Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect the wild salmon population.

This is a devolved matter and the information provided therefore relates to England only.

Between 2019 and 2023, the Environment Agency mitigated 58 barriers to fish passage on England’s salmon rivers. The Environment Agency also manages salmon fisheries in England, ensuring that 95% of salmon catches in 2023 were released, alive, through a combination of voluntary and mandatory measures.

Cleaning up the water environment is a key priority for Defra. The Government will be carrying out a review of the water sector regulatory system, with further details to be set out later this year.

Defra is also working internationally to protect salmon populations through participation in the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO). A full list of actions related to salmon conservation can be found in the England and Wales NASCO “Implementation Plan”, along with annual progress updates. The Environment Agency is currently re-assessing the key pressures on salmon, in England, ahead of producing a new Implementation Plan in 2025/26, to cover the 2025 – 2030 reporting cycle.