Protecting Scotland’s Rivers: Report Sightings of Invasive Pink Salmon in 2023!
Scotland’s Pink Salmon Task Group scaling up for an expected invasion of pink salmon in 2023 Scotland’s Pink Salmon Task Group is urging the public to be on the look-out for invasive, non-native pink salmon in Scotland’s rivers. Pink salmon are native to the Pacific Ocean but are now appearing in Scotland’s rivers in increasing numbers. They represent a threat to the country’s unique aquatic biodiversity and freshwater fisheries.
The Pink Salmon Task Group comprises Fisheries Management Scotland, Scottish Government, NatureScot, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and the Dee and Ness District Salmon Fishery Boards. The group was established to monitor the extent of the pink salmon invasion and prioritise and facilitate appropriate management action. At a local level, these management measures can include targeted netting, trapping and electrofishing to remove pink salmon before they spawn. In addition, water samples will be taken from a range of Scottish rivers and analysed for the presence of pink salmon DNA in the water. This will help identify the presence of pink salmon in rivers across Scotland, including those with low angling effort.
The Pink Salmon Task Group is urging the public to report any sightings of pink salmon via a bespoke app developed by Fisheries Management Scotland.
Prof Colin Bean of NatureScot said, “Pink salmon are an emerging threat to freshwater biodiversity in Scotland and experience from elsewhere in Europe has shown the impacts of this invasion can be significant. Experience with other invasive species has also shown that surveillance and early action are key to successful action and we now have, in environmental DNA, a powerful tool to help us identify the arrival and distribution of these fish in our rivers. This will help relevant agencies and stakeholders to develop a programme of appropriate action.”
The app can be downloaded for free on Android and iOS devices. To locate and report a sighting of pink salmon and other non-native species, open the app and follow the simple instructions.
The history of Pink Salmon in Scotland
In 2017, unprecedented numbers of non-native pacific Pink Salmon were captured across Scotland. A similar situation occurred elsewhere in the UK, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Germany. 2019 and 2021 saw further invasions of these into Scotland’s rivers. This invasive, non-native species is likely to have strayed from some of the rivers in northern Russia.
These fish were originally introduced to some Russian rivers in the 1960s, have slowly spread westwards and have now colonized some northern Norwegian rivers. They have a very different life history to Atlantic salmon, having a fixed, two-year lifecycle and generally spawning in summer. Due to their two-year lifecycle, Pink salmon are derived from distinct ‘odd’ or ‘even’ years, with the Russian/Norwegian fish being odd-year stocks. It is therefore likely that they will occur again in Scottish rivers in 2023. The reasons behind the unusually large numbers since 2017 remain unclear, but climate change is considered to be a factor.
Learn more about Pink Salmon and report them – Fisheries Management Scotland: https://fms.scot/pink-salmon-in-scotland/
