 North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization Conserving and restoring wild Atlantic salmon  |
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Management of Salmon Fisheries
NASCO's goal is to promote the diversity and abundance of salmon stocks and maintain all stocks above their conservation limits. The key issues are to:
Regulatory measures agreed by NASCO have greatly reduced the interception of salmon in the distant-water fisheries at West Greenland and around the Faroe Islands. These fisheries now only account for 1-2% of the total catch. The Convention requires that conservation and management measures taken by States of Origin be taken into account in establishing regulatory measures. Major reductions in fishing effort and quotas have occurred all around the North Atlantic and there is increasing use of catch and release in recreational fisheries e.g in 2008 more than 204,000 salmon were reported to have been released following capture. NASCO has agreed guidelines on catch and release (available in both English and French). NASCO's Agreement on Adoption of a Precautionary Approach states that, management measures, taking account of uncertainty, should be aimed at maintaining all salmon stocks above their conservation limit, taking into account the best available information, and socio-economic factors. In order to achieve this, a Precautionary Approach will be applied to the management both of fisheries regulated by NASCO and those in homewaters. NASCO has adopted a Decision Structure providing a basis for more consistent approaches to the management of exploitation of Atlantic salmon. The Decision Structure proposes the use of reference points, or other indicators of stock status, to trigger management actions. Read more... NASCO has also adopted a Minimum Standard for Catch Statistics. Read more... NASCO operates a Tag Return Incentive Scheme to encourage the return of external tags applied to salmon. Read more... In order to assess progress in implementing NASCO's agreements on the management of salmon fisheries and to improve exchange of information each jurisdiction developed an implementation plan detailing measures to be taken over a five year period and in 2008 provided a fisheries management focus area report (FAR) describing progress to date. These FARs can be viewed using the table on the right. The FARs have been reviewed and the review group's findings are in the reports below. In 2009, the Council adopted Guidelines for the Management of Salmon Fisheries to assist jurisdictions in making further progress in implementing NASCO's agreements and guidelines; to provide a basis for and an exchange of information on more consistent approaches to the management of fisheries around the North Atlantic; to assist in preparation of FARs; and to assist in the identification of what additional actions may be required. Read more... Further information: |
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