Press Release 2026

New Phase, July 2026

New DNA evidence casts fresh light on conservation stocking as last tool for Britain's most endangered salmon rivers

Analysis of longstanding Scottish study suggests carefully managed early-stage stocking could support recovery of collapsing wild salmon populations, without the marine survival losses long associated with the method.

New DNA analysis of a conservation study spanning three decades resolves one of the most persistent doubts about conservation stocking: whether hatchery-reared fish can survive migration to the ocean and return home as successfully as wild salmon. On the River Carron in Wester Ross, where a stocking programme has worked since the 1990s to save a native population pushed to the brink of extinction, the data shows they can. Combined with previous analysis, the project has examined several scientific concerns that have long limited wider adoption of stocking for conservation purposes, and could guide best practice for other rivers approaching local extinction.

“This has provided some of the strongest field evidence yet that conservation salmon stocking, carefully designed around scientific principles using native broodstock and released at early life stages, can help sustain Atlantic salmon in rivers where populations have reached critically low levels,” said scientist Bob Kindness MBE, architect of the 30-year programme to restore the native salmon population in the River Carron, who received his MBE for services to the River Carron Salmon Stock Restoration Programme in the 2026 King's Birthday Honours. “These findings are likely to intensify calls for fisheries policy to adapt rapidly as Atlantic salmon populations continue to collapse across Britain,” he added, referencing the fact that Native Atlantic salmon in Great Britain was classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List in 2022, with some river populations already considered extinct.

In this new phase of research, the UHI Inverness Institute for Biodiversity and Freshwater Conservation analysed genetic material and other data collected by the River Carron Conservation Association (RCCA) over more than a decade. They found that 40% of smolts migrating to sea between 2016 and 2018, and 46% of rod-caught adults returning between 2017 and 2020, had originated from the stocking programme. This indicates that salmon bred from the river’s own native stock, then released as juveniles at an early stage of development, survived at sea and returned at rates matching wild-spawned fish, resolving one of the final outstanding questions surrounding stocking as a conservation approach.

The results build on the previous phase which showed that by breeding from wild fish caught each season, rather than breeding from females in captivity for multiple years, it is possible to mitigate some of the genetic hazards associated with stocking programmes.

Bob Kindness warned about complacency, explaining that, “Once a unique salmon population adapted over generations to a specific river’s conditions is lost, it is virtually impossible to re-establish. Time is critical and for some rivers conservation stocking may now be the only realistic way to preserve those native genetics.”

Wild salmon experts stress that stocking has several risks, is not a substitute for habitat restoration or wider environmental recovery, and that its appropriateness needs to be assessed according to the conditions of each river. However, it could be a potential “bridging strategy” for some endangered river systems, to buy time while longer-term measures to address ecological conditions take effect.

Kindness said, “Salmon populations have declined even in rivers with ample high-quality habitat, as was the case in the Carron, where repeated winter flooding washed out spawning nests and left few young fish to survive the gauntlet of predators. On other rivers, our method could sustain populations long enough to allow habitat restoration and other remedial actions to take effect, in the hope of enabling full, natural, self-sustaining populations to thrive.”

The RCCA programme, which has already received cross party support‡, began following a 95% decline in catches in the 1990s. A small-scale stocking programme using fish from the river’s own stock was introduced in the 1990s, with long-term scientific monitoring. Since then, the project has amassed one of the UK’s richest salmon conservation datasets, including genetic sampling, tagging studies and detailed monitoring of juvenile and returning adult fish.

The detrimental impact of the decline of salmon is not only ecological. Salmon angling contributes significantly to rural economies across the UK, supporting employment, tourism and local businesses. Historic estimates valued freshwater angling in Scotland at more than £100 million annually.

Spey ghillie and salmon conservation campaigner Ian Gordon described the findings as “a game changer” for the industry he describes as in a “dire” situation compared to when he began 50 years ago.

“What Bob has done here is historic,” said Gordon. “This approach can help support salmon recovery without harming native populations, and it offers practical help now. That needs to be embraced.”

The RCCA is urging regulators and fisheries bodies to review existing guidance in light of this new evidence, so conservation stocking can be deployed proactively on rivers where native salmon populations are approaching collapse. Without intervention, they warn, many smaller rivers could pass the point where recovery is possible, threatening both unique native salmon populations and fragile rural economies.