The Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) has welcomed today’s publication by Scottish Government of the official 2010 catch statistics for salmon, confirming that the rod catch for 2010 was the highest since consistent records began in 1952.

Alan Williams, Chairman of ASFB, commented: “Last year’s rod catches of salmon and grilse in Scotland represented a major boost for the country’s angling industry and the associated benefits for rural areas. We are also particularly encouraged by the high and increasing percentage of fish released by anglers. This has been largely achieved on a voluntary basis and is testimony to the conservation-minded approach of the majority of anglers”.

Mr Williams added: “We need to be cautious about what catches are telling us about fish stocks. It is important, when drawing comparisons with the past, that we compare like with like. For example in the 1960s, before salmon got anywhere near the Scottish rod fishery, half a million fish or more could be caught annually in Scottish coastal and estuary nets. There was also a catch of over 3000 tonnes at Greenland and the Faroes. The clear message here is that despite strong grilse and summer salmon runs in many parts of Scotland in 2010, salmon are still nowhere near as abundant as they were 50 years ago”.

Mr Williams continued: “We should also recognise that 2010 was another poor year for spring salmon. In addition the southern part of the West Highlands saw no improvement in catches”.

Excellent news; I understand the Tweed rod catch alone exceeded 23,000.

More figures from the report extract below; the 67% returned is good and the release rate for spring fish (the most fragile component) was 82%.


2010 a record year for rod catches of salmon | Association of Salmon Fishery Boards

Provisional catch data compiled for the 2011 Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) and Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland (RAFTS) Annual Review – published today – confirms that rod catches of salmon in 2010 are likely to be the highest since consistent records began in 1952. For the first time the rod catch will comfortably exceed 100,000, of which more than two thirds were released back into the water to spawn.
The total compares to 72,595 in 2009 and a ten year average (2000-2009) of 76,431.
The previous record of 96,488 was set in 1988.

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Save the softmouth trout

Take the Tweed catch from the final total, and maybe even the Dee catch,(also on the upgrade) and things aint so rosy for the rest of the Salmon rivers in Scotland.
These two rivers probably accounted for over one third of all Scottish rod caught salmon in 2010!!.
Not trying to be the prophet of doom, but there is still many a long mile to go in the regeneration of our salmon rivers.
regards
bert

I'm with Bert on this one.caution needed.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

No hiding behind the numbers here, its good to see

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The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly', meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood sucking parasites'