On the estuary of the Loire river, at the end of the 19th century, about 10,000 salmon - i.e. an estimated 100 tons - used to be taken every year. On the upper Allier, before the Saint-Etienne du Vigan dam was built, the villages of Luc, Langogne and La Bastide used to export about 10 tons of salmon (approximately 1,000 fish) to the South of France. Early in the century, anglers used to come from all over Europe to Brioude to catch salmon on the Allier river...

A Salmons elevator by Poutès-Monistrol (photo CSP)

.On the Allier river, the EDF (the Electricity Generating Authority of France) dam of Saint-Etienne du Vigan (built in 1895, dismanteld in 1998) has been closing off for a century about 50 hectares of the best upper basin spawning grounds, while the Poutès-Monistrol dam (built in 1941) has totally stopped all migration for half a century, until a « salmon elevator » was built in 1986. From 1941 to 1986, only 8% of the 2,200 hectares of breeding areas used in the early 19th century were accessible. As for the Allier’s main tributaries (Sioule, Dore, Allagnon, Chapeauroux), they have all been almost « sterilized »..

The upper Loire, the access of which became difficult in 1845 when the Decize navigation dam was built, became totally closed to salmon when the Grangent (1957) and Villerest (1983) dams were built. On the Vienne-Creuse-Gartempe basin, migration is still blocked by the EDF dam of Maisons-Rouges (dismanteld in 1998): salmon disappeared from the Vienne river in 1930, while the Cher river - another tributary of the Loire - was « sterilized » as early as 1858.

Apart from dams, salmon must face other problems: silting up and salinization of the Loire estuary, varied obstacles (nuclear plants, bridges...), deepening of the riverbed due to sand quarries, heating up of the water engendered by nuclear plants, excessive fishing, pollution, etc..

 The measures launched by the Plan Grandeur Loire Nature attempt to improve the situation.