Catch and release is a management tool which should be considered for legislative support. Genetic integrity of salmonid stocks must be protected by minimising the effects of aquaculture and inappropriate stocking. Special protection areas for salmonids should be considered to ensure protection of vulnerable stocks or life stages. A new system of approvals for regulatory measures is required. Exploitation of adult salmon and sea trout stocks whether for food or recreation should not take place until the spawning requirement has been secured.
Biological systems are inherently complex and difficult to understand.
The cost of monitoring and research to provide sufficient information to manage these systems is high and, it is suggested, is properly chargeable to the public purse. Coarse fish, still water trout and eels. Coarse fish, trout and eels are the most important fish stocks for many anglers in England and Wales. Coarse fish and eel stocks are under increasing pressures, but suitable measures to protect stocks are not always readily identifiable because knowledge of their population dynamics is poor by comparison with salmonids. Existing measures to protect migratory salmonids should be extended to all fish species in the wild.