The spectacular life cycle and historic abundance of wild Atlantic salmon have embedded the species into the social, cultural and economic fabric of communities around the North Atlantic. But, despite this iconic status, wild salmon numbers are at crisis levels, with reduced numbers of returning adults being seen in most rivers.

At its Forty-First Annual Meeting in June 2024, in Westport, Ireland, NASCO’s Council unanimously supported the adoption of a Ten-Year Strategy to address the decline of wild Atlantic salmon populations.

Strategy and Action Plan

The decline of wild Atlantic salmon is not merely a concern for conservationists; it is a wake-up call for all of us to recognise the interconnectedness of our actions with the health of our planet.

NASCO has a unique role to lead actions that address the wide range of challenges and threats the species faces today. NASCO’s Vision is that the decline of wild Atlantic salmon has reversed and populations are recovering to healthy and resilient levels across their range. To achieve this, NASCO’s Mission is to support and promote urgent and transformative actions directed at the protection, conservation and restoration of wild Atlantic salmon throughout the species’ range. NASCO has set the following Strategic Goal:

To realise its goal, NASCO has developed five Objectives with associated actions. These lie within three major theme areas, all of which will encompass the impact of climate change: management of salmon fisheries; protection and restoration of Atlantic salmon habitat; and management of aquaculture, introductions and transfers and transgenics.

NASCO’s Ten-Year Strategy and associated Action Plan are set out in The Future of NASCO – a Ten-Year Strategy, CNL(24)71rev.