Fishing for the truth about angling in Scotland
THREE new websites launched recently by the salmon and sea trout angling lobby are worth bookmarking. While the general objectives of the sites are not identical, there is a common topic which is clear – the ongoing campaign to raise awareness of the risks of untrammeled expansion of inshore salmon farming to wild migratory fish….
Continue ReadingSO, Ben Fogle is keen to buy the ‘castaway’ Hebridean island of Taransay. I hope he’s successful. He is one person likely to ensure it remains what it is, a small jewel of isolation in our increasingly crowded world. I have been fortunate to visit it on several occasions as a result of family ties,…
Continue ReadingIT IS heartening today to see two organisations calling for our politicians to stand up and be counted – at least as far as supporting the future of our wild fish are concerned. As I suggested here at the beginning of the year, that action to put our politicians on the spot on the future…
Continue ReadingSALMON anglers in Scotland had a bumper year in 2010 according to provisional figures released today. Rod catches of salmon are expected to be well over 100,000 – the highest since consistent records began nearly 60 years ago. More than two-thirds were released back into the water. But the record-breaking total – and the prospects…
Continue ReadingAPOLOGIES for misleading readers over my last post regarding the proposed introduction of boating charges on Loch Lomond this year. Only the £30 boat registration charge is voluntary; the launching charges at the Duncan Mills and Milarrochy slipways are compulsory and take effect from April 1. Loch Lomond game anglers now face daily fees of…
Continue ReadingFEARS of compulsory launching and boat registration charges on Loch Lomond next year appear to have receded, if not quite vanished entirely beneath the waves, following the recent board meeting of the national park’s governing body. A swift change of tactics by the board of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs national park authority (NPA) brought…
Continue ReadingLOCH LOMOND, scene of a long-running acrimonious feud over administration of angling, is set for a further storm this week about plans by Scotland’s first national park authority to introduce charges for boat launching and registration of water-borne craft. A board meeting of the park authority, which receives a £7 million annual subsidy from the…
Continue ReadingSALMON farming injected more than £500 million into the Scottish economy in 2008 with over £84 million worth of capital investment during the last three years, according to an aquaculture industry research report published today. The study, which aims to underline the value of the salmon farming industry to rural economies, comes amid growing animosity…
Continue Reading“BULLYING TACTICS” by salmon farmers forced the Scottish Government into a policy u-turn on publishing the results of audits into fish farm escapes and disease infestation, one of the UK’s oldest conservation charities claims today. Threatened with possible legal action by the Scottish Salmon Producers’ Organisation (SSPO) if the results of the inspection reports were…
Continue ReadingIT CAN hardly have come as much surprise to Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond to find a letter postmarked ‘Faroes’ on his desk this week. He might reasonably have been anticipating it since June 2008. That was when the Greenland and Faroese authorities first targeted Scotland – along with Norway – for a lamentable lack…
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