Feargal Sharkey says wild Scottish salmon will be extinct in 20 years without river action

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Rock legend Feargal Sharkey has warned wild Scottish salmon will be extinct in 20 years without urgent action to save our rivers.The Teenage Kicks singer took his fight for healthier waterways to the heart of Scotland’s whisky country yesterday on a visit to the River Spey.Keen angler Sharkey, 64, said Scots authorities needed to take “big and radical” measures to save our wild Atlantic salmon - or risk losing them forever.The ex-Undertones frontman also insisted the Scottish public had to “wake up” to the sewage dumping epidemic polluting watercourses across Scotland.It came amid the launch of a major new charity aimed at conserving and restoring the mighty Spey - one of the world’s most famous salmon rivers.The Spey Catchment Initiative - which existed for more than a decade as a public-private partnership - was yesterday relaunched as a full charitable organisation, which it’s hoped will help ramp up nature restoration efforts down the river and along its banks.Speaking to the Record at the River Spey yesterday, Sharkey revealed how his “childhood passion” for angling and fly fishing later sparked his transformation from punk rocker to eco-warrior.Sharkey said: “Rivers like the Spey have given me an enormous amount of pleasure, played an enormous role and been a huge focal point and centrepoint of my life for decades, probably the better part of 50 years.“And here we are - what should be one of the most pristine environments on the planet, celebrating the Scottish salmon, celebrating the remarkable thing that is a salmon.“Yet, according to no greater authority than Sir David Attenborough, the Atlantic salmon has got 20 years.“And if we don't do something really big and radical, a feat that we've never managed to