IMPRESS is a European training Network of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions funded by the EU Research and Innovation Programme Horizon 2020 for the period 2015-2018.

IMPRESS provides a new generation of researchers with the multidisciplinary skills and competences needed to oversee new stocking strategies for Europe’s most important and threatened freshwater fish species (Atlantic salmon, European eel and sturgeons). Freshwater fish populations bring many benefits to Europe´s citizens through leisure activities, and enhance rural employment through fishing and tourism.

The main scientific objective of IMPRESS is to improve the methods for rearing of fish that are intended for stocking into the wild. This requires an improved knowledge basis in basic fish biology, improved knowledge on the rearing techniques themselves (train the fish to be more adapted to life in the wild), and lastly it requires a better understanding of how to implement new insight into practice. This last point necessitates new knowledge in the social dimensions of healthy river systems, including how this is regarded among the general public and more specifically among key stakeholders such as hatchery workers and anglers. The different Early Stage Researchers within IMPRESS focus on one of these three main issues.