How you help to save salmon in Moray’s rivers
Last year saw Atlantic salmon classed as endangered in the UK for the first time. Meanwhile, the rod catch on Scotland’s rivers also became the lowest on record.
With these twin facts in mind, a new conservation award for wild Salmon has been launched.
Scotland is not unique, with some rivers in Norway recently closed to anglers as stocks moved below safe thresholds. However the SGA Fishing Group, which represents Scottish river ghillies and workers, is set to reward frontline action by launching the SGA Wild Salmon Conservation Award.
Individuals taking action on rivers or riverbanks to restore habitats, flows or spawning grounds for salmon could be prime candidates for recognition.
Similarly, individuals tackling invasive species, managing and monitoring predation levels, helping boost insect life or even those helping to evolve stocking best practice will all be considered.
Names can be put forward by estates, river beats, angling clubs, river boards and trusts or anglers themselves.
Bill Drew, of the SGA Fishing Group, a standalone fishing arm of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, said: “Salmon do not face one or two challenges. The species requires action on many levels.
“There are great organisations looking at issues impacting salmon at sea. This award, however, is for those taking local actions, doing the small, joined-up things on our own rivers, that can make a real difference.
“Salmon provide us with so much. Without salmon and trout, you wouldn’t have freshwater pearl mussels, which are dependent upon them for new life. On another level, without salmon, we wouldn’t have the jobs and communities that have grown up around our rivers.
“We need action on all levels and that is what this award focuses on. It rewards action.”
The closing date for nominations is Friday, July 26. Email: info@scottishgamekeepers.co.uk
