A £1.8m scientific study is being launched to discover more about the life and pressures on the sewin or sea trout in Wales and Ireland. Information from the Celtic Sea Trout Project will be used to guide stock management policy and measures to increase sewin in Welsh rivers.  It will also help show possible links between the environment, climate change and the fish. The sea trout is a Carmarthenshire Biodiversity Action Plan species.

The numbers of sea trout have been declining in recent years and work to improve their habitat, access to spawning grounds and limits on fishing in rivers have been put in place by Environment Agency Wales and the Welsh Assembly Government to improve their numbers.

The project will build a comprehensive genetic database of young sewin caught in rivers and monitor the diet and movement of the sewin at sea. Anglers and netsmen will be asked to help by sending in DNA samples (scales in envelopes) from fish using packs designed for the project.

Trout fishing is a draw to visiting anglers as Wales has some of the best sewin rivers in Europe, including the Rivers Tywi and Teifi, thus showing the importance of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems to the economy. It also supports a number of traditional historic net fisheries, like the coracle fishermen, providing an income for the fishermen and a further draw for tourists.

This research should provide the information and knowledge on the distribution, migration and exchange, stock structures and biodiversity of sea trout around the Irish Sea so that, through better management, protect and enhance this important fish, as well as deliver social and economic benefits of sustainable fisheries for sea trout.