Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bony fish (Actinopterygii) > Fish |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | Alpine Charr |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Salvelinus alpinus |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Nunn et al., 2023 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | There have been significant declines. Charr in England inhabit isolated lakes and reservoirs so sufficient individuals could not immigrate from outside of the region to rescue the population in the event of its extinction. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Known in 8 isolated sites in England. Potential to establish ark populations needs investigating, alongside surveys to determine spawning habitat quality. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Would benefit from wider habitat management that will impact the Lakes. |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 2. Biological status assessment exists |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Low - Climate change |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Opportunistic - insufficient |
| Species Comments: | Agricultural run off and pollution from sewage impact the lakes that Arctic Charr inhabit. Monitoring of this species on a lake by lake basis relies heavily on hydroacoustic monitoring by boat, and this is no longer routinely undertaken. Monitoring constraints currently exist due to training requirements needed to meet Coastguard regulations. Monitoring is entirely insufficient at present. |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor appropriate index sites (refers to permanent sites in each waterbody where charr are present), to enable the health of each population to be assessed and trends in population size to be estimated.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Thirlmere, Wastwater and Windermere
Comments: 8 English populations
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Survey known and potential charr spawning habitat quality to inform required restoration actions.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: Status survey/review
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Thirlmere, Wastwater and Windermere
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Apply Defra's Code for Reintroduction and Conservation Translocations to determine feasibility and approach to further translocation of vendace to establish ark populations, if required.
Action targets: 5. Remedial action identified
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 10 sites
High priority sites: Buttermere, Coniston Water, Crummock Water, Ennerdale Water, Haweswater, Thirlmere, Wastwater and Windermere
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.