Saving Wild Salmon: Solving an Environmental Puzzle

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One of the last wild salmon species in Europe is being maintained through artificial restocking efforts. In Haute-Loire, this initiative is being challenged by environmental groups and budget cuts.

Chanteuges (Haute-Loire), report

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Daily, the team at the National Conservatory of Wild Salmon (CNSS) in Chanteuges (Haute-Loire) checks a trap shaped like a washing machine in the river, aiming to capture young salmon to aid species reproduction. This morning, however, the trap is empty. “I’ll have to request permission to capture adult salmon,” states Patrick Martin, the operations director. Without catching enough breeders, the genetically engineered salmon could become too genetically impoverished.

Previously a symbol of Haute-Loire, attracting global anglers, the Loire-Allier strain of wild salmon is now on the brink of extinction. Historical records at the Vichy counting station show nearly 100,000 in the 18th century, about a hundred in the 1990s, and just a dozen last year. Since 2024, this subspecies has been listed as , according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

This situation, which could be seen as a failure of conservation efforts over the past thirty years, sharpens the conflict between two views of nature. On one side, proponents of human and technological intervention advocate for increased artificial restocking of the river. On the other, defenders of natural evolution focus on habitat improvement and renaturation.

The iconic migratory fish travels nearly 900 km in freshwater every three to five years from the Loire estuary at Saint-Nazaire to the Allier gorges, passing through various degraded natural habitats. Dependent on cold waters, it faces challenges like rising temperatures, numerous dams, invasive species like catfish or cormorants, pollution, overfishing at sea, and poaching. As a result, an average of about 10,000 eggs are needed for one salmon to reach adulthood in the wild.

In response to this complex problem with many unknowns, initial steps included banning salmon fishing, halting some dam projects, and installing fish ladders. However, pending the introduction of policies on ecological continuity, reliance has mainly been on restocking. In 2001, Europe’s largest salmon farm was inaugurated in Chanteuges to support salmon populations through stocking.

In a large wooden hangar at the confluence of the Allier and one of its tributaries, about ten employees monitor over 150 tanks day and night. Each year, sperm and eggs are harvested from about ten males and females to produce nearly 200,000 eggs. From daylight simulated with bulbs to aquatic conditions maintained by river water pumping, everything is designed to mimic optimal breeding conditions for young salmon.

Once ready, they are released into the streams to live in the wild. “It’s like planting wild salmon seeds in a garden,” says Patrick Martin, who modeled the restocking center after similar initiatives in Canada.

Initially, the restocking measures seemed successful, with up to 1,000 salmon counted in the river in 2015. Yet, some scientists expressed concerns about the overwhelming number of fish from the hatchery, which, being larger due to better nutrition, could outcompete and weaken the genetic strength of wild salmon.

As a precaution, from the 2010s, authorities decided to limit the number of artificially bred salmon and banned their introduction into natural breeding areas. “They said our salmon were bad, slower at migrating, but that’s not true,” argues Patrick Martin, blaming these cautious measures for the decline of wild salmon. “We had to release fry in the suburbs of Clermont-Ferrand, of course, they’re less resilient than in the Allier gorges,” he adds.

“We could dump millions of salmon into the river, and it wouldn’t work any better, since the water cycle is broken,” asserts Aurore Baisez, director of the migratory fish observation association Logrami, who sees the situation primarily as a result of the ecological crisis. Opposing restocking, which she considers a “band-aid solution,” she advocates for efforts to enhance the salmon’s ecosystem instead.

Amid budget cuts, why spend millions of euros to barely see a dozen salmon return upriver? This question concerns the Loire-Bretagne Water Agency and the managers of the European Regional Development Fund, who finance most of the program.

Despite selling some specimens to starred restaurants, and breeding and marketing grayling—a salmonid fish—and sending fry elsewhere for restocking, notably to the Rhine, “the facility will soon face financial difficulties,” a report published in September 2024 indicates.

Since the report’s release, the Wild Salmon Conservatory and some local officials have campaigned for funding assurances until 2027, pending the setup of a four-hectare solar farm to generate new revenue. Supported by the former president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Laurent Wauquiez, the project aims to preserve biodiversity, foster renewable energy development, and maintain the local cultural identity associated with salmon. The Haute-Loire Fishing Federation, managing the public market of the Conservatory since 2022, firmly believes in the project, even hoping for the return of profitable salmon fishing in the area.

“The urgency is to maintain this unique species. The salmon is an indicator of the river’s ecological quality, and it’s been telling us for a long time that things are not right,” says Aurore Baisez. According to the expert, it’s necessary to end restocking without shutting down the Conservatory, which would be tasked with preserving the strain until the aquatic ecosystems improve. This proposal is categorically rejected by restocking advocates, who see it as creating a “salmon zoo.”

At the bedside of the famous migratory fish, these two visions of nature protection are seeking support. Yet, the divide between advocates of natural renaturation and human intervention is increasingly political.