Newsletter 18, WINTER 2009/10

The Deveron Flyer is our newsletter which will promote the Deveron Bogie Isla (DBI) Trust. It is distributed to riparian owners and copies are posted up in the huts along the Deveron. Here we give you a taste of our news.

• Hell in high water...
• Biosecurity and fisheries projecrt
• Upstream clearances
• The weeding goes on...
• Windfarm: friend or foe?

 Download a copy of our latest Newsletter No:18, Winter 2009/10 here.

Recent Legislation

In October 2002, Deputy Environment Minister Allan Wilson introduced measures to help conserve freshwater fish stocks in Scotland. Mr Wilson announced a ban on the sale of salmon and sea trout caught by rod and line. The ban applies across Scotland, irrespective of where the fish have been caught.

Concern has been voiced for a number of years over the practice of some anglers fishing to catch salmon or sea trout to sell, rather than simply fishing for sport.

Many district salmon fishery boards, fishery proprietors and fishery managers are already promoting the adoption of catch and release. There is concern too that some anglers may resort to illegal methods, in attempts to catch as many fish as possible.

The ban will apply only to the sale of rod caught fish. net fishermen, who make their living from selling the fish they catch will not be affected.

MORAY FIRTH SEA TROUT PROJECT

Background, history, justification and reasons for the project

Often seen as the “poor cousin” to salmon fisheries the sea trout are a welcome source of additional fishing and revenue for many rivers draining into the Moray Firth.  For example, the Spey harbours large numbers of sea trout and the catch rates regularly feature as one of the top three in Scotland. At the other extreme is the Beauly Firth which until recently supported a buoyant sea trout fishery that has now largely disappeared due to lack of stocks. Furthermore there has also been a worrying decline in the rod catch of sea trout in other rivers and this in turn has begun to affect the revenue streams into local fishery associations and clubs. The reasons behind this are unclear. However, what is clear is that the sea trout has been neglected in terms of management and the data available to assess the current status of the stocks is limited.

This proposal seeks to address the imbalance in sea trout management within the inner Moray Firth and collate existing information on sea trout stocks and identify where further data is required.

The proposal envisages operating across the inner Moray Firth area and includes currently all the rivers from the Deveron round to the Kyle of Sutherland. However, this area may be expanded. The recent success of the Moray Firth seal management plan (Butler et al 2004) has clearly identified that a co-ordinated approach to management across a range of rivers is beneficial. The current proposal seeks to follow the same principles by developing a management strategy suitable for the Moray Firth area which can be implemented at local level by Fishery Boards & Trusts, Angling Associations and other conservation organisations. To achieve this, the project will liaise closely with local Angling Associations to promote greater understanding of the ecology of the sea trout, encourage the sustainable use of the resource, and enhance the economic benefits of the fishery to local stakeholder groups.

Sea trout within the river can be affected by farming, forestry, road building and drainage practices leading to access problems and habitat loss. Supplementary stocking has been carried out in some areas to ameliorate some of these effects. However, there is no direct evidence that that this has been beneficial or perhaps even detrimental. Recent advances in genetics indicate that fish populations can be highly structured even at local level. A key component of this study will be how to identify the range of trout sub populations that are present within the area.

The river stage of the sea trout lifecycle is the easier area to study and develop a management strategy. However, an additional key area of study in this project will be the marine phase. Little is known about the marine distribution and feeding habits of sea trout. Similarly the effects of marine predation remain unclear.

The current proposal seeks to review any historical data available and identify areas where further work is essential. This is timely since additional pressures on the Moray Firth are likely in the near future. Offshore wind farm proposals are well developed, there are suggestions to re-open the herring fishery along with changes in offshore sewage discharges and all could affect sea trout survival.

Objectives

• Collate existing and historical data on sea trout on the Inner Moray Firth Coast

• Identify the extent of freshwater habitat, spawning and juvenile distribution
• Identify areas of degraded habitat and through fishery management planning process identify mitigations.
• Identify anthropogenic obstacles to migration and through management planning process identify mitigations
• Establish scale sampling regime on each river and compare current age structure with previous collections i.e. Nall’s work in the 1920s and 30s
• Establish tagging projects to examine exploitation rates, recapture rates and spawning locations in collaboration with local Angling Assocs, Fishery Trusts & DSFBs
• Investigate the current population dynamics to establish how many distinct populations are present
• Source and assess relevant data from FRS and other sources on marine issues effecting sea trout
• Liaise widely with local sea trout fisheries and anglers to raise sea trout profile 
• Establish sea trout catch data base schemes with local stakeholder groups
• Identify some of the wider benefits to other fresh water species which would result from the proposed work on sea trout
• Promote sea trout as an important species to the wider community through initiatives such as Sea Trout in the Classroom and by use of linked websites
• Recognise and act upon habitat improvements for all species which will result from work identified specifically for this project
• Identify management advice on practical habitat improvement which will have a knock on effect to other species