ICES advises a zero salmon catch for the Faroe Islands through 2029 as Atlantic salmon stocks reach critical historical lows.
ICES Recommends Zero Salmon Catch To Protect Stocks
The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) has issued a stark warning regarding the future of Atlantic salmon, recommending a total cessation of fishing in specific regions to prevent the collapse of the species.
Published on 1 May 2026, the latest advice highlights a “consistent and marked decline” in both returns and spawning stocks across the North-East Atlantic.
Critical Advice for North-East Atlantic Stocks
Applying the maximum sustainable yield (MSY) approach, ICES has delivered an unambiguous mandate for the upcoming years. The organisation states that “fishing should only take place on Atlantic salmon from rivers where stocks are at full reproductive capacity.” Because many stocks currently fail this criterion, the advisory body is calling for significant restrictions on mixed-stock fisheries.
Specifically, the report advises that the catch of Atlantic salmon at the Faroe Islands “should be zero in each of the fishing seasons 2026/27, 2027/28, and 2028/29.” This recommendation aims to ensure at least a 95% chance of meeting conservation limits across all stock units simultaneously.
Record Lows in Southern and Northern Areas
The data for 2025 reveals that Atlantic salmon populations have reached historic minima. The total reported nominal catch in the NEAC area was just 267 tonnes, the lowest ever recorded in the time-series. In the Southern NEAC area, which includes parts of Europe and the UK, catches have plummeted by an order of magnitude over the last two decades.
“The total nominal catch in 2025 (provisionally 29 t) was lower than in 2024 (43 t) and the previous five-year (59 t) and ten-year (106 t) means,” the paper notes. Even in the Northern NEAC area, which historically supported larger harvests, catches have remained consistently below 1,000 tonnes since 2012.
Risks Facing the Southern and Northern Complexes
The biological status of these fish is equally concerning. According to the 2026 assessment, Southern NEAC returns are currently “suffering reduced reproductive capacity,” with 2025 estimates marking the lowest in the entire time-series. While Northern stocks have shown more resilience, the multi-sea-winter (MSW) salmon in the north are now considered “at risk of suffering reduced reproductive capacity.”
ICES warns that the aggregation of data can often hide the dire reality of individual river stocks. To combat this, the report emphasizes that “mixed-stock fisheries present particular threats and should be managed based on the individual status of all stocks exploited in the fishery.”
Broad Conservation and Environmental Action Required
The advice extends beyond fishing quotas, pointing to a range of anthropogenic and environmental stressors. Marine productivity is being hampered by declining post-smolt survival rates, which have fallen since the 1970s. Additionally, the expansion of non-native pink salmon and the impact of marine aquaculture—including sea lice and escapees—pose ongoing threats to wild populations.
ICES concludes that “all non-fisheries related anthropogenic mortalities in both freshwater and the marine environments should be minimized” and calls for the restoration of habitat connectivity and biological quality to support the recovery of the species.
