Missing Salmon Alliance Members in the news raising the impacts of extreme weather on wild fish
Members of the Missing Salmon Alliance have been interviewed and quoted widely in the national news this week, following the government announcement that over two thirds of England is now in drought.
On Monday 10 August, England’s National Drought Group, declared that 71% of the country is in drought and that England and Wales recorded their driest July since records began in 1836.
Mark Owen, Head of Fisheries, Angling Trust and Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive, The Rivers Trust, have been raising the profile of the devastating impacts that ongoing low water flows and high river temperatures can have on wild fish populations and nature at large.
Wild salmon require water temperatures of 6°C - 20°C with optimal temperatures of 16-17°C. Above 23°C, they start to experience thermal stress; very high temperatures can result in death. This year, some rivers, including the River Test, which is holds chalk stream salmon, have reached up to 28°C.
In an interview with BBC's Farming Today Mark Owen, said,
“Atlantic salmon thrive on cold, cool waters, and they can only take a certain warming temperature before it impacts on them. When you get low, dissolved oxygen levels, that makes the fish lethargic and they go down to the bottom of the river trying to find the coldest possible space with the maximum amount of oxygen. From what we have been seeing in the last 2 – 3 months, there isn’t a lot of that left.
What we are seeing is rivers warming up – we had nearly 28°C on the River Test, which is unheard of.”
“It’s probably only next year…we will get a handle on the damage that has been done this year.”
Speaking to the BBC Today Programme from the banks of the River Exe, Mark Lloyd said:
“The river is much reduced…the available area for wildlife is massively reduced. It is a trickle when you should be able to hear the sound of babbling water.”
..It has a huge impact on fish obviously, but also the insects, which feed many of our birds, bats and other species. It does have far-reaching impacts on wildlife when the water gets so low.”
He continued, “What we need to do is change the way we manage river catchments. A lot of our efforts over the last couple of centuries have been to hurry water out to sea….we need to slow the flow of water…a lot of the measures we need to take, by putting in wetlands and tree-lined banks, and making space for water to be held in the landscape would be helpful for drought and for flood.”
The Missing Salmon Alliance believes wild Atlantic salmon can thrive if we give them free access to cold, clean water and restore their habitats at catchment scale.
Further information:
BBC Farming Today, 12 August, approx. 4m.20s into the programme.
BBC Today Programme, 12 August, approx. 07.10am.
Times Radio, 11 August, approx. 15 mins into the programme.
Published 13 August, 2026