Atlantic salmon  (Salmo salar)

The Atlantic salmon has shown a steady decline over the last two centuries, seemingly related to increased industrial development throughout their traditional home range. The situation has become drastically worse since the 1970s and catches of wild salmon have fallen by 80 percent. River pollution caused by industrialisation can severely damage local populations as can the increased number of man-made obstacles such as dams, weirs or the alteration of watercourses, which makes migration impossible.

Salmon has become an extremely popular dish in the western world and commercial farming can affect wild populations in a number of ways; escaped salmon may erode the gene pool through interbreeding, or farms may act as foci for the spread of parasites and diseases to wild stocks.

The North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation was established in 1983 under the Convention for the Conservation of Salmon in the North Atlantic. It is an international organisation that aims to conserve and promote the rational management of salmon stocks in the wild. The organisation includes all countries in which the Atlantic salmon is historically found and many different measures have been taken to reduce exploitation and protect the salmon. However, numbers of salmon are not recovering and further research is being carried out into why this is the case.