River Deveron, Scotland
At the Board’s AGM in September, Andrew Wallace, Chairman of the Rivers & Fisheries Trusts of Scotland, gave an informative overview of how District Salmon Fishery Boards and River Trusts are encouraged to work together to improve our salmon rivers – a topic which is often the cause of much confusion.
Boards were founded in the late 19th century and given statutory powers covering salmon and sea trout only. Boards are run by salmon fishing owners and angler representatives. The Deveron Board also includes representatives from all three angling associations on the river. The Boards raise money to look after their rivers by taxing the owners (NB not the anglers) of the fishing beats. Currently, this averages £40 per fish caught across Scotland.
Boards are empowered to protect fish from poaching (some 250 water bailiffs are employed in Scotland) and to ensure the free passage of migratory fish. They control fishing methods and seasons and can impose conservation measures – e.g. catch and release. Boards are charged also with protecting spawning grounds.
Boards have served Scotland’s salmon rivers extremely well over the years. They are local, completely self funded, un-bureaucratic and flexible. They achieve, at zero cost to the public purse, a massive conservation gainwhich government agencies could only dream of attaining, and only at vast expense to the tax payer.
However, there are weaknesses in the structure. The legal remit of Boards covers only salmon and sea trout; they are hugely reliant on volunteers (no Board members are paid for attending meetings and expenses are not recoverable). Despite the fact that Board members are looking after something that they actually own, they are, nevertheless, open to criticism, mostly politically driven, that they are not “representative”.
Partly to address these perceived weaknesses, a network of Fisheries’ Trusts has sprung up across Scotland. In contrast to Boards, the Trusts’ remit covers all species of fish and their work extends to controlling bank side vegetation (such as giant hogweed) and removal of non-native invasive species (such as the North American mink). Unlike Boards, the Trusts’ fund raising is not constrained by what they can squeeze out of their existing members. Trusts are able to tap multiple sources including other environmental charities, lottery funds, land fill tax funds, fees for contract work for neighbouring fishery boards and subscriptions from anglers and members of the general public.
The impact on salmon fisheries’ management has been phenomenal; last year, our Board’s relatively modest contribution to our own Trust of £20,000 (£5 per fishcaught) was leveraged into £160,000 (£40 per fish caught) worth of improvement works to the river. These ranged from habitat enhancement and control of invasive non-native species to the provision of hatchery services and an educational programme for our Primary Schools.
Our Trust is part of a national network of 25 Rivers & Fisheries Trusts in Scotland, employing a network of 60 fisheries biologists and managers, and with a combined turnover of £2.5 million per annum. We are able, therefore, to tap into an extraordinarily broad network of research and monitoring work, educational programmes and management advice. This access to leading edge science and best practice is critical in developing our understanding of our own catchment and assisting the development of our own fisheries management plan. Knowledge of the factors affecting wild fish stocks at a national level can only improve our own fisheries management at the local level.
Importantly, we are able also to address that politically charged imputation that salmon fishery managers are “unrepresentative”. The “Strategic Framework for Scottish Freshwater Fisheries” paper produced by the Scottish Government encourages a move towards “all species” and catchment management and the creation of co-ordinated structures for management that are flexible to local needs. The management structure of Boards and Trusts effectively allows anyone with a serious interest in our rivers to have their say.
As the world of species conservation grows ever more complex, increasing demands are made on fishery managers, whether from pressure from continuing development , or sporadic leaps in scientific understanding, or new government aspirations. Boards, with their de facto part time structures, would really begin to struggle if left on their own. We are extremely fortunate to have one of the best and most professionally run Trusts in Scotland and one which is continually at the leading edge of science and best practice, often running pilot schemes for other Trusts to emulate. We have been able to take advantage of this and create an almost seamless river management structure between the Board and Trust – different and separate legal entities, but both working together for the mutual benefit of our river.
It may be that the fresh water fisheries management structure is not so half baked after all, as Boards bring a wealth of experience, common sense and local knowledge to balance the Trusts’ scientific expertise and technical knowhow. Our record on the Deveron speaks for itself, and I would encourage you all to look at the tremendous achievements we have made over the past 10 years and the enormous investment we continue to make in improving our river for the future.
Malcolm Hay
Chairman of the Board
