The latest salmon counter update for the Test and Itchen has just been released by the EA.
Counter data from 2022 for the two rivers suggest that salmon returning stock estimates are the 4th lowest and lowest respectively for the period 1990 — 2022.
For the Itchen, the returning salmon stock in 2022 was estimated to be at only 20% of the conservation limit — that is 20% of the number of returning adults needed to maintain the population.
The counters demonstrate clearly that fish migration isn’t just about salmon and trout: the cameras have picked up spring spawning movements of pike, grayling and chub.
The report also contains a lot of other interesting information, including evidence of previously stocked trout moving upstream early in the year, after apparently overwintering in the lower rivers and/or their estuaries, which is described as ‘a regular feature’.
Readers may be interested to join catch and release best practice sessions, to be run by the EA at Woodmill on 4 and 17 June – details are HERE in the report.
