A Fisheries Management Plan for the Forth Catchment – Review of Actions, Reprioritisation and Update for 2015-2020
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River Forth Fisheries Trust A Fisheries Management Plan for the Forth Catchment – review of actions, reprioritisation and update for 2015-2020. December, 2014 Tommy McDermott River Forth Fisheries Trust Suite 1F40 Email: [email protected] 2 Commercial Street Tel: 07592 511395 Edinburgh Website: www.fishforth.co.uk/rfft EH6 6JA River Forth Fisheries Trust Contents Executive Summary .......................................................................................................................................................... iv 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. The River Forth Fisheries Trust ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. The Forth District Salmon Fishery Board .............................................................................................................. 1 1.3. The Forth Fishery .............................................................................................................................................. 2 1.4. The Forth District Salmon Fishery Board catchments ....................................................................................... 2 1.5. The 2009 Fishery Management Plan ................................................................................................................ 2 1.6. 2015 Aims and objectives ................................................................................................................................. 3 2. Completed and ongoing work ................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1. Monitoring of fish stocks .................................................................................................................................. 5 2.2. Forth invasive and Non-native species programme ......................................................................................... 6 2.3. Project identification, scoping, and funding ..................................................................................................... 7 2.4. Other activities .................................................................................................................................................. 8 3. Reprioritisation and update of 2009 recommendations .......................................................................................... 9 3.1. Angling and exploitation ................................................................................................................................... 9 3.2. Point source pollution ..................................................................................................................................... 11 3.3. Diffuse water pollution ................................................................................................................................... 12 3.4. Abstraction and water resource management ............................................................................................... 14 3.5. Morphological alteration ................................................................................................................................ 15 3.6. Land and riparian zone use ............................................................................................................................. 19 3.7. Development ................................................................................................................................................... 21 3.8. Stocking and Aquaculture ............................................................................................................................... 22 3.9. Invasive non-native species ............................................................................................................................ 26 3.10. Climate change ............................................................................................................................................ 28 3.11. Transitional, coastal and marine ................................................................................................................. 29 4. Future Considerations ............................................................................................................................................. 31 4.1. Project delivery, management and the role of the Trust ............................................................................... 31 4.2. Research and data management .................................................................................................................... 32 5. Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................................. 33 ii River Forth Fisheries Trust Glossary of Terms and Acronyms (in order of occurrence) RFFT River Forth Fisheries Trust ASFB Association of Salmon Fishery Boards FDFSB Forth District Salmon and Fishery Board Salmonid Here – Atlantic salmon and brown trout CMU Catchment Management Unit FMP Fishery Management Plan WFD Water Framework Directive RBMP River Basin Management Plan Morphology The physical characteristic of rivers Riparian Land adjacent to channels, usually 50m FINNS Forth Invasive Non-Native Species Programme INNS Invasive Non-Native Species SEPA Scottish Environment Protection Agency SNH Scottish Natural Heritage Hydromorphology The interaction between river flows and channel form RAFTS Rivers and Fisheries Trusts of Scotland WEF Water Environment Fund Connectivity The linkage between river reaches, between the river and the river bed, and the floodplain P.A. Potential action PSP Point source pollution DWP Diffuse Water pollution HEP Hydro Electric Power PHABSIM, MesoHABSIM, Methodologies which aim to link flows and salmonid distribution, abundances, and RHAPSA, FHAT habitat quality. Can be used to estimate habitat loss due to water management regimes. Precautionary Principle This states that, where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation Geomorphology The effect of the catchment geology on the river form Ecomorphology The effect that hydro- and geomorphology has on river biota. NFM Natural Flood Management Process restoration A sustainable river restoration philosophy which aims to restore the rivers ability to create, retain and manage habitats, rather than man made attempts to directly create habitats. EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ES Environmental (or Ecological) Statement MMS Marine Scotland Science iii River Forth Fisheries Trust Executive Summary The River Forth Fisheries management Plan from 2009 outlined a series of approaches to direct and best support the management of fish stocks in rivers which discharge into the Forth of Forth and Forth Estuary. This document was aligned with the first WFD RBMP cycle. The terms of both those plans has now come to an end, and this new Fishery Management plan (which will encompass the period 2009 – 2015) has been created to establish the success of the actions proposed in 2009, remove those which are no longer relevant or do not reflect the current scientific evidence base for salmonid management, and issue a new set of priorities. The Forth fishery can be thought of as a “data poor” fishery with very little empirical and robust evidence to support the development of a baseline upon which management principles can be founded. In addition, the fishery is subject to wide and significant range of pressures which impact the quality of available habitat in the catchments within the district. These impacts place negative pressures on the both the quality of the fishery and the overall ecological quality of the rivers. To improve the fishery, it will be necessary to support the overall ecological character. Therefore this document commits the River Forth Fisheries Trust to evidence and catchment based programme of measures to deliver the optimum level of habitats to boost and sustain salmonid (and all native) fish populations. A first step in developing fishery management in the District will be gather robust data on the state of the populations, which does not rely on catch records as the only long term dataset and initially relies on juvenile surveys. It will be necessary over the coming years to implement sound sampling strategies based upon repeatable and repeated survey methodologies, as part of an overall monitoring strategy. To support the biological evidence base, surveys of physical habitat and in-channel, riparian and landscape pressures will be required to determine at- risk areas which demonstrate both declines in physical character and biological communities. Subject to adequate funding, measures will be put in place to restore these areas consistent with the natural state of the channels, utilising the process restoration philosophy and land management and fishery management best practice. To mitigate future pressures, the Trust will endeavour to become a reference location for new planning applications in both the urban and rural environments. This will be done by initiating dialogue with developers, with the ultimate aim that these companies initiate contact prior