The Committee's Blog

Guy Linley-Adams on behalf of Salmon & Trout Conservation Scotland.

‘Wild salmonids in the ‘aquaculture zone’ on the west coast are in trouble. In 2015, the Scottish Government published the latest classification of the country’s salmon rivers’ salmon populations, placing all rivers in the west Highlands and inner Hebrides, including river systems such as the Awe and the Lochy, in the worst-performing category, with wild salmon stocks not reaching their conservation limits (a measure of the overall health of the population). No river within salmon farming’s heartland of the west Highlands and inner Hebrides has, in Scottish Government’s estimation, a sufficient stock of wild salmon to support any exploitation.

Fisheries scientists are increasingly clear that sea lice produced on fish-farms harm wild salmonids, both at an individual and at a population level. Also this year, fisheries scientists from Norway, Scotland (St. Andrew’s University) and Ireland reviewed over 300 scientific publications on the damaging effects of sea lice on sea trout stocks in salmon farming areas, and examined the effect of sea lice on salmon, concluding that sea lice have a potential significant and detrimental effect on marine survival of Atlantic salmon with potentially 12-29% fewer salmon spawning in salmon farming areas.’

For full information and to view and sign the petition visit:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/gettinginvolved/petitions/PE01500-PE01599/PE01598_BackgroundInfo.aspx

LLAIA Committee.

The AGM of the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association will be held on Saturday 6th February 2016 at the Main Lecture Theatre, Boyd Orr Building, Glasgow University.  The Boyd Orr building is located off University Avenue close to its junction with Byres Road, Glasgow. The post code for those driving is G12 8QQ.

Doors open at 1230pm and the meeting will commence at 1300. Only full members in possession of an entry ticket may attend the meeting. New members will be admitted on production of their membership cards.

1300 – Professor Colin Adams / Ms Hannele Honkanen – Presentation: Lomond System Smolt Tracking Project.

1330 – Representative from Scottish Government – Wild Fisheries Review Update.

1415 for 1430 – Annual General Meeting.

Members will have an opportunity to pay their fees between 1415 and 1430 prior to the annual meeting.

LLAIA Committee.

It has been announced today (Tuesday 19 January) that the government intend to bring in regulations under existing fisheries legislation that will effectively make the Lomond system, like the rest of the Clyde catchment, a category 3 water.

As you are no doubt aware these proposals were initially contained within the wild fisheries consultation document that was published in September 2015. It is deeply regrettable that the government have not listened to the arguments put forward by this Association and other angling bodies and have decided to move to implement regulations on the back of what we consider to be an intrinsically flawed methodology.

We find little in the way of comfort in today’s statement but we need to be clear about 3 points:

First we shall continue to lobby government with regards to the unfair and arbitrary manner by which they have decided on the categorisation of waters.
Secondly while the government intention is clear there are still a number of parliamentary hurdles to be overcome before these proposals are made law this year, therefore we still have a chance at influencing the outcome of this debate.
Third, while we note that there is an intention to ban the killing of wild salmon throughout almost all of the west and south west Scotland this year the government state they will review this position annually and we therefore look forward to working closely with the Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust to provide the relevant evidence that we feel would justify our inclusion as a category 1 / 2 system in years to come.

While this may seem like dark news please remember they are still just proposals and parliament has still to have its say. We would ask members to continue to support your Association during these difficult times and make whatever representation you can to your local and list MSPs.

http://news.scotland.gov.uk/News/Wild-salmon-conservation-216d.aspx

LLAIA Committee.

Over the last month contact has been maintained with the Wild Fisheries Review Team in an effort to establish what, if any, legislative changes will occur this year in relation to the retention of salmon. As recently as Thursday 14 January the response from the Review Team remained that the relevant papers were with the minister and a final decision was still awaited.
Therefore until we hear to the contrary our rules and regulations remain the same as last year i.e. we will continue to operate a tag system and as per current national rules no salmon can be taken before 1 April.
Anglers on the Lomond system should rest assured that the committee will continue to fight your corner over this matter and as soon as there is an official announcement we will ensure that you are informed.

LLAIA Committee.