Association of
Salmon Fishery Boards

The Deveron, Bogie and Isla Rivers Charitable Trust will be holding the second Deveron Fishing Festival in April/May with anglers invited to visit and fish on Deveronside, along side some of their favourite trade manufacturers, who will be hosting a selection of the festival beats. Central to the festival is the generous donation of the district’s famous beats and a new trade fair, hosted by Turriff Tackle and Trophies & Turriff AA.  The trade fair will be held on Sunday 29^th at Turriff Angling Association,Turriff. Free festival fishing on donated beats will commence at 0900 on Monday 30^th April 2012 and cease on 2^nd May 2012, with the opportunity to fish for the entire week extended to successfully balloted anglers at competative rates (please tick the required box on application).

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Hatchery raised salmon are overwhelming populations of wild-raised Salmon in some of California’s rivers, masking the fact that too few wild fish are returning to sustain a natural population in the river.

“We expected to find hatchery fish, but the sheer number of hatchery fish returning to spawn in the wild is surprising,” said Rachel Johnson, a fishery biologist affiliated with the Institute and Marine Sciences at UC Santa Cruzand with the Bay-Delta Office of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. “It looked like a healthy population of fish returning to spawn, but the reality is that without the hatchery fish the wild stocks are not sustaining themselves.”

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The River Cree District Salmon Fishery Board has issued a new Conservation Code in the interests of conserving salmon and sea trout stocks in Galloway’s most prolific river. Jamie Hyslop, Chairman of the Board, explained: “Many of the Cree’s beats already operate their own conservation codes. The Board’s new Code is designed to underwrite these codes and provide a cohesive minimum benchmark for all beats throughout the catchment to adhere to. In particular the code aims to protect the vulnerable stocks of early-running spring salmon, the sea trout stocks which have collapsed in recent years, and salmon near to spawning at the end of the fishing season. We cannot afford to allow the actions of a minority to undermine our determination to protect and conserve migratory fish stocks”.

River Cree Conservation Code

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Fishing on the River Moriston got off to a cold start on the 16th January with freezing temperatures making the hearty lunch provided by Annie Girvan and her team more than welcome for the brave party of enthusiast who turned out to get the season underway. Spirits were high however, as last year turned out to be one of the best with over 100 spring fish landed (and all released) on the Glenmoriston Estates lovely estuary beat.

Well known local ghillie, piper and world record spey casting champion, Gordon Armstrong, took a trip up from his Ness Castle beat on the River Ness (which does not open until the 1 February) to “pipe in” the new season – and things got underway with Annie toasting the river with good helping of malt. Continue reading →

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A blueprint to streamline the scoping, planning and consenting of offshore renewables developments was published today.

The report, prepared by a task force comprising Marine Scotland, environmental regulators, renewable developers and The Crown Estate, was welcomed by Alex Salmond as he co-chaired the first 2012 meeting of the Scottish Energy Advisory Board (SEAB).

The task force recommendations will now be taken forward by Marine Scotland, SNH and other regulatory/advisory bodies.  They build on MS’s existing work, including the creation of a ‘one-stop-shop’ to reduce the number of statutory/advisory bodies to be contacted during licensing, and the publication of a marine renewables licensing manual, currently undergoing review and to be expanded to include offshore wind energy development.

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Scottish Government News Release

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A consultation on a Hydro Nation Strategy and a Water Resources Bill has been launched aimed at cementing Scotland’s global reputation as a country with a dynamic, world class, water industry.

The proposed Bill places a duty on Ministers to develop the value of our water resources.

It will build on Scottish Water’s success as a public sector organisation ensuring it makes best use of its assets for commercial purposes and accelerates energy development.

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Scottish Government News Release

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With the salmon fishing season about to commence on all of Grampian’s rivers over the next few weeks, a new initiative has been launched to raise awareness of the potential impact of wildlife crime on the region’s waterways.

The initiative will see river crime warning and information boards that have been developed by Grampian Police Wildlife Crime Unit, distributed to nine of the regions major salmon fishing rivers by water bailiffs. Continue reading →

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The start of the 2012 salmon fishing season on the River Dee will be celebrated on Wednesday February 1^st with an official opening ceremony on the riverbank by Potarch Bridge. Actor, writer, comedian and regular Dee fisher Paul Whitehouse will be the guest of honour and will formally open the river.

Mark Bilsby, River Director of the Dee District Salmon Fishery Board and River Dee Trust, said: “As the new season gets underway, we are very pleased to announce that Scottish Government has indicated approval, in principle, for our application to make the two week extension to the salmon angling season permanent. We expect the legislation to be laid before the Scottish Parliament in the near future.  The impact of changes in the ocean, leading to later salmon runs, has prompted us to forge ahead with this adjustment to the season. We are confident that having first checked that there would be no damage to salmon populations and with our tried and tested conservation policy the extension is appropriate for the river during these difficult economic times”. Continue reading →

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Netting for salmon around the coast of Northern Ireland could be having a potentially serious effect on the breeding population.

Describing the continued exploitation of salmon as “untenable”, Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Caral Ni Chuilin, has already asked for a voluntary ban on all netting and is asking anglers not to kill any salmon they catch but to throw them back.

In a written statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly she went further, pointing the finger at drift and bag netting near key salmon rivers.

The statement said that if the department did not ask for the voluntary action it would be in breach of the EC Habitats Directive and NASCO guidelines.

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BBC Website (17 Jan 2012)

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Steve Lomas, Manager of St Johnstone FC and former Manchester City, West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers and Northern Ireland midfielder, opened the salmon fishing season on the Tay at Dunkeld House today. A ceremony, organised by the Dunkeld and Birnam Tourist and Angling Associations supported by the Tay District Salmon Fisheries Board (TDSFB), marked the start of the 2012 season.

The formal opening of the river, accompanied by music and pipers, took place at 9.30 am by the Hilton Dunkeld House Hotel, with the first cast being taken by Steve Lomas. Continue reading →

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