Your Board met on 30th September to discuss a huge range of issues facing the river. The passing of Lord Morison was noted with sadness - his keen interest in the river will be sorely missed. Overshadowing our discussions was the disastrous drop in sea trout numbers evident throughout the year. While we are pretty sure we have a good handle on what is happening within our river system, we have very little knowledge of what is going on out at sea. Reports of small, thin grilse only added to our concerns. My reading of the latest FRS Catches data would appear to indicate that we are in a cyclical downturn in sea trout stocks, but that, by and large, the east coast rivers are in good shape. However, their data is a year out of date, and it will be interesting to see if other rivers have suffered the same marked decline as us this year. As a fisheries manager, it is galling to see so much effort being devoted by officialdom to matters such as the Water Framework Directive, dealing as they do with our inland waters, which we already know to be in good shape - a bit more time and money being thrown at the offshore situation, wherein we all know the real problems lie, would be most welcome.

Our Trust goes from strength to strength, and having participated personally in some electro fishing activity on the Allt Deveron as well as the release of fry, I was most impressed with the professionalism of our personnel, as well as the obvious interest in, and enthusiasm for, the vitally important work that they carry out. We are fortunate that we have so many willing hands to help with these tasks, and that can only be good for the health of our river. One of the more frustrating aspects is the knowledge of how much more the Trust could achieve were it to be able to access larger and more regular donations. We will be actively pursuing this and any help or ideas will be gratefully received.

One further item which continues to exercise your Board is the proposal to construct a massive wind farm at Clashindarroch, on the steep slopes dividing the Bogie and Deveron catchments. This is now, quite rightly, the subject of a Public Inquiry and your Board will be diligent in highlighting the immense risks that this proposed development poses for our river system as a whole, particularly in light of the disasters on similar projects such as occurred at Derrybrien in Ireland.

Finally, with a good head of water now flowing through the system, we hope that spawning activity will be strong and that we can continue to increase the numbers of juvenile fish thriving throughout the catchment. This will lead, with the help of our new hatchery, to increasing numbers of fish returning to our river in future years.

Malcolm Hay Chairman of the Board

The board meets at the Castle Hotel in Huntly every three months.

Next triennual meeting: August 2009

Board members

Chairman
Malcolm Hay, Edinglassie, Glass, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, AB54 7YY. Tel: 01466 700274; Fax: 01466 700374 email: malcolm.hay@btinternet.com

Representatives of upper proprietors
Sir Malcolm R Innes of Edingight, James McNeil, Tom Ingleby, Robert Shields

Representatives of lower proprietors
Richard Marsden, George D Manson, Donald Galloway, Gordon Morison

Representatives of anglers
The Right Hon Lord Marnoch QC

Clerk
John Christie

River Bailiff
James Minty