River Wye pollution claim points to record decline in salmon catches

Lawyers leading a High Court environmental claim over River Wye pollution have highlighted devastating figures showing salmon catches have fallen to their lowest levels since records began in 1941.

Over the last five seasons, fewer than 330 salmon per year have been caught on the Wye – compared to an average of 1,140 annually between 2013 and 2018. The decline has been described as the steepest on record.

More than 4,500 people across the Wye, Lugg and Usk catchments have now joined the legal claim, launched in October 2025 and represented by law firm Leigh Day. The claim alleges that pollution from industrial poultry operations overseen by Avara Foods Limited, and sewerage operations run by Welsh Water, have caused widespread harm to business, recreation, tourism and property values. Avara, Welsh Water and fellow defendant Freemans of Newent – an Avara subsidiary – all deny the allegations.

The claim argues that phosphorus-rich run-off from farmland spread with chicken manure, combined with sewage discharges, is fuelling algal blooms that strip oxygen from the water, coat spawning gravels with slime and destroy aquatic plant cover – compounding the pressures already facing UK fish populations.

Among those represented is Justin Connolly, a professional game angling guide on the Wye and Usk, who has been forced to abandon his full-time fishing business after cancelling around 40% of bookings over his final three years of full-time operation.

Leigh Day partner Oliver Holland said the claim aimed to hold the alleged polluters to account and secure a court order to clean up the rivers.