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Baltic Salmon protection needs and proper management presented at CCB Baltic 10 Conference, Palanga, Lithuania 8 May 2010 Mr Gunnar Norén Executive Secretary to Coalition Clean Baltic 1

Presentation will include aspects: Baltic Salmon Management for the Future - Status of wild Baltic salmon - Baltic salmon management and political l decisions i -HELCOM actions for wild salmon - Important components Salmon River Management Plan - Salmon monitoring - Functioning fish-ways 2

CCB activities for Baltic salmon protection - Inventories and studies of wild Baltic Sea salmon populations in Eastern Europe ( Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Belarus) - Habitat Restoration of salmon spawning bottoms in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania - River clean-up actions in small rivers in Estonia - Re-introduction of wild salmon in small rivers of Pomerania, Poland - Construction of a Fish-ladder for salmonids in Vilnale l river (close to Vilnius), Lithuania - Study trips to well-functioning fish-ways in Baltic Sea region -Organising National and International seminar on Baltic salmon management -Participate in BS RAC(Regional Advisory Council for Fisheries) Influence new EU Baltic Salmon Managment Plan 3

Map from The Status of the Wild Atlantic Salmon a river by river assessment 2001 4

International a arena a Atlantic ta tc salmon (incl Baltic salmon) NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation) (committees for North-West Atlantic, Greenland, North-East Atlantic) - Situation in many countries very critical (e g US, Canada) (Russian Kola peninsula still strong populations) - NASCO Stopped all open-sea salmon fisheries (Completely other management views compared to Baltic salmon) - NASCO apply model for management based on river population management 5

- Big problems with unintentional escapes from salmon fish- farming. - Strayers-escapees (0,5 million) (farmed salmon) migrate to rivers, and mix with wild populations - Compare to Baltic Sea, 5-6 million smolts released every year - Released salmon (compensation for hydro-power construction) for open-sea fisheries Conclusion: Baltic Salmon management has a lot to learn from Atlantic salmon management 6

International Baltic salmon management IBSFC (International Baltic Sea Fishery Commission)(closed i in 2005) ) Baltic Salmon Action Plan (SAP) The SAP was adopted in 1997 to support the sustainable management of the Baltic salmon and to secure the survival of the wild Baltic salmon populations. SAP goal:reach 50 % of the potential salmon production in each salmon river by 2010 7

Baltic Salmon action plan (SAP) CCB proposal p - needed to decide on complementary goals and new actions to be included into the Baltic SAP. Redefinition of objectives for the SAP, in accordance with ICES advice ICES has proposed IBSFC to redefine the objectives for Baltic salmon management (2003) to include - Safeguarding genetic variability - Safeguarding each wild stock including the weakest 8

EU (European Union) EU start work for Baltic Salmon Action Plan in 2007/2008 BS RAC (Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council for fisheries) (Fishing industry, Other interest t groups) -give advice on fisheries to EU -CCB is one NGO-partner -BS RAC Working group Salmon Discuss Baltic salmon in November 2006-early 2009 Provided advice to EC DG Fisheries, April 07 and May 09 EU Present a new Baltic Salmon Management Plan in spring 2010 9

Baltic Salmon - conservation status favourable? Atlantic (Baltic) salmon a species of special interest in EU Habitat directive. Endangered or vulnerable; rare; endemic or require particular attention Wild salmon shall reach Good favourable conservation status Status described as non-favourable in Boreal region today Obligation for all EU-members to fulfil EU Habitat directive. 10

Studies - Genetic Lax: Material variability och metoder for Baltic Salmon Salmon populations p from Northern Europe (46 respectively 38 populations, approx. 50 ind/population) Genetic markers : mtdna respectively Micro-satellites 11

Main Results: Clear separation between the Baltic and Eastern Atlantic salmon populations p 12

Main Results: ND1 variation supports the hypothesis of postglacial colonization of the Baltic Sea by multiple lineages 13

The Yoldia Sea ca 10200 9000 BP FRESH WATER LAND SALINE WATER ICE 14

The Ancylus Lake ca 9300 BP FRESH WATER LAND SALINE WATER ICE 15

Salmon: microsatellite variability 16

Conclusion Genetic variability: Baltic salmon : at least two colonization routes to Baltic Sea (via Barents Sea & North Sea) Wild Baltic salmon genetic variability today, reflects historical colonization routes after Ice age Knowledge of various Genetic units Basic data for Salmon conservation goals 17

Baltic Salmon situation today Salmon quota (TAC) 379 000 salmon (year 2008) -360 000 in Baltic Main basin (reported 175 000 in year 2008) -15 000 in Gulf of Finland (landings 17 000 in 2008) Fisheries open-sea 24 % (mainly by Pol, Den, Fin, Swe) coastal 51 % rivers approx 25 % Farmed and released salmon 6-7 million per year Production from Natural spawning mainly in a few river in Bothnian Bay increased considerably last years ( approx. 2 million smolts per year) 18

Improper commercial fishing policies, and extensive artificial salmon stocking programmes threaten the naturally spawning Baltic salmon. 2/3 of all wild Baltic salmon river populations are threatened (26 river populations ) 19

ICES advice for Baltic salmon management for 2007 Main Basin and Gulf of Bothnia - Strong salmon stocks in northern Baltic: Current exploitation will not impair possibility to reach 50 % production goal - Status of less productive wild stocks is poor, especially in Southern Baltic - negative trend in smolt production observed in Southern Baltic (increased post-smolt smolt mortality during past decade) (Southern Baltic has high proportion of overall genetic variability of Baltic salmon stocks) 21

Gulf of Bothnia 22

Southern Baltic 23

ICES advice for Baltic salmon management for 2007 Gulf of Finland - wild salmon stocks very critical situation -Native salmon populations in at least 3 Estonian rivers (genetically distinct from each other) Another 6 wild Estonian rivers supported with smolt releases - Russian Luga river native population, and smolt releases - Poaching a big problem -Recovery programmes should be developed for all rivers -Finland no wild salmon rivers in GoF 26

Gulf of Finland 27

No regulation of Baltic sea-trout fisheries No TAC for sea-trout in Baltic No minimum landing size of seatrout(for salmon min. landing size is 60 cm) Consequence is no limits for sea- trout landings & salmon landings-pol 28

Share of salmon and trout in offshore fisheries Driftnetting Longlining 100% 80% Salmon 60% Trout 40% 20% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% Salmon Trout 0% Poland Sweden 0% Poland Sweden 29

Classifying salmon as sea- trout result in no-limits for salmon fisheries Fisheries inspection in Gdynia do not distinguish salmon/sea-trout Most probably misreporting in Polish salmon/sea-trout landings Polish misreporting can correspond to 50 000 salmon/year EC must develop a control of landings that distinguish between salmon and sea-trout to t 30

Helcom eco BSAP (Baltic atcsea Action cto Plan) Biodiversity segment Actions - Active conservation of at least 10 endangered d /threatened wild salmon river populations in the Baltic Sea region, by 2009 - Application in all cases of appropriate breeding and restocking gp practices for salmon/sea-trout to safeguard the genetic variability of native wild stocks, by 2012 32

- Implementation Salmon actions in Helcom Baltic Sea Action Plan - CCB proposals Prepare detailed salmon river management plans: Sweden(2 in Sweden), Russia(Luga river in Russia), Estonia(3 in Estonia), Latvia(3 in Latvia) and Lithuania(1 in Lithuania), reintroduction in 4 potential rivers Finland(2 in Finland), Poland(2 in Poland) Sustained salmon population Goals for number of returning spawners Goals for number of out-migrating smolts Habitat restoration plan Regulations of fisheries activities(also coast&river-mouth) High standard salmon monitoring 33

CCB proposal in Febr 2010 0 Proposals for a Luga Salmon management plan A Part of the Russian Implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan 34

HELCOM Salar a project in 2010 0 Overview of the state of salmon and sea trout stocks in Baltic rivers Develop a Baltic Sea salmon/sea trout river inventory and classification, incl. proposals for some actions - National salmon experts needed for the HELCOM work -Time-table, Febr Nov 2010 35

Salmon fisheries es management age e Fishing in salmon rivers and river-mouths must be restricted and controled carefully each year, and should not be opened until a controled amount of returning spawners (male and female) have reached its spawning grounds for a sustained river population. 36

Important components for a Salmon River Management Plan --------------------------------------------------------- Clear Salmon Management Goals *Production of naturally spawning Baltic salmon shall gradually increase to attain by 2015 a production of wild Baltic salmon of at least 75 % of the estimated potential. *Minimum of 500 1000 spawners returning to and spawning at the spawning areas of each individual river, without support from released salmon. 37

Salmon river management plans *Annual standard monitoring of - returning salmon spawners -downstream migration of smolts to Baltic Sea -river water quality data - efficiency of existing fish-ways -proportion of strayers and genetic composition of the populations *Habitat protection/restoration - mapping of important spawning and breeding areas - plan for and implementation of protection/restoration of 75% of the potential spawning and nursing grounds in each 38 individual river

*Harvest - fisheries regulations in the river/river mouth that will guarantee a minimum of 500-1000 returning spawners, and the 75% goal of the estimated potential production in each individual river -fisheries regulations should guarantee spawning of both early and late migrating spawners *Control - development of appropriate fisheries control measures to support the salmon management targets - effective control of illegal salmon fisheries - development of regulations for all salmon fisheries(incl. recreational fishing and fishing 39 tourism )

Automatic fish counter Continuous control Careful good result Effort small 40

Infra red light-curtains Size Speed Direction 41

Interpretation and reporting 42

Not only salmon Färna Bream Pike Beaver Bubbles Sutare 43

Number passages per day 44

Functions of fishways Happy salmon does not jump, it swims >50% of existing fishways are not working properly To construct an efficient fishway is difficult, much more complicated than most people believe. Best solution - avoid fish ladder & fish - ways 45

Natural mimicing New constructed parallel river-bed Excavation Construction upstream/downstream Gravel, pebbles and boulders Small slope, no thresholds For all fish species Low maintenance cost Depth 30 100 cm Speed 0,5 2 m/s Slope 1 2 % 47

If you wait some years High risk unique salmon populations are lost forever Wild Baltic salmon a Baltic heritage to be esteemed Let the wild Baltic salmon become a symbol for a unique and rich Baltic Sea drainage basin Baltic Region citizens are obliged to restore all wild Baltic salmon populations. 52