- Today, Scottish salmon are under threat. Without action across key salmon catchments, wild Atlantic salmon could become a distant memory. But by restoring the catchments and ecosystems that salmon are a part of, we can help to cool our waters under climate change, store more carbon, boost biodiversity, and provide the habitats that our salmon need
- The European Nature Trust is now committed to helping restore catchments in the Scottish Highlands. Building on riparian restoration work conducted at Alladale Wilderness Reserve – where one million trees have been replanted along two Highland glens – we are now supporting catchment-wide initiatives, empowering local organisations to catalyse a network of ecological restoration projects
- Under climate change, things are hotting up for salmon
The European Nature Trust / E.F. / Alladale (Scotland)
Scotland is facing the very real possibility of a local extinction of Atlantic salmon. Catches in the Scottish Highlands reached an all time low in 2022, representing just 75% of the five-year average. During the mid-1980s, there were between eight and ten million salmon swimming around Scotland’s Atlantic coast; that number has now dropped to two to three million.
During the extreme summer of 2018 – the warmest on record for Scotland – 70% of Scotland’s rivers experienced temperatures above the critical threshold for thermal stress in juvenile Atlantic salmon. And temperatures are going to rise: The UK Met Office predicts that summers like that of 2018 could occur every other year by 2050. Temperature modelling undertaken as part of the Scottish River Temperature Monitoring Network (SRTMN) has identified that waters across Scotland, particularly in the uplands, are now at high risk.
No one species in isolation
Increasingly, we are realising that the health of our rivers, and therefore the species that live in them, is determined by the surrounding land-use and health of the broader river catchments. Once, salmon would have undertaken their epic migrations as adults from the deep sea, back to their freshwater birthplace in the Highlands of Scotland, where vast forests, meandering rivers and variable flows would have provided the perfect conditions for fish to reproduce.
Today however, after centuries of land-use change, very few trees are left on Scotland’s riverbanks to shade the water. In fact, Scotland has lost 97% of its native woodland. Many river catchments that would have once been covered with rich woodlands of pine, willow, downy birch and alder have been stripped, leaving the riverbanks bare and exposed.
Without the cooling shade that trees provide on riverbanks, these hugely important river catchments are experiencing thermal stress. Today, that is already reducing the survival rates of commercially and culturally important species such as the Atlantic salmon, brown trout, and critically endangered freshwater pearl mussels. Further, according to the Native Woodland Survey of Scotland, more than 60% of our remaining native woodland habitat is significantly impacted by herbivores, preventing natural regeneration
Watch – Riverwoods: A salmon’s journey
To discover more about the relationship between salmon and native forests as a part of our catchment ecosystems, watch the full TENT-funded film Riverwoods: A Salmon’s Journey, produced by SCOTLAND: The Big Picture.
Taking a ‘catchment-scale’ view on restoration
If we’re to ensure Scotland still has salmon in the future, we have to ensure that whole river catchments are healthy. By taking a catchment-scale approach to river health, we can restore their natural ecology, boost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and benefit communities. TENT is supporting local organisations in the Highlands of Scotland, providing critical capacity-building support and partnership approaches to catalyse a network of ecological restoration projects. In time, as projects accrue under locally-run catchment-scale initiatives, we can restore ecological function to our river catchments.
TENT’s support for Riverwoods projects aligns with the national Riverwoods movement, led by the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Evidence compiled by the Riverwoods Science Working Group shows comprehensive need for catchment-scale restoration of riparian woodland and other habitat types to restore mosaics of habitats across Scotland’s river catchments.
Streams and rivers within catchments are physically connected, running from the headwaters of their source to the sea and laterally within their floodplains. This physical connection of our waterways – together with the plants and animals within them – provision and process energy changes down the length of the watercourse, creating functional ecosystems. As such, this connectivity of river woodland and other habitats is essential for ecological functioning, carbon and nutrient cycling, enabling a healthy river system. In turn, river health provides the conditions for salmon and other culturally and commercially important species to flourish.
However, in Scotland, analysis from SEPA in 2015/2016 show that 56% of Scotland’s riverbanks are in poor condition; just 13% is in good condition. Climate projections show that Scotland can expect warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. Extreme weather will become more variable and frequent, leading to greater risk of both droughts and floods. Modelling predicts increasing flow peaks of 50% on average by the 2080s, while drought projections show that extreme drought events will increase across Scotland, reducing water resource available for communities.
The restoration of ecosystems within our catchments can reduce the impact of climate change, nourish biodiversity and support communities and economies. By working together, we can recover our river catchments and preserve a pillar of Highland heritage in the wild Atlantic salmon.
What is TENT doing to support catchment restoration?
The European Nature Trust is partnered with local organisations across the Cromarty Firth watershed and Kyle of Sutherland catchments. Through partnership approaches, we are supporting the capacity for river catchment restoration to be delivered at scale. Through engagement with key estates and proprietors in the region, local organisations and Trusts we are partnered with are developing a pipeline of riparian woodland, upland woodland, instream habitat enhancement and peatland restoration projects. These projects are guided by the latest fisheries and biodiversity science, and adhere to standards enshrined by NatureScot and other regulators.
Pipeline restoration projects are mapped and developed by their project partners in concert with landowners. Individual projects are delivered through a blend of financing, including available woodland creation grants from the Scottish Forestry Grant scheme; private CSR donations from the corporate sector; private investment from estates or proprietors themselves; and other compensatory financing mechanisms as appropriate. The European Nature Trust is supporting the growth of these pipeline projects, bringing together partners and investors to catalyse the delivery of restoration at the pace and scale required, as reflected in Scottish Government’s Biodiversity Strategy.
Throughout the years, projects delivered will form a mosaic of restored habitats across catchments that together, will help to restore ecological function, allowing salmon to thrive in their freshwater ecosystems.
More info: Riverwoods: Catchment Restoration – The European Nature Trust