The Committee's Blog

Members should note that the Wild Fishery Review Team have published a further consultation document in relation to fishery reform in Scotland. This document contains a number of proposals and seeks the views of anglers and indeed all other interested parties on the future direction of travel with respect to fishery management in Scotland. It can be accessed at:

 
https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/wild-fisheries-reform-team/draft-wild-fisheries-strategy

 
While some members may be uninterested in yet another consultation document this piece of work is perhaps the most important yet from a long term perspective as it articulates a range of options with regards to the future management structure of Scottish fisheries. It is also vitally important to note that within the consultation document it is clear that the government will legislate in respect of all fish species and not just salmon and sea trout.

 
Having read the proposed Bill it is clear that the emphasis would now appear to be around the introduction of 12 – 18 Fishery Management Areas (FMAs). These areas will be designated by Government but crucially it would appear that at this time FMOs will not be imposed in each area, instead application will be sought from a ‘person’ (not being an individual) to form an FMO within the FMA.

 
We have been informed that in the initial period of transition there could conceivably be more than one FMO in any given FMA and it is also possible that FMA boundaries could change to take account of decisions to merge FMO’s that may exist in different FMA’s. Quite frankly nothing is set in stone at this time and members should be aware that there is nothing at this stage to preclude the formation of Lomond only FMO even if we are part of a larger FMA.

 
Members are therefore asked to consider the consultation document carefully and to make their views known to the committee in good time prior to the conclusion of the consultation exercise and in any case by 15 April 2016.

 
LLAIA Committee

In 2015 Ms Hannele Honkanen, a PhD student of the University of Glasgow based at Scottish Centre for the Environment (SCENE) undertook a smolt tagging experiment supported by Scottish and Southern Energy, SEPA, the Loch Lomond Fisheries Trust and the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association. This work was very similar to the project described by Marnoch in his thread on the Deveron experiment.

 
The plan was to trap 60 smolts of a suitable size within the River Endrick, insert small transmitters within them and then monitor their progress through the Lomond system to the outer Clyde Estuary around Greenock. A similar study had been undertaken on the Foyle system in Ireland and it was found that smolt mortality at the time of insertion had been very low, thus giving good confidence in any results obtained.

 
Smolts would be tracked throughout the system using an array of receivers strategically placed on the River Endrick (4), Loch Lomond (8), River Leven (4) and the Clyde estuary (8). As each transmitter had a unique identifier tracking the smolts is a relatively simple process whereby the monitoring equipment records the individual smolt as it passes within range.

 
As we are all aware 2015 was a bit of an unusual year weather wise. High water and low temperatures throughout the spring period really interfered with the smolt trapping operation and by the time that we were able to actively deploy the smolt trap without a risk of it being washed into Loch Lomond most of the Endrick smolts had run. However, towards the end of May 10 smolts of the requisite size were eventually caught, tagged and released to continue their migration.

 
The smolts once released on the Endrick quickly made their way downstream and 9 out of the 10 made it to the first monitoring point. Only 7 smolts made it as far as receiver numbers 2 and 3 and only 5 made it to the mouth of the Endrick. Smolt migration from point of capture to the mouth of the Endrick took on average just over 24 hours.
Only 4 smolts actually made it into the Loch and only 2 successfully made it into the River Leven, taking 6 and 11 days respectively. In comparison the smolts spent next to no time in the Leven, entering the estuary 146 and 158 minutes after moving through the barrage at Balloch.

 
None of the tagged Endrick smolts made it past the array in the outer Estuary.
Given there were tags still to be used it was decided to catch smolts in the Leven and see how they fared. Nine smolts were caught by fly fishing on the Leven in late May and were transported to the Loch. Of these fish only 4 made it back into the Leven and migrated downstream at a considerably slower rate than the Endrick smolts (average of around 3 days.

 
Again no smolts were lost in the Leven all entering the estuary, however, only one smolt made it past the monitoring array in the lower estuary.
Predation rates are in the following ranges:
Endrick Loch Lomond Leven Estuary
Endrick (10 smolts) 6 (60%) 2 (50%) 0 2 (100%)
Leven (9 smolts) n/a 5 ((55%) 0 3 (75%)

Therefore from 19 tag smolts only one made it as far as the open sea (95% losses). In the Foyle experiment extremely high smolt predation was also found before these smolts made it to the open sea (85% +). The results from both studies would tend to indicate that while we have problems at sea the real answer may lie far closer to home.
The full paper on the Lomond smolt tracking experiment, which includes details of work done around the tracking of estuary sea trout will be published later in the year and once ready will be hosted on this site.

LLAIA Committee

AGM Report.

What the 115 AGM of the LLAIA lacked in time management it certainly made up for in content. This was the second year that we have invited guest speakers to present to our members and it is certain that they made an impact.

 
First off was Ms Hannele Honkanen, a PhD student of the University of Glasgow who is based at the Scottish Centre for the Environment (SCENE). Han undertook the 2015 smolt tagging experiment on the Lomond system and delivered a presentation on the results that have been captured to date. The importance of this work is such that a separate article has been prepared and has been posted at the end of this report. The figures make grim reading, out of 19 salmon smolts tagged only 1 (one) made it to the open sea. This probably tells us all we need to know about the level of predation in our system, whether it be in-river, in the Loch or in the inner estuary.
A number of sea trout were also tagged and while the data from a number of the monitoring stations has still to be recovered early indications are that the good catches of sea trout on the Leven last October could have been connected with a late run of these fish into the Loch.
As soon as Han has published her PhD thesis we will provide members with an online link to read the report in full. We are also delighted to announce that Han will be undertaking another smolt tagging experiment on the Lomond system this year which will provide us with even more data on these fish. Let us hope that the level of predation is nowhere near as significant as it would appear to have been last year.

 
Following Han we had an input from 2 further guest speakers Jeff Gibbons from the Scottish Government and Dr Chris Horrell from RAFTS. Both presented on the current situation with regards to the salmon fishing scene in Scotland, considered how this may develop with the advent of Fishery Management Organisations (FMOs) and talked about their own individual areas of expertise. There was no doubt that members had and took the opportunity to question both speakers on the issues that concerned them the most. Questions were asked on several topics including the categorisation of the Lomond system as grade 3, the impact of aquaculture and predation on salmon and sea trout stocks and why this wasn’t considered as part of the WFR and the future development of FMO’s. Both presenters held up to the challenge and while members might not have liked some of the answers they got it was at least an opportunity to put our case and to show how passionately we care for our system.

 
On to the AGM itself which kicked off an hour late due to the volume of questions put to our last 2 speakers. Three items were put to a vote and were carried as follows:
1. Increase in membership fees from 2017 was passed, however, OAP membership fees would rise at a rate of £10 per annum until the OAP fee was 60% of the full fee as opposed to the current 42%.
2. A new by-law will be introduced from 2017 that limits the number of salmon that can be killed in any given day to 1 (one).
3. A new bylaw will be introduced from 2017 that prohibits the killing of salmon until 1 May, making this in line with the ban on killing sea trout.
Whether votes 2 and 3 will be implemented will of course be dependent on the categorisation of the system.
Finally Eddie Edmonstone was re-elected as vice chairman for a further 3 years.

LLAIA Committee.

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.

We are delighted to announce that our Season 2016 permits have been returned from printing. The treasurer and membership secretary have worked over the Christmas holiday to bundle them up and dispatch out to our retail outlets where they are now on sale.

If purchasing a River Leven or Estuary season permit please remember that two passport sized photos are required.

If purchasing a’ full membership’ or disabled membership, this needs to be done through the LLAIA. See our webpage: http://www.lochlomondangling.com/membership.html

For anglers that had already purchased their membership/permit through our website the tickets are in envelopes ready to be posted out on January 5th. as we don’t want them getting caught up in the New Year holiday period.

Once again, we apologise for the delay which was outwith our control.

Hope you all have an enjoyable Festive period and a great season 2016!

LLAIA Permit availability – Season 2016
Due to technical problems at the printers there has been a slight delay in the availability of season 2016 permits. Postal and retail outlet issue are both affected.

We hope to collect permits from the printers early next week. It will then take a few days to process full memberships tickets and post to those that have returned their renewal forms. As soon as they become available we will post them out to you. This also applies to anglers who have purchased River Leven season tickets via our website.

When the permit stock for Leven – Season, Weekly, Day and Coarse tickets have been delivered to our outlets we will update the website accordingly.

It had been anticipated that permits would be available before Christmas as usual and can only apologise for a situation beyond our control.

LLAIA Committee.

The papers relating to the proposed wild fishery review are still with the Minister. It is hoped that a formal announcement will still be made before Christmas.

Irrespective of the result and in the absence of any guidance from Government, despite repeated requests, the committee have had no had no choice but to assume a status quo – no change position – with regards to rules and regulations. We will therefore be issuing memberships and tags according to our current rules.

Should the government announce changes that impact on us we will be seeking full reimbursement for all expenses incurred to date including substantial administration costs.

We await developments next week.

LLAIA Committee.