A UK Perspective on Atlantic Salmon Stocking Illustrated by the River Tyne Stocking Programme

The River Tyne, North East England, currently supports the largest catches of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) in England and Wales. The primacy of the Tyne developed from a state in the 1950s when no rod-caught fish were reported, because of serious long term industrial and urban pollution in the estuary (low dissolved oxygen and high ammonia). The recovery of the river began in the late 1960s through combined effects of industrial decline and active pollution control, which accelerated through the late 1970s. In the 1980s, a large stocking scheme began to mitigate for the new Kielder reservoir built on the upper North Tyne. Coincidence of the stock recovery and the stocking has led to conflicting claims for the role of stocking vs environmental improvements. A detailed quantitative review of the stocking programme has now shown that both were involved, but that water quality improvement played the major part. Stocking is estimated to have contributed 20% (range 9-43%) of the total cumulative spawning escapement up to the end of 1986 when its relative role was highest. Stocking continues for mitigation and stock restoration, but against a rapidly changing national perspective of the risks and benefits of stocking, which is outlined.