Ecologistas en Acción Cantabria has requested the regional government to decree a total ban on Atlantic salmon and European eel, considering that both species are in a situation "practically of extinction". At the same time, it accuses the regional administration of "becoming an accomplice necessary to reach the situation of extinction".
The environmental group recalls that between 2024 and 2025 it has registered three written allegations before the Directorate General of Fisheries and Food of Cantabria, in which it reiterates that its demand for the closure of fishing for Atlantic salmon and European eel is based "on the conclusions of scientific bodies both national and European".
According to the organization's details in a statement, the decline of these species is due to several shared causes: reduction of water flow, polluting discharges, presence of transverse barriers in rivers, fishing pressure, poaching, and, in general, the progressive deterioration of their habitats. A problem that, it emphasizes, is reproduced in a large part of the European Atlantic area.
In the specific case of salmon, Ecologistas en Acción expresses its concern about the "brutal" decrease in its populations, a process that, it recalls, began in the last century. It also criticizes that, while in Galicia, Basque Country, and Navarra their capture is prohibited, "communities that are acting with the responsibility that the situation demands", in Cantabria recreational fishing remains open.
The organization highlights that the figures for 2025 show the magnitude of the problem. Although the Directorate General of Fisheries of Cantabria set a quota of 70 salmon, "at the end of the fishing season, 8 specimens were caught". Even so, the Minister of Fisheries, María Jesús Susinos, announced that the option would be to "go by the middle way" for 2026.
For Ecologistas en Acción, this "middle way" policy has proven to be a complete failure. It details that in 2026 the quota in the Pas was 15 salmon and none were caught; in the Asón, fishing for 12 was authorized, with only one fish caught; in the Nansa, a maximum of six was allowed, with only one specimen caught, and in the Deva, with a quota of five, only one catch was also achieved.
Faced with this data, the entity concludes that the balance "is devastating" and "highlights the erroneous management procedures implemented until now. It seems that our regional Government lives in a fiction as it is managing resources that do not exist."
Likewise, it emphasizes that "it is high time" for the regional Executive to "stop taking the middle road and address the problem directly and efficiently," especially since the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge has requested technical reports to assess the possible incorporation of Atlantic salmon into the Spanish Catalog of Threatened Species.
Ecologists in Action insists that the regional Government must "address in a clear and decisive manner, without hiding behind false arguments and advised by numerous scientific reports, this serious situation, declaring a ban on salmon and elvers and taking the necessary measures to try to reverse the extinction process."
Finally, it warns that "we are on our way to losing two of the most emblematic species of Cantabria's natural heritage," which would imply "an irreversible loss of regional natural heritage if immediate and forceful measures are not taken."