International Atlantic Salmon Research

Each Atlantic salmon river contains its own uniquely evolving population, given that adult spawners and their progeny return to their river of birth. Atlantic salmon range from New England to northern Labrador, and from Russia’s Kola Peninsula south to the Spain-Portugal border. Salmon from freshwater rivers on both sides of the North Atlantic ocean mingle in large groups during their saltwater life stages.

Splitting their time between domestically managed freshwater rivers and coastal areas and international ocean habitats presents interesting challenges for salmon scientists and managers. Salmon rivers need to be continuously monitored to assess how the entire North Atlantic population is faring. 

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Salmon are native to more than 2,000 rivers bordering both sides of the North Atlantic. International panels of salmon scientists collaborate annually to assess the status of the North Atlantic salmon population. NOAA Fisheries scientists provide data from the U.S. Atlantic Salmon Assessment Committee to the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas’ Working Group on North Atlantic salmon. The Council produces an annual assessment of salmon stocks across the North Atlantic. This effort provides a broad overview of Atlantic salmon status and a framework for knowledge-based international management.

In 1983, the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization was formed to conserve, restore, enhance and rationally manage Atlantic salmon through international cooperation, taking into account the best available scientific information. It was formed in response to concerns about declining salmon populations and to help facilitate international cooperation while trying to manage high seas fisheries for Atlantic salmon. In 2019, NASCO published their State of North Atlantic Salmon Report, which provides the organization’s most recent overview of the status of the North Atlantic salmon.

In support of the work of ICES and NASCO, NOAA Fisheries has coordinated an annual sampling program of the West Greenland salmon fishery since 1999. The program sends an international cohort of scientists to various communities along the west coast of Greenland to obtain biological data and samples from the year’s seasonal harvest. The resulting data provide critical input data to both domestic and international stock assessment methods across the North Atlantic. The Greenland sampling program began in 1968 and is an excellent model for international conservation efforts involving numerous different private and public partners.