Baxter donation helps salmon project take leap
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A WILD salmon tracking project can take a big leap forward in its work to halt species decline thanks to a sizeable donation from a Moray-based foundation.
The Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation has awarded the Atlantic Salmon Trust (AST) £50,000 towards its Moray Firth Tracking Project to find out where and why Atlantic salmon are dying as they migrate down rivers on their journey out to sea.
It is the largest salmon tracking project ever undertaken in Europe.
The innovative project started this spring and runs over three years, and has so far tagged 800 young salmon smolts as they migrate downstream from the headwaters of seven rivers around the Moray Firth, including the River Spey.
Foundation manager Kay Jackson welcomed Mark Bilsby, the AST's chief executive officer, to the banks of the River Spey at Fochabers for an update on progress.
Mrs Jackson said: "This is one of seven rivers being monitored as part of this three-year tagging and tracking project, which is designed to uncover the secrets of the missing salmon. That will hopefully mean steps can be taken to halt the decline of this iconic species.
"Gordon Baxter was an avid angler – particularly on the Spey, which flows 120 yards from the company’s Speyside factories. He would spend long hours fishing and even clinched business deals on the banks of the river.
"This is a hugely important and valuable piece of work and one which we know Gordon would have supported wholeheartedly."
Mr Bilsby said: "The problems that salmon face are manifold and we are deeply concerned that if we don’t understand what is happening to them then there is a real threat that we will lose them for future generations.
"The exceptionally welcome support by The Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation will enable us to really understand what is going on and help support the local community to better manage the salmon and the waters they live in."
The AST's aim is to see naturally generated stocks of wild salmon and sea trout reach sustainable levels of abundance.
