Salmon and recreational fisheries: ICES and NASCO

ICES (International Council for the Exploration of the Sea) is an inter-governmental organisation that is responsible for coordinating marine science and marine scientific advice in the North Atlantic, Nordic Seas and Baltic. It is funded mainly by national Government subscriptions and is responsible for providing scientific advice about managing fish stocks to the EU. It also covers the whole range of marine environmental and ecological issues, including oceanography, marine biology, ocean chemistry, climate change, biodiversity, food webs, marine mammals and seabirds, renewables, spatial planning and ecological status.

The Freshwater Laboratory contributes to the work of ICES by providing national experts to a number of international Working Groups and Workshops, including WGNAS (Working Group on North Atlantic Salmon), WGEEL (Working Group on Eels), WGAGFM (Working group on Application of Genetics in Fisheries and Aquaculture, WGRECORDS (Working Group on the Science Requirements to Support Conservation, Restoration and management of Diadromous species) and WKTRUTTA (Workshop on Sea Trout).

NASCO (North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation) is an international organization, established by an inter-governmental Convention in 1984. The organisations objective is to conserve, restore, enhance and rationally manage Atlantic salmon through international cooperation taking account of the best available scientific information. Only Governments are members of NASCO, which has six Parties: Canada, Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands & Greenland), the European Union, Norway, the Russian Federation and the United States of America. Scotland, as part of the UK, has obligations to, and contributes to, the work of NASCO through the UK’s membership of the European Union. Staff from the Freshwater Laboratory in partnership with SG colleagues from Performance, Aquaculture and Recreational Fisheries Branch contribute to and participate in the Annual Meeting of NASCO and to numerous inter-sessional meetings.