NESS DSFB 2022 SALMON CONSERVATION POLICY
Marine Scotland has undertaken an assessment of the conservation status of salmon in inland waters in Scotland for the 2022 fishing season. Both the Ness and the Moriston SAC have been categorised as ‘Grade 2’, the middle rank out of three possible categories. This means that management action is necessary to reduce exploitation. Catch and release should be promoted strongly in the first instance. The need for mandatory catch and release will be reviewed annually.
The 2022 grade for the Ness and Moriston is a downgrade from 2021 when both were categorised as Grade 1. This reflects variations in the rod catch, with the higher 2015 catch dropping out of the five-year assessment period. Given an overall trend for decreasing catches in the Ness district, the Ness DSFB has agreed that to protect the long-term future of the fishery, we need to maintain, and strengthen, where possible, the conservation policy recommended in previous seasons.
The 2022 Ness Conservation Policy can be downloaded here https://ness.dsfb.org.uk/files/2022/07/Ness-Conservation-Poster-2022.pdf
It is hoped that with the full support of all fisheries and anglers this will further strengthen our ability to protect our salmon populations, without putting any additional pressure on the socio-economics of the fishery.
SEA TROUT
Further to the above, it is clear that our sea trout catches are in continued decline and at extremely low levels. As such, we have produced new ‘Sea Trout Conservation Guidelines’. This aims to raise awareness of key sea trout facts, their legal protection, current status and what anglers can do to help (click on picture to view or download).
