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Announcement: Ivor Llewelyn retiring from AST at the end of 2017

After 11 years as the AST’s Director for England & Wales, Ivor Llewelyn will retire at the end of 2017.

As a consequence of refocusing of the AST on salmonid migration and marine issues and delivering projects such as our acoustic tracking programme we will not be filling the post of Director – England/Wales for the foreseeable future.

Looking forward the AST will be concentrating its influencing work and research on in-river migration and marine survival. However, we will continue to work closely with other fisheries and conservation organisations throughout the British Isles on salmon and sea trout conservation, and remain ready to add our voice to theirs where we can make a useful contribution.

In particular, we will continue to provide the scientific evidence which other organisations can draw on, and convene conferences and workshops for the purposes of informing fisheries management and policy.

The AST Board is enormously grateful to Ivor for his dedication to the conservation and protection of wild salmon and sea trout. At the recent Board meeting held in London last week Prof Ken Whelan said a few words in recognition of Ivor’s career (see speech below). Ivor was presented with a framed photograph, recording his meeting with His Majesty The King of Norway at the AST 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner in June 2017, and a tracking device for his life jacket (Ivor is a keen sailor). That way we’ll never lose him and maybe he’ll even become one of the subjects within our Tracking Programme!!

Ivor will continue to be involved with the Trust on a project basis and representation at certain fisheries meetings in England.

Please note below the new first points of contact (for areas previously involving Ivor):

AST Honorary Scientific Advisory Panel: Ken Whelan [ken.whelan@hotmail.com]
Administration of grants awarded by AST: Pamela Lowry [pamela@atlanticsalmontrust.org]
English Fisheries Group: Sarah Bayley Slater [sarah@atlanticsalmontrust.org]
Salmon & Sea Trout Archive: Sarah Bayley Slater [sarah@atlanticsalmontrust.org]
Conferences & Meetings: Pamela Lowry [pamela@atlanticsalmontrust.org]
Representation on technical groups (e.g. GWCT Fisheries Advisory Committee): Matt Newton [matt@atlanticsalmontrust.org]
Ivor Llewelyn

Ivor was a career Civil Servant and worked for many years in various policy areas covered by MAFF, now Defra. In the mid 80’s he was involved with the reports of the Salmon Advisory Committee which advised on the management and conservation of salmon stocks in England, Wales and Scotland. He subsequently played a leading role in the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Review, which covered all of the freshwater fish species found in England and Wales. These reports are still today highly regarded and seen as mapping out many of the modern approaches to salmon and sea trout management. Ivor also played a leading role on the international scene and was the lead England and Wales representative at meetings of both NASCO and the Whaling Commission. It is said that the busiest post bag of any Minister is the Minister covering either whales or salmon. As a senior Civil Servant Ivor covered both and his work in these areas is widely recognised and highly regarded! His work on salmon at NASCO was particularly important, since it was in the late 90’s that many of the major decisions relating to the co-ordination of salmon management practices were made.

Ivor joined the AST in 2006 and over the past decade has played a seminal role in the Trust as Director of England and Wales. His work covered the co-ordination of the Honorary Scientific Advisory panel and the organisation and dissemination of material from a range of conferences and workshops organised by AST. Ivor is meticulous in his planning and in the compilation of reports. Many of his reports and booklets are first class summaries of what at times were technical and complex meetings. His work on the AST Flows Conference, the Sea Trout Workshop, the IBIS / AST Small Streams and Tracking workshops, the recent AST /Tweed Foundation Smolt Conference and his key involvement in the proceedings of the second International Sea Trout Symposiums are particularly highly regarded. More recently he has represented AST on the co-ordination group advising on the new Salmon 5-Point Approach being developed by Environment Agency and a wide range of stakeholders.

Now that he is retiring it will give Ivor, Georgia and their family more time to spend in their cottage in the west of Ireland, where Ivor enjoys sailing and of course chasing salmon and sea trout!

 

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