Our Mission
Our mission is to restore self-sustaining populations of wild Atlantic salmon in UK river systems through evidence-based conservation and habitat management. We apply rigorous scientific research, monitoring, and adaptive management to address key pressures such as degraded spawning grounds, water quality decline, and barriers to migration. By integrating hydrological modelling, ecological monitoring, and genetic assessment, we aim to enhance habitat connectivity, improve ecosystem resilience, and ensure long-term population viability in line with national biodiversity targets and international conservation commitments
Fish counters can be a highly effective way of monitoring numbers and the general population of the system. Some systems can calculate size along with video so that species and gender can be recorded. In this way, a complete picture of what is running in the river can be known.
Ova being stripped from a hen salmon in order to fertilise using milt (sperm) from a cock fish. Fertilisation rates done in this way can be as high as 99.7% - much higher than would occur in the wild.
Scale sample analysis can be utilised to age salmon within a system. Beyond this, it can be calculated the number of years in freshwater, seawater as well as whether it has spawned before or not. Due to the optimal feeding of juvenile fish in a hatchery programme, the growth rate is far accelerated so spend fewer number of years in freshwater before they undergo smoltification and head to sea. Therefore, one can infer from sampling which fish are hatchery or fully wild to asses the efficacy of a hatchery programme.
Salmon have to overcome many challenges on their way back to their spawning grounds avoiding predation along the way. The increase in human barriers in the river has forced certain populations to spawn further down stream which has caused poorer condition fish to spawn without having to undergo the ultimate genetic test back to the natural redds. This can lead to a reduction in genetic fitness of the population as a whole.
Alongside a restocking, the natural environment into which they are introduced needs to be able to support good salmon numbers. Therefore, the challenge needs to be tackled from both sides. Hatchery systems are a form of ex-situ conservation so it is imperative that both the stocked individuals are of the highest quality, and the river system itself is healthy and conducive to increasing salmon numbers.
Riparian restoration schemes can include removal of river blockages, fish ladders, tree planting schemes, installation of croys where applicable, and various valley flood and drainage solutions.
Our ecology solutions provide innovative and sustainable results tailored to meet the specific needs of your fishery, ensuring strong populations along with a healthy river system for continued future growth. With our expertise and experience, you'll gain access to invaluable direction to boost the salmon numbers in your rivers.
We provide a full written report, bespoke to your system and specific needs, to direct both short term and long term action to ensure future growth of salmon returning to your rivers. This would follow an onsite visit to understand your river to best asses how to improve its health.
Our Work
You might have heard the term salmon conservation, but we take it a step further to enable rebounded stock numbers within a system. With our experience in salmon hatcheries, we can steer best practice with high numbers of fit individuals. We maintain genetic integrity of the wild stock at all stages to ensure the best fish continue to run in your rivers.
Alongside a restocking, the natural environment into which they are introduced needs to be able to support good salmon numbers. Therefore, the challenge needs to be tackled from both sides. Hatchery systems are a form of ex-situ conservation so it is imperative that both the stocked individuals are of the highest quality, and the river system itself is healthy and conducive to increasing salmon numbers.
Riparian restoration schemes can include removal of river blockages, fish ladders, tree planting schemes, installation of croys where applicable, gravel bed restoration, and various valley flood and drainage solutions.
Our ecology solutions provide innovative and sustainable results tailored to meet the specific needs of your fishery, ensuring strong populations along with a healthy river system for continued future growth. With our expertise and experience, you'll gain access to invaluable direction to boost the salmon numbers in your rivers.
We provide a full written report, bespoke to your system and specific needs, to direct both short term and long term action to ensure future growth of salmon returning to your rivers. This would follow an onsite visit to understand your river to best asses how to improve its health.
Salmon Restocking
With nearly 10 years experience working on salmon hatchery programmes in the Hebrides, we can discuss a variety of restocking options using our extensive experience.
We can advise on scale and set up depending on the numbers desired as well as navigation of the legislation and licences required.
Current stock analysis can be carried out using a survey and scale analysis to build up a picture of the health status of the system.
With over 10 years experience in river rejuvenation and salmon hatcheries, I have gained a wealth of knowledge and experience in order to help others achieve what I am passionate about
Riparian Restoration
To ensure strong salmon numbers in a system in the long term, the river system itself needs to be healthy. This can be assessed via many metrics but these include water quality, water temps, susceptibility to flash flood events, availability of pools for the fish to hold in, presence of any obstacles to migration, bank consolidation to reduce canalisation, biodiversity along the river banks etc.
All these and more need to be taken into consideration when attempting to improve a system’s ability to sustain salmon. There are a range of solutions that can be employed, many of which we have pioneered during our experience in achieving this aim.