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

To ask Her Majesty's Government what research they have undertaken or commissioned into the decline of stocks of wild salmon and sea trout, and the polluting effects of farmed salmon.

Freshwater fisheries and aquaculture policy is devolved in the UK. In England, Defra has funded numerous projects on factors that could contribute to the decline in stocks of wild salmon and sea trout. These can be found on the Defra research database at http://randd.defra.gov.uk/. We have not commissioned any research on the potential environmental impacts of salmon farming in recent years.

The devolved administrations also have active research programmes on migratory fish and these can be found at:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/525279/Background_Salmon_Report_2015_final.pdf

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/Freshwater/Research

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/marine/Salmon-Trout-Coarse/Freshwater/Research/Aqint

https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/publications/digest-statistics-salmon-and-inland-fisheries-daera-jurisdiction-2017