The International Year of the Salmon ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’
IYS ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’
The International Year of the Salmon ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’ fund was set up by NASCO in 2019 to support activities in countries around the North Atlantic Ocean. The purpose was to inspire outreach and encourage learning during and beyond the International Year of the Salmon.
The grants enabled many activities to take place to celebrate the International Year of the Salmon, and supported the creation of exciting resources relating to north Atlantic salmon.
Activities
A variety of activities took place with the support of ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’ fund. These included classroom activties with children of all ages, public events to engage the local community in efforts to conserve Atlantic salmon, the creation of display material and exhibitions showing the pressures on salmon and the organization of salmon symposia.
Resources
The ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’ fund supported the creation of resources, some of which are available to all.
The Aire Rivers Trust
The Aire Rivers Trust have produced a fun educational game – the Fish Pass Game.
It promotes the value and importance of reconnected rivers in sustaining a healthy salmon population alongside a greater understanding of pollution and habitat loss risks. In this giant board game fish passes or “fish ladders” speed contestants onward to their spawning grounds near Skipton whilst pollution “slicks” and habitat degradation will stop or push them backwards. Woven within the game were changes that everyone can make to help the salmon through the river.
Coomhola Salmon Trust
Coomhola Salmon Trust produced four Symposia:
Symposium I: ‘Tributary’: Exploring how humans are integral with their local Catchments
Symposium II: ‘Exploring Salmon & Sea Trout through Poem and Lore’
Symposium III: ‘Salmon: A Hundred Cuts; A Hundred Cures’
Symposium IV: ‘The Joy of Salmon: Words & Music’
A Take-Away Booklet was distributed to participants representing all age groups, and sectors including farming, forestry, commercial fisherfolk, anglers, teachers, and ‘influencers’.
Der Atlantische Lachs
A working group formed by members of Der Atlantische Lachs came together at the end of 2004 to develop teaching material on the subject of salmon called ‘The Return of Salmon’. Since then, the presentation has been revised and supplemented. With the help of sponsors the presentation has been made into a CD version with films and teaching material.
The expansion in 2020 / 21 was made possible, in part, by the ‘Small Grants – Sharing Good Practice’ funding. View ‘The Return of Salmon’ here.
Forth Rivers Trust
Forth Rivers Trust made a short film highlighting the pressures salmon face around the River Forth in Scotland.
Galloway Fisheries Trust
Galloway Fisheries Trust have produced the Galloway Rivers Interactive Map. It summaries the distribution of salmon and trout in the main river catchments in Scotland. The map also provides some information on the main factors limiting the distribution of salmon and trout in Galloway, as well as the main management actions which need to be undertaken to improve their abundance.