From The Times

An annual salmon count has found the lowest number of juveniles in one of the country’s most important rivers for the species.

The steep decline uncovered during the counting and tagging of juvenile wild Atlantic salmon on the River Frome in Dorset has caused significant concern among scientists running the project.

It follows the lowest number of adults returning from the sea to spawn last year, further confirming the continued steep decline of salmon in British rivers. Numbers of wild Atlantic salmon have crashed by about 80 per cent in the past 40 years.

Rivers that had tens of thousands of salmon in the 1980s now only have a few hundred and wild Atlantic salmon are classified as endangered in the UK. The species is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, along with elephants, pandas and polar bears.