I remember when we all chipped in to buy out the North east Drift nets.a few guys refused to be bought out.I asked many times if a limit was going to be set for these remaining nets.I could not get an answer..I see that they caught 22000 salmon, that's nearly as much as the total catch was before we bought out the nets.
Surely it's time to do something about this slaughter.Or was the 6million a waste of ours and the goverments money.

Jim

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

Did you also buy out the Tweed Sweep nets?the River Tyne is now one of the premier salmon rivers in the UK, so how does that stand with the netsmen? the Hatchery at Keilder has made a big contribution to the salmon returns on the Tyne, Scottish east coast rivers have had a good year as well, its the problem of the west coast rivers that needs to be adressed, how much did you "chip" in
by the way? easker1

The west coast problem is of a different magnitude.but the nets on the east coast need addressing.
How much did I contribute,my pocket money of course.Cheeky beggar.

Jim

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

I agree Jim 22, 000 salmon is wholesale slaughter and too much if we are to preserve the salmon stocks for the future.

BK

I wonder how many salmon are taken on the high seas, we heard an Apocryphal tale about a Mackerel Purse seiner that took 40 tons in one haul, and went off to Denmark to land them, so the NE netsmen arent the whole problem just the one you read about,in the 1920s one netting station up the Tyne landed 24,000
salmon iin a summer season , this was one of 8 stations on the Tyne,the reason some of these guys didnt stop fishing was that some of them had no other work to go to, together with the investment in boats and gear, I 've no Idea how much sweety money you put into the buy out but it wasnt enough
easker1

Jim,
average catches of drift net fishery off berwick was nearer 80,000 per annum was it not?
Yes 20,000 is a lot of fish.
Almost exactly the same number as caught on Tweed by rod last year, (the majority returned of course?)
Point is, once the title to the remaing licences expire, either through failure to renew in any one year, or death of the licence holder, the drift net fishery will not exist.
Yes we spent a hell of a lot of money reducing the number of licences, and indeed was money well spent, as the current level of returning salmon could not sustain a near 80,000 kill rate per annum on stocks.
Netting times/days have been vastly reduced, but due to the increasing numbers of returning fish, caught and killed, numbers are high, but imagine what it would have been like on the rivers now,without the buy out.
All east coast rivers have seen the benefit of the buy out, and will continue to do so, so your pocket money was well spent.
regards
bert

As far as I can find out.these licences do not expire with the holder.

Jim

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

You may want to come to the Notheren Hotel in Brechin on the 26th of this month which is an open meeting to hear about the possible extension of the netting season at the mouth of the South Esk. It is proposed that they be granted permission to continue netting for the first two weeks in September for the next 3 years if they give up fishing to the end of April.
There is a full report in the Mearns leader paper last week, sorry don't know how to upload it onto the forum

Thanks for the heads up.

Jim

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

Easker, incorrect on various levels; the Tweed sweep nets bear no resemblance to the big drift net operation off the NE coast. Drift nets were banned in Scotland in 1962 because of their ruthless efficiency. Sweep netting by its very nature has to take place within estuary limits and takes that river's stock - that is manageable. Tagging has shown the NE drift net fishery, because it is practised offshore, takes fish from a range of east coast rivers - how can that be managed when you cannot tell which river those fish are heading for and whether that river can sustain an undetermined level of exploitation?

As for the Kielder hatchery's contribution to the Tyne salmon stock, well there is another red herring, despite the near evangelical pronouncements of the then Kielder hatchery manager, the salmon stock was already improving due to the estuary cleanup.