The Salmon and Trout Association are a group of game anglers influencing national decision makers over the management and protection of salmon, trout and sea trout, the conservation of water and the diverse environments upon which all aquatic life depends. This is their January 2011 newlstter.
Chinese Deal for Scottish Farmed Salmon
The Scottish Government's First Minister, Alex Salmond, recently declared that the Scottish fish farming industry may need to double its production of salmon to satisfy Chinese demand, following the signing of a new trade deal. S&TA believes this could spell further disaster for Scotland's iconic and endangered West Highland wild salmon and sea trout stocks, and it is surely premature and irresponsible of the First Minister to signal such an enormous increase in farmed salmon production before the Scottish Government and fish farming industry have addressed their dire existing problems caused by fish farming.
This statement was particularly alarming in the light of public comments made at the Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland Conference last March by a leading Government scientist, that the industry may well have reached its natural capacity, due mainly to the inability to control sea lice and disease in fish farms.
Guy Linley-Adams, the environmental lawyer leading our Aquaculture Campaign, suggested that, for the First Minister to advocate doubling the industry's output without apparently any prior consideration of his legal obligations towards the conservation of wild fish and the impact on the environment, merely demonstrated a lack of understanding and commitment within the Scottish Government towards protecting these valuable and iconic natural resources.
However, there was support for our stance from UK Fisheries Minister, Richard Benyon, who was quoted as agreeing that fish farming had adversely impacted wild fish stocks. We can only hope for a similarly honest approach from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Salmon Producers' Association.
Meanwhile, the campaign continues, and Guy is presently in Norway meeting various high level officials to discuss the difference in approach to fish farming legislation and regulation between Norway and Scotland. While Norway certainly still has a long way to go before it stops the impact its fish farming industry is having on wild fish, Scotland is way behind even them. We will report on Guy's trip in the next E-Newsletter.
Mixed Stock Netting
Meanwhile, we are still awaiting a response from the Scottish Government to the Mixed Stock Fisheries Working Group Report, which was promised as long ago as September. Again, a meeting with colleagues in Scotland over our future policy with this issue is imminent, but suffice to say it falls into the same category as aquaculture - a demonstrable refusal to any political commitment to protect wild salmon and sea trout if that means upsetting anyone in the fish farming or netting industries.
2011 promises to be a lively year over both these vital issues.
Environment Agency boast our rivers have never been cleaner!
In England, the Environment Agency produced a press release over the New Year claiming that out rivers had never been cleaner, citing, amongst other evidence, the salmon and sea trout running back into the Tyne, Thames, Mersey and Trent. What the Agency failed to say was that nearly 75% of rivers failed to reach good ecological status under the criteria set down by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), many of those because of their fish stocks. S&TA was involved in a virulent public riposte to the EA's claims, alongside colleagues from the Blueprint for Water team. We were able to show that, by their own records, several high profile salmon and sea trout rivers were showing declining trends - Hampshire Avon, Wye, Usk, Teifi, Lyn, Coquet etc - and wild brown populations have been severely impacted in many areas by habitat degradation and excessive water abstraction. Our joint statement also suggested that the EA's boast of stocking hundreds of thousands of coarse fish into rivers merely showed the parlous state of wild coarse fish stocks!
A joint press release resulted in a Sunday Times article on Sunday January 16th, in which our Head of Science, Janina Gray, was quoted as the fisheries representative refuting the over-zealous claims about the state of our salmon stocks.
Vice Chair of Wildlife & Countryside Water Group
S&TA is very proud that Janina Gray has been elected Vice Chair of Link's Water Group. Along with the fact that Janina led on two of the recent rewrites of the Blueprint for Water, this shows how far fisheries have come in the last few years, and S&TA particularly since we achieved charitable status. This is an important time for the water environment, with the Government's Environment White Paper coming up for consultation this year, giving fisheries a vital opportunity to influence the major issues influencing our rivers, lakes and their fish stocks. And don't forget that our environmental work is critical for ALL fish species, not just salmon and sea trout. Wild brown trout habitat is under threat in many rivers, and, as discussed below, stillwaters are also impacted by many environmental issues, as, of course, are coarse fish as well.
Stillwater Fly Life and Water Quality
We have already been approached by the anglers on one large English reservoir to help them look into the severe decline over recent years in their fly life. Apparently, even chironomids, the 'buzzers' so favoured by stillwater trout, are suffering. We have also been contacted by a member whose local stillwater has been heavily impacted by excessive nutrient introductions, resulting in heavy algal blooms and a visible drop in water quality. Indeed, many stillwaters experienced poor water and excessive blooms last year.
We would be very interested to hear from other significantly-sized stillwaters with similar problems. One of the least understood issues around the WFD delivery, and water management generally, is that stillwaters are affected every bit as much as rivers by stressors leading to poor water quality, and these need addressing just the same as our flowing waters - especially as stillwaters cannot flush away contaminants as rivers do.
Annual Fund Raising Dinner
A date for your diaries is the Annual Fund Raising Dinner at Fishmongers' Hall on Thursday October 6th. The 2010 dinner was a huge success, raising over £26,000 and giving everyone present a memorable evening. We are taking bookings already for tables and individual tickets for this year's event, so please contact hq@salmon-trout.org to book your seats.
Meanwhile, members were extremely generous with donating auction lots last year. If you have any lots which you feel you might donate towards our work, please contact us - your support will be much appreciated, whether it be fishing, pictures, rare books or, particularly, something that might appeal to the wives/husbands and girlfriends/boyfriends who attend in large numbers and are not necessarily fisherfolk themselves!
Membership
As always, we much appreciate the members who strive to sign up friends who are not already contributing to the Association. It goes without saying that if every member signed up just one new recruit, we would very quickly double in size and influence. Please direct potential new recruits to the web site www.salmon-trout.org and follow the links to our membership pages.
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