Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Proposed salmon conservation measures dismissed as “totally inadequate”

Salmon
Salmon

Anglers will be forced to release early spring salmon under proposals being put forward by the Scottish Government.

Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse announced he is looking at a ban on keeping fish caught between the start of the season in January and April 1 and for a delay in the start of the netting season.

The Scottish Government will soon consult on conservation measures to come into force in 2015 for an initial five-year period.

But fishing interests dismissed the proposals as “totally inadequate” and pointed out fish run into the summer.

The mandatory ban on keeping fish was announced just days after the Salmon & Trout Association (Scotland) (S&TA) called for an immediate halt to netting and more to be done to encourage anglers to return fish to the water following “one of the worst runs in decades”.

Mr Wheelhouse said: “The Scottish Government places a high value on conservation of our wild Scottish salmon and other wild fish stocks.

“While I recognise the tremendous contribution that catch and release and the voluntary cessation of netting have had in previous seasons, I think more can be done to provide certainty about the protection of spring stocks.”

Hugh Campbell Adamson, S&TA chairman, said: “We welcome the minister’s interest in protecting the endangered spring salmon , but what he proposes is totally inadequate.

“It is well accepted that the spring runs continue to the end of June, and we would ask for protection for the entire period.

“His proposal would save less than 200 fish; our proposal would save over 6,500 (a further 2,000 released by anglers, and 4,500 not killed by netsmen).”

In a statement the Association of Salmon Fishery Boards (ASFB) said: “In January 2014, ASFB highlighted our concerns about the low numbers of returning spring salmon and recommended that no fish should be killed before May 15.

“We welcome the recognition of the issue by the Scottish Government and we look forward to engaging with the consultation process to develop positive, evidence-based proposals for the protection of spring salmon across Scotland.”