Dr. Ken Whelan:

We are really enthused by what has happened in recent years. The year 2019 was designated the international year of the salmon and it gave us an opportunity for the first time to talk in detail with our colleagues in the Pacific, where similar cases to that which we are seeing in the Atlantic are occurring. It also offered us the opportunity to start thinking about how we can utilise the iconic nature of the salmon to get across the information about the changing ocean situation and climate change impacts in fresh water. That has been extraordinarily successful and I will send to the committee some website links to material put together through the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization and a sister body in the Pacific. When this iconic creature was used, people suddenly started to engage with the reality of ocean climate and the commonalities between the Pacific and the Atlantic. That is a key point. It does not rest just with the salmon. We need to start utilising other creatures, both aquatic and terrestrial, to highlight to people how indicative they are of the circumstances we as humans may face in future.