which, until two years ago, did not approve of traditional
hatcheries. That has all changed since the global collapse of Atlantic salmon
populations. NASCO now approve and encourage future proofing policies and
advanced hatchery techniques when serving rivers where there is a risk of total collapse

in salmon numbers. Despite this, NRW continues to refuse to discuss it with us,” says
Smith.
Future proofing is a conservation aquaculture technique that, for the Wye, involves four
key elements: kelt reconditioning (a kelt is an adult salmon that has spawned and is
returning to the sea); cryogenics to freeze male salmon milt (semen) for future potential
use; smolt enhancement (the stage in a salmon life cycle when they are getting ready to
go out to sea) and gene banking (catch up of pre-spawning adults to hold as captive
broodstocks). Using only Wye salmon in these processes guarantees the genetic
integrity of fish produced and released into the river.
“This is a plan using approved and proven technology. It won’t cost NRW or the Welsh
Assembly a penny. If they refuse to undertake it they must immediately come up with
an alternative solution or for ever be known as the government that killed of Wye and all
Welsh salmon,” argues Smith.
No: 2412
For more information contact Graham Paskett at grahampaskett@paskett.co.uk or call 07860 737 225.
Graham runs a family-owned salmon beat on the Wye and does not charge for this work. 2022 was the
60th anniversary of ownership and their first ever zero salmon catch