Findhorn, Nairn and Lossie Fisheries Trust Logie Steading, Dunphail, nr , IV36 2QN 01309 611220 [email protected] Minute of FNL Fisheries Trust Annual General Meeting Venue: Long Room, Logie Steading Date: 5th December 2016 at 6.30pm

Present: Mark Laing (Chair), Fred Rhind, Roy Dennis, Frank Clark, David Houldsworth, Philip Mackenzie (Treasurer), Jamie Whittle (Company Secretary), Alasdair Laing, Marcus Braithwaite- Exley, James Dunbar, Sean McLean, Marcus Walters, John Prince, Catriona McNab In Attendance: Robert Laughton (Director), Valerie Wardlaw (Administrator) ACTION 1 Welcome and Apologies Apologies from Rossie MacRae, Ewen Brodie, Jennifer Heatley, Lucy Summers, Andrew Howard, Ian Neale, Anthony Laing, Tony Watts, Gordon Rennie, Seymour Monro. 2 Minutes of Meeting of 8th December 2015 Minutes approved. 3 Matters Arising None 4 Board Elections The Board re-elected Frank Clark, James Dunbar and Roy Dennis (proposed A. Laing, seconded D. Houldsworth), and the meeting confirmed these elections. Mark Laing thanked all Board members for their continued support.

5 Financial Update and Fundraising The Trust has significantly improved its financial position since the start of the year; however a deficit of £7.6K is still anticipated. The deficit will be significant in the next financial year. Fundraising is increasingly difficult, and Mark Laing thanked Bob and Valerie for bringing in the funding for the current range of interesting projects. The Board is discussing potential projects and sources of funding for the future. RD asked that the contributions from rafting organisations be listed in the FNLFT budget and suggested contacting a wider range of river users for donations to the Trust.

6 Director’s Report/Projects for 2016/2017 Link to presentation here. Bob Laughton reported the catch data for 2016 were average for the and Nairn, but there have been reports of good numbers of fish seen in both rivers. The Lossie returns are not available yet; however more fish have been seen than for a number of years. Catch data do not accurately reflect the populations of fish in the rivers- rather they reflect fishing effort. Fishing effort has declined on the Lossie due to the disruption caused by the flood alleviation scheme. Conservation limits are being used to model the health of rivers by the Scottish Government, resulting in a grading scheme. The Findhorn is Grade 1, the Nairn has been regraded for 2017 to a Grade 1 and the Lossie remains a Grade 3.

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Juvenile Fish Surveys- data from these will be incorporated into the Conservation Limits model. This year surveys were carried out on the Findhorn and Lossie with good distribution and abundance of fish found. Juvenile salmon populations in the tributaries have recovered from the 2014 spate; trout populations are taking longer to recover as they are more dependent on bank cover. RL plans to undertake surveys of the Findhorn mainstem in 2017. Fish Passage- Cawdor weir has been surveyed and a consultant is currently costing for a fish pass which the Brackla Distillery will fund. Linkwood Burn weirs have similarly been surveyed and options to improve fish passage are being costed. All the distilleries are now committed to improve fish passage. The weir on the Muckle Burn in Dalvey Estate requires low cost improvements to enable fish passage- RL RL will contact the estate to discuss. INNS control- Bob thanked all the estates, their staff, and the volunteers who helped control INNS this year. Funding obtained by the FNLFT enabled more intensive treatment of INNS along the Lossie and Findhorn. However new sources of infestation are still being found and further funding is being sought to continue control. Crayfish control- Bob thanked the Nairn AA for controlling the signal crayfish in the Geddes Burn for the last ten years- populations are starting to decline and the PhD student is writing up the data obtained from his experiments. Funding for the continuing control and further studentships is being sought by University. JP noted that experiments in England concluded that returning large male crayfish was beneficial as they ate small crayfish. JP will email RL with link to research. JP Projects for 2017- juvenile surveys of the Findhorn mainstem, analysis of catch data, scale analysis, smolt traps in the Nairn and the Divie. Events- duck race and fishing competition. Sawbill data- could all sightings of goosanders and mergansers be sent to RL (date, ALL time, place, numbers, and photos) as this is useful information. Catchment Developments- RL continues to monitor A9/ A96 road upgrades, power line upgrades, rail upgrades, and wind farm developments. JP asked about the correlation between smolt calculations from the juvenile surveys and the actual smolt data obtained from the smolt trap on the Nairn. RL will be RL looking at correlations once the scale samples have been read. JP noted a Rainbow Trout was caught on the Nairn this year- RL confirmed that the Geddes Fishery overflowed a few years ago and rainbow trout will move throughout the river. JP asked if fishing effort is included in the Conservation Limits model- RL confirmed it isn’t included as it is difficult to collect this data. JP recommended that once the Cawdor Weir is accessible to fish, the additional wetted area this opens up is not included in the modelling for Conservation Limits RL for a number the years until fish spawning is re-established.

7 Reports from the Rivers Findhorn- Sean McLean reported a good spring catch, which declined to average during August and September, with the low water levels. Numerous small grilse came into the river in November. The bailiffs recorded 26 incidents of poaching- the majority around Findhorn Bay. Lossie- Fred Rhind reported the catches were reasonable considering the reduced RESEARCH RESTORE EDUCATE

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number of anglers fishing- 42 salmon and 47 sea trout from less than 100 anglers. Numerous multi-sea winter fish, including one over 20lbs, have been seen in the Lossie this year, with a good distribution of salmon and grilse. Redds have been seen upstream of Dallas for the first time since the 1998 flood. There was an excellent, late, run of finnock, and a very late run of grilse in October. Nairn- James Dunbar reported the Nairn AA had a good year with twice as many fish caught as last.

8 Wild Fisheries Reform The Scottish Government did not include WFR in the current programme of legislation and so the current system will be in place until at least 2018. The government has identified a significant funding gap between the revenue raised by DSFBs and Trusts, and the anticipated workload of Fisheries Management Organisations. RAFTS is dissolving in March 2017 and the ASFB is reconstituting as Fisheries Management Scotland, which aims to represent the interests of all freshwater fishery organisations. All DSFBs and Fishery Trusts are eligible to join FMS and the FNLFT board has just agreed to become a member.

9 Windfarm Developments and Flood Alleviation schemes Tom nan Clach WF has started development and RL is consulting with them to prevent damage to burns. A9 upgrade- the next section is Tomatin to Moy and RL is monitoring the bridging of major tributaries. RL is also monitoring the A96 upgrade, railway upgrades, the Tomatin substation, and powerline corridors. Offshore WF development monitoring is producing some interesting information- tracking experiments show that smolts hug the south shore of the Moray Firth rather than swimming near the proposed developments.

10 AOCB RD- would like to see progress on stopping the bottom trawling for prawns near the river mouths- he would like to see a 5 mile exclusion zone from . Marcus MW Walters will give RD contact details of the groups trying to address this issue. MW- informed the meeting that he has angling equipment that can be loaned out for angling development work with schools.

11 Date of 2017 AGM 4th December 2017

12 The Moray Firth Trout Initiative- presentation by Marcus Walters Link to presentation here.

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