Give and take

While measures to help pearl mussels and tagging can aid the plight of salmon, they still face threats at the hands of Scotland’s politicians,

The Prime Minister’s closest aide resigned in January because he caught a fish reserved for licensed fishermen. That was in Sweden where the transgressor caught some common eels, and his defence was that he had done the same since childhood. To imagine that situation in Scotland illustrates the gulf between ordinary folk and Scotland’s politicians. To break the law for the love of fishing is just not Holyrood at all. Instead Scotland’s ministers, echoing the feelings of NASCO and international bodies, say it is time to save the salmon.

In Scotgov’s latest statements an interesting change in mind-set is clear.

Salmon district fishery boards, which Scotland’s government once tried to abolish and usurp, are now useful. Their capacity to raise private finance has been noted – it can replace public money. Adopting phrases once used by these boards in their selfdefence, these bodies are now, ‘the ears and eyes’ of Scottish rivers. Using figures provided by boards, government recognises the £79 million of annual gross value represented by salmon angling.

Local management is recognised along with polite references to the cultural importance of salmon fishing. Netted salmon once fed the country, a fact hard to erase.

Cash is now available for installing fish counters and for assembling data about fish stocks by electro-fishing in rivers, although the roll-out is slow. Salmon rescue may clash with the parallel drive to reintroduce beavers across Scotland, but contradictions in wildlife policy are a common theme in Scotland’s nervous and fashion-driven ruling coalition. The latest reintroduction of beavers to Loch Lomond is sourced from places where the rodents were a problem, a matter overlooked. Damming headwaters, they act like mini hydro-schemes, reducing spawning. But beavers are seen as virtuous – at least for now.

Salmon has benefitted, too, from wider ecological projects by being so central to Scotland’s ecology. On the River Shin in Sutherland an unusual project aims to revive pearl mussels. Freshwater pearl mussels, which can live for a century, are amongst Scotland’s most treasured biota.

However as larvae, mussels grow in the gills of salmon. Here they spend winter, eventually fall off and seed rivers. In due course a shell materialises, occasionally containing the iconic pearls.

Beneath the walls of the lower hydro-dam at Lairg a typical beneath-dam habitat had developed, characterised by large boulders and hills of fine sediment. There was no spawning gravel and the river was clogged-up and sterile for fish-life.

The scene now is dramatically different, capitalising on the flood-free situation below the dam. Large tree-trunks from nearby Borgie Forest are buried in the river forming croys. By arrowing diagonally downriver they have made riffles and pools with oxygenated upper streams. Creating habitat for salmon is not rocket science; all we cannot create is wild salmon.

In late 2022 spawning salmon triumphantly returned, pushing up-river and revelling in the spawning redds provided. Eager breeding pairs duly appeared in this new spawner-friendly habitat. Later on, pearl mussels will be encouraged to find their hosts. Pearl mussels take a ride off salmon in their life-cycle, and in a neat inversion salmon are now getting a ride from pearl mussel restoration.

Pro-active science is to be used by the Missing Salmon Alliance to enlarge knowledge on the River Deveron. Smolts trapped on migration to sea will have pit-tags inserted through small incisions in their bellies. These tiny electronic devices last years. The tracker-fitted smolts will disappear into the wider ocean to far-off wintering and fattening.

Then, the critical bit. On returning the tags will be recognised by strategic responders, including at fishing ports.

This will embrace pelagic (herring and mackerel) trawlers returning to harbour. Pelagic boats are long suspected of seinenetting smolts as by-catch along with their huge hauls of fish. When the tagged smolts start to return as salmon after one, two or three winters, we will know if fishing boats’ capture techniques need amendment, or not. Potentially we get a giant stride in knowledge about the perils facing struggling salmon.

“Salmon has benefitted from wider ecological projects by being so central to Scotland’s ecology