Appearing on the Itchen

As part of Project White Hart's community engagement work we've worked with Kieran Gillingham of the Itchen Navigation Preservation Trust to install 15 sign boards along public parts of the River Itchen in Hampshire - sharing the salmon's incredible life story and how they need to be protected. This includes information to support anti-poaching measures - currently an acute problem on these stretches. Project Founder, Jim Murray MBE (pictured), was on hand for the installation, alongside local project teams.

It is Project White Hart's belief that engaging the local community and working with partners is key to saving the critically endangered English chalk stream salmon.

Genetically distinct chalk stream salmon are survivors of the post-glacial world, shaped over thousands of years by the unique conditions of England's chalk rivers. Today their ancient lifecycle is in decline - only around 250 adult salmon returned to the Itchen last year - far below its minimum conservation limit.

Their survival depends on cold, clean oxygen rich water, clean gravel and stable flows in our chalk streams - places of global conservation importance, the vast majority of which are located in England.