Well the rain appears to have arrived in good quantities again during Wednesday’s downpour. Hopefully the river anglers will forget about all the frustrations and frayed tempers and get out and do some serious fishing now that the water levels are up where most anglers want them!
The River Leven was busy on Monday with plenty of anglers out hoping that with the Barrage gates now fully open the fish would be there for the taking. Unfortunatley the water was coloured for quite a bit and then cleared but overall Monday was a big dissappointment to some anglers. The loch lomond system is not a large system so sport is dependent on getting a run of fish into the river that particular day. With the weekend water slightly higher than normal and suitable tides it is likely that the fish had already went through on the first high tide in the early hours of Saturday morning hence the seven fish off the combined loch and river on Saturday!
With the now excellent water levelsTuesday passed off fairly quietly as well, sufficient no doubt to frustrate enough anglers to give the river a miss on the Wednesday. In typical Leven fashion at least four fish were caught on the Wednesday. Gordon Pollock had one at 9lbs, Andrew Leadbetter a 4lbs grilse on the fly and a 5lbs grilse tailed out by Andrew but we never got the anglers name and another double figure fish was landed at the Bonhill Bridge pool. Grilse are being seen in the river so prospects look fine for the weekend.
An angler fishes the run in to the Bonhill Bridge pool on Thursday afternoon.
It is likely that more fish will start to come off the leven over the next few days. The river is weel worth a visit or two and with the superb streamy flows it is an absolute delight to fish with the big salmon fly rod spey casting down the pools and streams.
Others still spin the river with a variety of lures with the flying C being particularly effective.
This extra rain might not please the sea trout anglers on the river leven given that the sea trout runs should really start to be arriving soon. One mans loss is anothers gain so the loch angler could enjoy some exciting fly fishing with fresh sea trout over the coming weeks, weather permitting.
The extra rain over the weekend did not appear to entice many early fish into the Endrick. The water was very dirty though which tends to put fish off until several more spates follows. We were hard at it on Monday and Tuesday removing the trees at Drumtian. Aftere a lot of effort we finally got the last tree removed from one of the main pools. A sea trout of about 2lbs showed itself but that was all that was seen at the Drumtian stretch but there is always a chance the odd salmon will have entered the endrick and lying in one of the pools somewhere?
Fallen trees is now a regular event each year on the Endrick.
Drumtian: The main pool is now cleared and fishable once again.
This large tree provides cover for the fish but a fierce gale could see it in the pool!
There must be preventative work done on the river to prevent the destruction of good pools. We are considering taking the whole top part of this tree off and leaving just the bottom section. This might allow the tree to survive that bit longer. This work will be done in the winter period when the season has finished. lets hope the tree stays upright in between times.
Another example of two trees unlikely to stay upright for long.
This is another example of trees whose roots are exposed and the trees likley to end up in the river. More work for the winter period.
The River Endrick was up about four feet at Fintry today so we can expect a few anglers giving the river a go when the riverstarts to clear and fall to a reasonable level.
Loch Lomond is likely to have received another helping of fish so prospects there should be quite reasonable.
A trolling boat rounds the Black Rocks hoping for a salmon.
The bailiffs patrol boat will hopefully be doing the rounds at weekends and during week days as well over this next few weeks so please have your permit to hand.
Monday 12th July: The River Leven barrage gates are all down and the water is obviously at a good height now. The loch level reached 26ft after the weekend rain. We have been told by the water board they will bring the gates back up at the 25ft 8 inches mark which is exactly what we all wanted to hear ie they are sticking to the agreement with riparian owners/LLAIA and keeping them lowered until then.
Over this last three years the water board has kept their promise so it is hoped they will continue to do so.
There are now just one tree in the river at Drumtian the others were taken out today!
Wee Geordies two sea liced grilse July 2010 Loch Lomond.
Saturday 10th July has seen a good start with news that wee Geordie Fyfe has had two fresh grilse landed this morning up at the loch at Rowchoish and the other at Pitarmigan Lodge The fish all sea liced were 5lbs and 5.5lbs. Allan Millar had a fish as seen in photo below at pateys stane at the bottom end of the loch and several fish have been lost that Saturday morning. It looks like we have had a good run of fish in the early morning 1am high tide. Bailiffing continues with all night bailiffing and during the day tides protected as well. We will report further on any more fish caught today so keep a look on this report to hear of up to date reports.
On Friday 9th July Allan Dorrian had a grilse it weighed 4.5lbs and a balmaha boat was reported getting a grilse as well. There has been quite a few grilse caught recently which is encouraging as normally the grilse run does not start until about the third week in July and begins in earnest once August arrives.
Alan Millar with his second fish this season July 2010.
There’s a man looking rather contented having worked hard to get his second fish this season. A lot smaller than the 25lbs cracker he caught in the spring but I bet he is just as pleased with this nice fish as well.
There’s a keen young man proudly displaying the fish dad and him caught.
Alun Pryce also landed a 10lbs salmon on the loch on Staurday making it four off the loch that day.
Iain Morrison with a nice grilse of 5.5lbs River Leven 2010.
We should also mention our long awaited comprehensive report on stocking is now on the SIWG web report. It lets everyone know just how much effort the LLAIA is making to sustain and hopefully improve the salmon and sea trout stocks throughout the loch lomond system.
We will always miss fish that have been caught so an ocasional recap on fish that have been missed is always useful. Mark lees had two fish at 8lb or 9lbs and 13lbs on the loch recently. Scott Pryce one at 7lbs. Stuart McNee had a salmon of 10.5lbs.
The River Leven is starting to produce fish with Iain Morrison catching a nice fresh grilse at 5.5lbs and several small sea trout which were returned. Another grilse was caught mid week, weight not known. Today Saturday 10th July Peter Currie on a day permit landed a nice fish of 12lbs from the River Leven on a rappalla. Another fish was caught on the fly by an angler called Robin though the bailiffs can’t recall his second name and a grilse was rumoured to be caught as well. Hopefully by the end of the day we will hear about more fish taken on the River Leven as well as the loch. So far we have had four fish from the loch today and three from the river leven. It is good to hear that at least some of the fish running through the leven are being caught. Those that have been showing and there have been several doing so down the Renton area have been difficult to catch. Some anglers forget the whole country has experienced a very dry season so far and in some river systems there are few if any fish even entering the rivers. At stated before the river leven provides the opportunity to connect with one of the fish that have entered the river and headed straight for the loch, but only if the fish stops briefly for a wee rest!
There are three trees in the River Endrick stretch at Drumtian. Hopefully weather permitting we will have the trees removed in the next few days.
On Sunday 11th July the River Endrick was well up as the photo shows and chocolate brown. The loch has risen significantly in this last few days so prospects are improving.
Trolling can be full of excitement and its great to be out on the loch.
LOCH LOMOND: Mid week has once again produced fish, At the earlier part of the week Craig John out from Balloch landed a nice fresh fish of 13lbs whilst trolling up the tap end. Duncan Ferguson played a fish for several minutes and had it almost in the boat before it departed, he reckoned the fish was about 10-12lbs. Duncan decided to give the same area another go and away went the poker this time but he only managed to get one of the other rods reeled in and the fish was off. These fish were all up the tap end.
James Kinnair had two cracking sea trout/trout at 5lbs and a whopper at 10lbs, he also reports a lost fish on the Rappalla and reckoned it was a salmon.
It is always nice to hear about our members catching fish but sometimes it is even better if they are new members. John Bell has joined the LLAIA this year and is moored up at Ardlui. He went out on Thursday and returned with an 11lbs salmon. Good going one might say, given the fact that few places in the country are producing fish with the weather the way it is. Anyway John armed with confidence decided to go out again today and I hear he has landed another salmon of 7lbs.
New member John Bell with a salmon caught up at Ardlui. July 2010
As we reported earlier, fish are still trickling into the loch so sport is there to be had for those that fancy a try. The fish are not wasting much time before heading up the loch. A sail from Balloch or Balmaha right up to Ardlui and back can be a very long day, but the scenery alone is well worth the effort never mind a decent chance of connecting with a fish!
Luss can be a handy port for a trip up the tap end of Lomond
River Leven: All salmon anglers who fish the rivers are having a difficult time the River Leven anglers at least have fish going through the river and therefore in theory at least have a better chance than those rivers that few fish enter until the water levels are suitable. The afternoon high tide and on into the evening should provide a decent chance of hooking a salmon on the river today. The Saturday early morning tide not long after dawn could also provide an opportunity. The whole country needs rain and plenty of it, but at least on the Loch Lomond system you have the Big Loch to keep anglers happy.
Bailiffs continue to keep a close eye on the three key areas namely the Clyde Estuary, The River Leven and Loch Lomond itself. Most anglers will see the regular bailiffs going about their work but there are other baillifs who are also active but remain unseen in the areas they are watching.
A trawler was seen with his net out well up the Clyde Estuary towards the tall ship area. The time and date along with the boat number was passed on to the appropriate person to deal with the matter. Not all boats seen trawling are doing so illegally. Many years ago we observed a blue trawling boat called the Endrick 2 seen trawling regularly in the bowling area, it turned out to be a research vessal.
Any decent minded angler when they see a boat netting or one very high up the estuary trawling do report the sighting and they invariably give the colour and size of the boat whilst others also give the day and time when the sighting took place, ocassionally we even get the boat number. It all helps to combat poaching which is all to the good.
The best of the fishing is still to come so it is certainly not too late to join the association and take advantage of the fishings on offer. There are four full months of fishing left to go before the season ends, plenty of time to enjoy your sport. The tributaries tend to fish best in September and October but if spates arrive in Late July or anytime in August there are fresh fish to be caught.
The beauty of Loch Lomond after a scorching summers day.
With another sprinkling of fish heading into Loch Lomond at the weekend the prospects for Saturday sport looked pretty good. Unfortunately the wind was non existant for most of the day and by the time the wind finally arrived in the evening most anglers had headed home!
Despite the poor weather conditions there was two confirmed salmon caught. Alun Pryce had one at about 8lbs and another Boat was seen landing a salmon which was then displayed to the passing boat, it looked about 9lbs. We did not hear of any other fish caught that day.
Prospects for the rest of the week will depend on the weather with a brisk breeze today holding out some hope despite the blue scorching sunny conditions. The weather is supposed to change by Wednesday/Thursday with good cloud cover, so there is sport to be had if one is prepared to get out and give it a try.
It is well known that the grilse will still enter the River Leven and head into the loch, low water or not so sport on Loch Lomond is available when just about everywhere else is virtually at a standstill when we get a prolonged drought.
The Big Loch: Well worth fishing despite the heatwave and drought.
River Leven: Fishing any salmon river when there has been a long period without rain can be soul destroying particularly if you have been trying for weeks on end. On the River Leven it can also be frustrating when you hear of fish being caught on the loch when you havent seen a single fish despite regular outings to the river. There are some whispers of the odd fish being caught on the river but we have no confirmation of catches. There are one or two anglers getting success with the sea trout at night but they are keeping quiet! Most of the anglers are finding the sea trout fishing difficult. It is not helped by the fact that sea trout stocks though holding up better than many west coast rivers, their numbers are well down on what would have been available some years ago. With the emphasis now on trying to sustain and improve fish stocks the LLAIA are looking at specific projects that they would like to see carried out that would improve the sea trout numbers. We will be producing our SIWG smolt review soon, so all anglers will see we are not prepared to sit back and watch seals, merganzers and so forth eating up our stocks without trying to do something to offset the increasing negatives affecting salmon and sea trout stocks these days.
As we move into July the Water Board Barrage Gates become operational at the lower level of 25ft 8 inches rather than the statutary 26ft ft. Unfortunately with water levels already significantly below this level it will make no difference to the water levels on the River Leven. If we do get some much needed heavy rain at least the gates will be lowered earlier than usual, provided the water board honour the verbal agreement they have with the bankside owners around the loch and the LLAIA.
On Wednesday morning there was a good run of fish entered the River Leven, it was the best run we have seen for several weeks and included Grilse summer salmon, some quite large and sea trout.
Despite this there was not much activity to report on the River Leven that Wednesday though on the loch, a Balloch boat had a fish up the top end at the viaduct on the road shore. About 11/12lb.
On Thursday morning there was activity on the loch with one well known angler from Balmaha loosing a grilse and played a good fish for ten minutes before it gained its freedom, the fish never showed throughout the fight! Donald McKeller landed a nice fresh sea liced grilse at 6lbs. Other fish may have been taken but as yet no other reports.
On Thursday evening: There were reports of another two fish caught by a Balloch boat, Eric Donaghey landed fish of 7lbs and a 13lbs salmon and another caught caught by a Balmaha boat. Both fish were caught up the loch.
Jim Raeburn went up for an overnight stay again on the big loch on Tuesday and landed another 3lbs sea trout up the tap end.
The loch is fairly quiet but with the news of the grilse arriving early there might well be a few more boats out this weekend.
We will try and keep you posted on runs entering the river and fish caught etc.
This summer reminds us of the heatwave we experienced way back in 1984! Rivers then had a disaster of a season and anglers decided to go shopping with the wife or take a break from fishing until the rain arrived. Lets hope we get some heavy rain soon and anglers can get back to feeling confident and looking forward to going fishing in more normal weather conditions.
At least there are fish to be caught as there are runs entering the River Leven at specific times and heading on into Loch Lomomd. The runs are not large but given the weather conditions they provide the opportunity for sport.
Jim Raeburn went out for a camping weekend at the tap end of the loch on Friday with fellow angler Gerd Elsweiler. They netted a nice sea trout of 3lbs whilst up the loch which was returned. This was the second sea trout they had caught in the same area recently. That evening they decided to go back down to Rowchoish when the inside rod screamed and after a good fight a bar of silver with sea lice was landed weighing 9lbs.
Jim Raeburn with his 9lbs salmon fresh with sea lice: Caught up the tap end of Loch Lomond 18th June 2010.
Jim was mighty pleased that his new boat has now been officially christened. Well done. They headed back down on the Saturday, they did not see many boats out!
The bailiffing continues with checks on the loch at night and the river leven and Clyde Estuary. We are being effective at deterring poachers but that does not stop the poachers moving towards areas we have no jurisdiction over. Currently the Chinese are active netting over on the Southern side of The Clyde Estuary at Langbank etc. Hopefully those with interests on the River Clyde, Carts and Gryfe who claim they have umpteen Crown Bailiffs etc etc will perhaps deal with the problems experienced on that side of the Estuary.
It is always easier to take the easy option when rivers are low and presume that when the fish are in the Clyde Estuary they are not also YOUR problem. Sadly when fish are held up out in the Estuary they require protection and such protection costs money, decent minded anglers understand this and are willing to pay that bit more to ensure that fish destined for their waters are given reasonable protection.
Hopefully we will have some better news for anglers by the end of the week.
Despite the low waters some anglers continue to give the River Leven a try as fish will enter the river and provide the opportunity of sport for those who want a challange. There are fish now starting to show in various parts of the leven which at least proves that not all the fish are running through to the saftey of the loch.
John Brady, called Zoony by all down the river, landed a salmon of 10.5lbs caught in the Renton area mid week (Tuesday) and fish are now starting to show in several parts of the river. We are now trying to book the big cutting machine for July which should have the riverbanks in good order when the grilse arrive. Hopefully we will get a more normal grilse run this year. River Leven anglers have not had it easy with weather/water conditions this year along with just about every other river system. But at least we are trying to ensure that fish are being protected by good bailiffing and hopefully the bank cutting will give some added pleasure to leven anglers further fishing visits.
Big Zoony: River Leven 10.5lbs June 2010.
We hear Zoony is trying for another fish showing in the same area, the fish was taken on the flying C.
Loch Lomond: On the Big Loch it was Donald Brown with another salmon caught at the same area as the last fish. It too weighed 10.5lbs.
Donal Brown with his second fish this season 10.5lbs
Donald had went out for a few hours on Wednesday evening and returned with this nice fish. There are rumours of other fish caught on the loch but to date we have no confirmation.
As we approach the weekend we will get the usual extra compensation water on Friday morning. Possibly the likely time to fish would be at the next high tide after the Barrage Gates are opened for the weekend compensation. That would be around 5pm, so fishing from about 4pm onwards should place River Leven anglers with a good chance of sport. Obviously the saturday early morning stint could provide good sport for those out on the Saturday and again later in the evening period.
The prospects for the loch is very good indeed and we expect to see a few fresh salmon landed on the Saturday and or the Monday.
Well we did indeed get a run of salmon into the River Leven on the Friday lunchtime tide. Two nice fish were showing at the Stockie Bridge stretch and some nice sea trout were showing just on the tide but had disappeared once the tide had turned.
The river could have been busier but then results have not exactly encouraged anglers to re-visit the river anytime soon. The evening tide into the dark hours saw another two fish head and tail at the golf course but we were unable to see how big the run was? At least it was encouraging for the Saturday. We did not hear of any fish caught on the River which was really surprising given that fish had come up on both tides. A salmon was landed on the Friday by an angler fishing the Bonhill Bridge pool.
It was left once again to the big loch to produce the goods and it looked like it was going to be a good day as one boat from Balloch lost a nice fish on the way up from the mouth of the river. Peter Lyons lost a salmon and Russell Boyd reported another angler also lost one as well. But one wee chap did manage to land a 14lbs salmon.
Wee Geordie netted a 14lbs salmon Saturday 12th June 2010.
Geordie Fyfe with his 14lbs fish landed on Saturday 12th June 2010.
There were reports of sea trout caught around the 3lbs mark. Duncan Ferguson had one at 3lbs which was returned. Most anglers return the sea trout these days as stocks are low and sea trout tend to spawn annually so it could make a difference if we returned fish we do not require.
We will keep yopu posted on any further developments.
The recent rainfall has not had any real positive effect on fish caught as far as we know but the freshet due tommorrow morning should see a run of fish enter the River Leven and into Loch Lomond. Depending on the weather there may be a better run entering on the night tides. Water bailiffs will be active on both periods. In general though the extreme low waters appear to be having a devastating impact on rivers throughout the whole country. One could be forgiven for thinking that salmon fishing is a dying art this year. Despite the very poor angling conditions salmon and sea trout are still entering the River Leven, ocassionally hanging about the lower tidal areas at Dumbarton before heading up the river and into the relative safety of Loch Lomond. Some of the fish are really large which suggests the large fish encountered during the spring salmon season is continuing with the summer salmon fishing.
Bailiffing remains fairly active as tactics are altered to take account of the low water and its effect on fish movements etc. All such operation cost money and it is noticeable that other organisations that have rivers flowing into the Clyde Estuary are rarely seen out on the Clyde Estuary, save for their annual PR stint held once each year!
Seals remain a major threat to our salmon and sea trout stocks both in the Clyde Estuary particularly in the River Leven’s tidal reaches at Dumbarton. On Tuesday our water bailiffs watched in horror as a seal flipped a salmon of at least 20lbs+ up in the air four or five times before finally eating the fish. One would have thought that a large salmon could outswim the seal but whatever the seal does in its first encounter when it grabs the fish, it seems capable thereafter of playing with the fish (which often appears alive at that time) until it decides to eat it or as happens frequently the seal just leaves the fish lying there and goes hunting for another. It is a ridiculous situation and it now happens throughout the year. The situation has deteriorated even more so as there are now three seals all swimming about in the Dumbarton area when the tide is up. It can be soul destroying to watch our adult fish returning only to be attacked and killed by seals and prescious little we can do. Other river system have a similar problem and one wonders when we will finally wake up and tackle the issue head on. There has been a programme of research in trying to establish IF seals are eating salmon amongst other data gathering etc. The person conducting the research was invited to come down to the River Leven and witness seals attacking and eating our fish stocks but she declined!
If any of us were starving would we not go foraging for food wherever we could find it. Seals are no different and if food is scarce due to the effects of overfishing then surely it seems logical they follow the salmon and sea trout shoals into our rivers and have some lunch. We no longer have to watch for fish leaping or other tell tale signs that fish are entering the River mouth, we simply watch the seals following the fish. Perhaps it would have beem more sensible to pay the commercial interests a fee not to fish and see the effect after several years of no commercial netting on the Clyde Estuary than shell out large sums of money for what seems up till now a complete waste of resources. We are told that there are other problems causing the lack of white fish in our estuaries but until we remove the most likely major problem (commercial netting) how will we ever find out. It seems ludicrious to spend large sums of money so far on research to report that seals are eating our salmon when we have already told them they are!
We wonder at times when we will see some relief for our salmon and sea trout stocks. They are got at by avian predation when at the juvenile stage then suffer the problems in the marine environment only to be eaten by seals when they return to their river of origin. Then we are advised to operate catch & release and not to stock and let nature take its course! Right now nature is not been allowed to take its course in the high seas, in our estuaries or even in our freshwater environment.
Whether we like it or not fish and fish related items are right near the bottom of the pile when it comes to dealing with problems at Government levels.
Back to reality on the Loch Lomond system which still manages to give some anglers a pleasant surprise. Jim McGurk and Willie Brand went out from Balmaha and decided to go for a sail up the loch. A quick assessment concluded by the look of the bright sunny weather, prospects for a tan seemed pretty good.
They did not get very far when at the Mance Bay one of the trolls had a fairly good rattle. Further into the bay and away screamed one of the rods. After a nice spirited fight full of disbelief and excitement rolled into one, a fresh spanking bar of silver of 11lbs was landed.
Willie Brand: Loch Lomond with a fresh 11lbs summer salmon June 2010.
We are sure a few more fish have been landed over this past week or so despite the weather.
As mentioned on Monday 7th June, rain finally arrived and there was a slight rise on the River Leven. The rain had been quite heavy at times and more prolonged, which might have added significantly to the height of the loch and produced more water going down the river leven had it not been so dry for so long. The Haldane burn gave us its usual chocolate brown coloured water as it rose with the rain but sadly there were no fish reported caught that day.We had more rain on theTuesday so every little bit helps. The loch is now higher than it was and that can only be good news.
It is always usefull to take account of the River Clyde in case it runs at full spate and we suffer with water held back by Scottish Water until the loch reaches its 26ft level. However the River Clyde at Blantyre Weir was still very low on the Monday but managed another few inches higher at the Blantyre Weir on the Tuesday. Needless to say the river was deserted of anglers. The water at the weir seemed to have some height to mount before it would be overlapping the weir. The River Kelvin had not risen much either.
Bankside Clearance: With the low water any debris from such bankside clearance could have a lasting effect on the river until we get a decent flow to flush out any work done. The council have been involved in attempting to clear the river from invasive knotweed we wish them every success. It is noted that brickwork along the rivers edge is now been looked at by the council and work has began in restoring and securing brickwork along the riverbanks. There is also work being done at the Renton Boathouse area. We are looking at this work to ensure that proper permissions have been granted etc as trees have been removed from the rivers edge.
We will be looking at the banks at the end of this week and determine if we require the big cutter at all parts or just selected areas. The area below McKinnons certainly needs to be cleared and this will be given priority for this year in any case.
On Friday 28th May Charlie Anderson landed a nice springer of 10lbs. He caught the fish at Inch Murrin. Charlie is one of Lomond’s Faithfull and is well known throughout the loch. Well done to Charlie he deserves this success.
Another chap who is becoming a regular to Lomond is Donald Brown. He too landed a cracking fish of 13lbs on the same Friday. Donald fishes out from Balloch and was coming home from a night’s camping when he hooked the fish at Duck Bay.
Donald Brown with his 13lbs springer: Friday 28th May 2010.
We do not know if there have been further springers caught over the holiday weekend or on the Monday?
So the spring salmon season has come and gone and we can reflect how it went and perhaps compare with the previous two years which were record years for catches of springers and possibly summer salmon as well. Overall though and considering the severe problems in the marine environment that are obviously affecting salmon stocks and spring salmon stocks in particular nationally, we did not do too badly all things considered. The loch did quite reasonable and we suspect that the large springers caught were probably all at least three sea winter stock. The worry is the lack of our traditional two sea winter stock, but that is also the main concern on most other rivers in Scotland that have a spring run.
Most other nearby rivers had seen any opportunity of sport evaporate with the low summer water levels and the Lomond system because of its structure is always able to provide some sport under these poor conditions through Loch Lomond. The River Leven suffered with the low flows as to be expected and even if the runs had been heavier it is likely the loch would have benefitted to an even greater extent than any appreciable performance boost on the leven if water levels stayed very low. There were periods in April when sport ought to have been better on the River Leven but without a decent run of two sea winter stock in most rivers it was never going to happen. We also experienced harsh cold wintry weather during the early periods but lets face it, spring fish can be caught in those conditions if they are there and remain in the river.
There is much to be pleased about despite all the doom and gloom. We had three springers caught in March. We could well have had more fish caught in the early period had more boats been out on the loch or perhaps more rods fishing the leven during the weekdays. We had a good show of large springers and the condition factor of our springers was generally good. So on balance given the state of play on most Scottish rivers and given the fact that our system does not have a large amount of spawning habitat we didn’t fair too badly under the circumstances.
THE SPRING SALMON SITUATION COUNTRYWIDE.
This overview may be rather early to report as there will be some delay before we find out about other parts of the country. However it is becoming clear that spring salmon stocks are in trouble throughout the country. Some fisheries banned the killing of all spring salmon until 1st June and others banned the killing of all fish until 1st July. Other fisheries imposed restrictions such as taking each alternative fish.
Catch & Release is all to the fore in most fisheries throughout Scotland. The enforcement and effectiveness of such restrictions will vary greatly throughout the country but in some fisheries that have large associations and angling clubs close to highly populated areas its effectiveness through the difficulty of enforcement is minimal. Whether C&R in itself is effective as a conservation tool is still questioned by many?
Here are some topical pointers to think about:
It is often said that catch & release is vital and that we have no choice but to take the precautionary stance? It is generally agreed by the vast majority of fisheries and experts that while we continue to experience major problems in the marine environment we must take all necessary precautions within our own fisheries to protect fish stocks? It is generally hoped that the SALSEA project should answer many of the questions we ask regarding the problems at sea?
One’s views of fisheries and fisheries management might well depend on how many years experience you have on the subject and how involved you have been on fisheries management on a national scale and local scale. Our Chairman has been involved in fisheries management for more than 25 years and has seen it all. He has his own personal views on fisheries management and the politics involved in fisheries matters.
Here then are his views of the current situation regarding spring salmon stocks!
Chairmans views: Politics rules and basic common sense is all too often put to one side on most issues. Anglers are being made the scapegoats with catch and release and told if you kill the fish YOU could be destroying your own fish stocks! We are told as anglers to take the precautionary stance which seems a reasonable viewpoint until you realise that no such stance is being taken or even advised within certain and specific proven known problems in the marine environment that we already know is affecting our migratory fish stocks!
It is a fact that despite all the latest legislative powers and changes to how the Aquaculture industry is supposed to operate, we are now in a worse position than when we first started to tackle the fish farming industry many years ago. This is an industry that is still largely self regulating, if you compared its effect on migratory fish stocks to the world global meltdown of the financial fiasco recently experienced you mind well find an amazing amount of similarities! Taking risks with other peoples livelihood without having to pay the consequences for one!
Ironically we had an opportunity to deal with the situations in the courts by the actions of The Sea Trout Group. Sadly they were persuaded to drop their case and since then we have witnessed huge numbers of farmed salmon enter a whole variety of rivers throughout the country.
I am not one for knocking businesses or an industry just to protect my own self interest and that of fellow anglers. I am only too willing to work with any industry and agree a way forward for the future BUT when an industry cannot even contain the product (farmed fish) that if allowed to escape could potentially wipe out our wild salmon and sea trout stocks, working together and co-existing cannot even begin until the issue of containment is satisfactory. It is an absolute disgrace that despite all the talk one hears of AMA (area management agreements) between fishery trusts/boards and fish farms we still have not resolved this one very important and crucial situation re containment.
Last year 2009 was one of the worst years on record for escapes of farmed salmon. In all those years the fish farming industry has continued to largely do what it likes so long as its fish do not poison the consumer.
There are a whole variety of factors having an impact on our migratory fish stocks. I just wish we would deal with the known issues FIRST and then advise, enforce and research to find out the other possible causes.
Fish Farms: It is well known they are responsible for the potential they have of destroying our wild salmon and sea trout stocks by farm fish escapes. Sea Lice problems derived from the operations of Fish farms can be dealt with. It is well known all Fish Farms pollute the areas they operate from. Eliminating the escapes would have protected our wild fish from dilution of our stock regarding genetics and DNA. If we don’t tackle the fish farms what is the point of adopting good fishery management practices with careful thought to genetics and possible DNA if farmed stock are going to be entering your river system at any time.
One of my annoyances is people who complain but do little themselves. I have been at the forefront of trying to get changes over a decade ago! In 1997 I wrote to the Scottish Office pleading with them to enforce double net enclosures on all salmon farms or we would be in trouble in future years. I was told by letter, there are now few escapees and others in the political research field told me to mind my own business as it did not concern me. One year later (1998) we had over 500 of the escaped farm fish that supposedly did not concern me!
I wrote in trout and salmon of a further escape of farmed fish from a particular fish farm site that had an escape, only to be called a liar by the fish farm official followed by an admission that they did in fact have a further escape! I never did get an apology. In short when you run an industry that is shielded to a massive extent by intervention to protect their interests without fear of prosecution you can largely do what you want until someone prosecutes. I have long believed that prosecution was the way forward and an aggressive stance towards the fish farming industry regarding escapes was the only way we could protect our fish stocks. I still believe it is the way forward even though it is probably too late for many West Coast rivers.
One thing I am certain of is that diplomacy along with a sound knowledge of the subject matter on hand has not worked. We had through Andrew Wallace Managing Director of the association of salmon fishery boards a man with all the skills required above and yet despite all his efforts and that of others in the fisheries world we are moving backwards rather than forwards when it comes to tackling the fish farming industry.
Catch & Release:
To date no one knows for absolute certain how many fish are required to produce an optimum number of smolts going to sea. There was some limited research done on the Tweed recently where they looked at one section of a river and found that of all the pairs of fish spawning in that section only two pair’s offspring survived and dominated that stretch. In the words of a well known biologist, all the other pairs need not have bothered turning up!
Until we know for certain what the complex make up of streams with salmon populations is all about we are mainly guessing. If such results were common throughout fisheries then what success would catch and release have on spawning fish? Would we not be better off looking to see if there is a recognised DNA marker or strain of fish and then through capture, checking DNA and genetics breeding from such fish to enhance our fish stocks, we could improve matters?. I don’t see one single biologist or scientist with that type of thinking, instead I see people involved in the science make their own interpretation of whatever results come out. This attitude may or may not suit some fisheries but it is the way things are currently moving even though we still know so little through DNA and genetics.
We have known for a number of years items that ARE causing damage to wild fish stocks out in the marine environment BUT because of politics they are not being addressed despite solid scientific evidence to prove they are having a damaging affect on migratory fish stocks.
It is scandalous for government bodies to advise the angling fraternity to adopt certain practices such as C&R in the interest of taking a precautionary stance whilst known issues in the marine environment are being allowed to continue with minimal or no interference or intervention, despite the glaring fact that these are the real issues that could matter!
This year we are told that the Scottish fish farming industry plans to increase production by around 60,000 tons. Yet we are also told there has been more escapees than ever before in 2009. We still don’t have double net enclosures that would offer some security to fish farm escapes. But then that would involve extra cost and reduced numbers of fish in each cage (less profit) and that say the fish farming industry would cause us problems.
We still have pollution by these fish farms and sea lice numbers coming from fish farms that are causing problems for sea trout stocks. The fish farming industry actually blamed the Crown Estate for not allowing them to move sites more often. It never occurred to them that what they were saying was, we want to re-locate once we messed up one area with gross pollution to another so we can mess that up too.
All of this is hugely convenient in ensuring the fish farming industry is allowed to get away with doing whatever they like. We still take millions of tons of sand eels and small fish from the marine environment even though we know it is part of the complex food chain. We still feed the fish farms with this vital food chain without studying or carrying out proper research to find out what effect the taking of such fish has in the marine environment. It takes many tons of these small fish to make up just ONE TON of fish meal for the fish farming industry. We still allow commercial netting for salmon despite the economic benefits of angling compared to commercial interests.
It is not just the fish farming industry, we still allow our important Estuaries and Sea Lochs to be exploited by commercial netting for fish of all kinds, shrimps and prawns etc ignoring the fact that economically it would make sense to ban all commercial activities and develop the areas for improvement of fish stocks and huge sporting economic benefits through angling of all kinds including sea angling. We have a fisheries policy that sees valuable and often immature fish stocks not allowed to be kept (regulations etc) so instead we return them to the sea dead…..dumped for want of a better word.
Of all the Atlantic salmon in the wild we also now have a huge number of farmed fish of the worst genetic DNA that you could possibly imagine (some put the total figure against wild fish at 40%) which have escaped and will have damaged the existing wild salmon populations, yet where are the prosecutions? What are all the bodies designed to safeguard our heritage and national interests doing about this? Despite all the noise generated through various bodies regarding the regulation of fish farms the facts remain. SNH has no remit to investigate or control the fish farming industry. SEPA have no remit for wild fish impacts and scientists through Marine Scotland appears unable to raise concerns unless the code of conduct is broken. It might not surprise you to learn that the code of conduct to regulate practices is administered by none other than the fish farming industry itself.
I could go on and on about marine issues that are not being addressed that could be causing problems for fish stocks and that we should at the very least be adopting a precautionary stance. Instead I will leave it at that and just say that at least this committee and I have been active and have on numerous occasions tried our best to get change or bring about improved operations regarding a multitude of issues of national and local importance.
We (the LLAIA Committee) will do what we can to sustain our fish stocks in the best possible manner and at the same time carry out planned habitat improvements where appropriate and where timely. But when you have to go through a variety of meetings with various organisations to get approval for taking about a dozen adult salmon from a river to run a well thought out stocking project, even though you are carful and thoughtful in taking into account genetics and DNA etc and are then told (wrongly) we could be having a negative impact on genetic integrity and natural selection you cannot help but feel hypocrisy is a forgotten word.
When all this is going on and ever increasing red tape is now being thrust upon you at every level whether justified or not, you know you are dealing with politics rather than common sense.
We have seen over this past number of years a general improvement to the way salmon fisheries are now managed within their freshwater environment and this can only be good for us all. Gravel abstraction guidelines. River works and habitat work, sensible stocking as but one tool and others highlighted, in short a whole list of sensible practices to be adopted by management in their own rivers. The big danger with all this momentum lies in going too far too fast without having the facts to back up any particular strategy. One example could be in seeing new management techniques that are being adopted purely on the grounds of one’s interpretation of results with regard genetics and DNA work, rather than what in fact the results are actually telling us, which up until now is not very much! Mistakes have been made in the past with assumptions being subsequently proved way off the mark. Hopefully some measure of common sense will prevail and we will continue with steady sound improvements to fishery management taking into account one’s own individual fisheries needs.
In conclusion: I do feel that over the years we have allowed others to dictate to us what we should be doing to conserve fish stocks instead of us acting as one united body of anglers taking action to ensure our interests are being protected and other industries are prevented from destroying other industries like our wild fish industry.
Perhaps had we (as I had suggested many years ago) concentrated on the problems in the marine environment first before concentrating largely on the freshwater side of things we might well be in a better position than we are in right now nationally with regards salmon and sea trout stocks.
In one of our recent AGM reports sent out to our members we highlighted a number of items that we regarded as negative within the freshwater side of things. Some we can tackle others may be left as they are such is the political world we live in. But so long as we still have reasonable numbers of fish we can still prosper in the years ahead.
We have witnessed great progress within the RSPCB (for example) with regards protection of a variety of bird species some of which do impact on our wild fish stocks. A group that has successfully managed to punch well above their weight when it comes to political clout!
So with all those problems facing us one would think that all anglers would be united and display some measure of support for those in the front line so to speak. Having people in your own organisation that does as much as humanly possible with passion, to always fight hard and care about your particular system, in my case the Lomond system is always important. When individuals rubbish others without thought or knowledge and I mean this not just from our own system’s recent problems in the past but today in the more general sense nationally you appreciate why anglers punch well below their political weight.
We will be producing a web report concerning our stocking of fingerlings and smolts and our more immediate plans to try and sustain our fish stocks or improve them. It is a common sense approach based on this Committee knowledge of fishery matters and hopefully will try to mitigate and improve on some of the negative factors facing salmon and sea trout in today’s political world.
