Species without Borders: Edinburgh Marine Network lecture

The Buckland Foundation Lecture, in association with the Edinburgh Marine Network, will be delivered by Malcolm Windsor, Former Secretary of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation.

"Species without Borders": The Sciences, Economics and Politics of Atlantic Salmon Management

Managing species without borders, like migratory fish, is today mostly done by means of international agreements. These treaties inevitably involve nations with different perspectives on the resource. Negotiations involve a complex mixture of politics, marine and freshwater environmental issues, and socio-economic factors. Into this mix will be added the influence of pressure groups, for example NGOs, fishig boat owners and fish farmers.

This lecture will focus on the Atlantic salmon, an iconic species that is held in high public regard because of its vast migrations and its amazing ability to cross trackless oceans and return to exactly where it was born to reproduce. Clearly a species like this can only be conserved and managed by international cooperation, using the best scientific advice.

This lecture will evaluate the cooperation undertaken through the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO). How did it work, did it succeed, what went right, what went wrong and what is the outcome today after 30 years of the Treaty?