Forth District Salmon Fishery Board The Clubhouse 106 Biggar Road Edinburgh EH10 7DU Website: http://forthdsfb.org Email: [email protected] Tel: 0131 445 1527 Current Board: • Ashfield (Crown Estates Commissioners) (Upper) – Represented by Fiona Simpson (mandated) • Cambusmore (Cambusmore Estate) (Upper) – Represented by Fen Howieson (mandated) • Lanrick (Lanrick Estates) (Upper) – Represented by Aly Dickson Leny (Drumardoch Estates) (Upper) – Represented by Tony Cameron • Allan (Allan Water Angling & Improvement Association) (Upper) – Represented by John McKenzie (mandated) • Forth (Stirling Council) (Lower) – Represented by Scott Mason (mandated) • Angler Rep – Chris Thomas • Angler Rep – Jason Walls • Angler Rep – Bob Baird • Tenants netsman - Vacant All Proprietors were elected on 23rd May 2016 under the Triennial elections. The anglers’ reps were co- opted after an invitation to all clubs and associations and wider social media etc at the FDSFB committee meeting on 23rd August. Contacts Clerk (Alison Baker) 07594 332323 [email protected] Superintendent (Lee Fisher) 07887 835549 [email protected] Operations Manager (Jonathan Louis) 07864 999135 [email protected] Chair [email protected] Finances (Managed Estates) 01786 462519 [email protected] Introduction to the Forth District Salmon Fishery Board. Legislation The Forth District Salmon Fishery Board was established under the 1862 and 18681 Salmon Fisheries Legislation, then subsequently amended in the Salmon Act 1986 and the Salmon Conservation (Scotland) Act 2001. This legislation has been recently amalgamated under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 20032 and further amended under the Aquaculture and Fisheries (Scotland) Acts 2007 and 20133. The Board is empowered under Part 3 of the 2003 Act and the powers it holds and actions it can take are set out in this part of the Act and it is recommended that this is reviewed by all new members of the Board - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/15/part/3 1 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1868/123/pdfs/ukpga_18680123_en.pdf 2 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2003/15/contents 3 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2013/7/pdfs/asp_20130007_en.pdf The Board is responsible for the whole District and this includes more than 3,600 km2 of water including all rivers which discharge into the Forth Estuary and the Firth of Forth. The main rivers are Tyne, Midlothian Esks, Water of Leith, Almond, Avon, Carron, Forth (and Teith), Allan, Devon and Leven. It also includes all coastal burns which are of varying sizes, the main ones being Bannockburn, Biel, Black Devon but there are a large number. The water courses also include the lochs within the systems, some of these are natural such as Loch Voil, Loch Lubnaig and Loch Leven, others are headwater reservoirs e.g. Glencorse, Venachar and Katrine. The lochs have varying degrees of influence and many have adapted connections e.g. impoundments or screens. Whilst the remit of the Board is in relation to migratory salmonid species – Atlantic salmon and sea trout, the District has a wide range of fisheries within it from ‘put and take’ and pike etc. together with non- commercial species such as eels and lamprey. A significant amount of fishing also is resident brown trout fishing. Due to barriers etc there are large parts of the District inaccessible to salmon. The limits of the District of the River Forth shall be – on the North, Fife Ness; on the South, the Boundary between the Counties of Haddington and of Berwick; and that the District shall consist of the Portions of the Sea Coast and the Estuary, and the River contained between the said Points. (1868 Salmon Act). And shall extend seaward for 5 kilometres from mean low water spring and landward to include the catchment area of each river which flows directly or indirectly into the sea within the coastal limits of the salmon fishery district (2003 Salmon Act). The estuary is split into two parts by the 1868 Act which is still the relevant legislation. The Estuarine limits of the River Forth extend to ‘A straight line drawn from the Hound Point on the South Shore to St. David’s Point on the North’. Roughly just below the Forth Rail Bridge. The significance of this is in the current Conservation Limits Regulations which have prohibited netting of salmon from coastal nets but not estuarine – see more below. The 2003 Act tries to have a definition on estuary limits where they are not defined but they are not really specific enough. It has not been a management issue in the past but with different parts of the district being categorised differently it has become relevant and hopefully a definition will be forthcoming. There is also a formal definition of the Lower and Upper Proprietors. But clearly in 1868 there were only two rivers of significance - on the Forth, the Craigforth Cruive Dyke; and on the Allan, the Scottish Central Railway Bridge. For other rivers there is no legal definition so in effect all proprietors other than those with estuary or coastal netting stations are upper (as they are generally above or close to the tidal limit) and all netting stations are lower. This only has significance because of the make-up of the Boards Proprietors requiring both Upper and Lower Proprietorial representation. The District has a number of protected areas. These can be found via SNH interactive map - http://www.snh.gov.uk/publications-data-and-research/snhi-information-service/map/ The main one relevant to the District in terms of salmon is the Teith Special Area of Conservation. This is to protect primarily Sea, River and Brook Lamprey with Atlantic Salmon being a supporting criterion. The SAC covers an area which includes the Teith tributary plus the downstream section of the Forth Main stem from the confluence to the Stirling Rail Bridge. All migratory salmonid fishing in Scotland is owned by the Crown Estate unless it has been transferred to another person. The ownership of salmon fishing does not run with the land. In the Forth we have a significant number of fishings which are still held by the Crown Estate, mainly they are leased to clubs. The Board works with Crown Estates in terms of creating new fisheries where there is demand and also recently in the coordination of information to ensure that the records we have are correct with the transfer of the Crown Estates in Scotland to Scotland. The ability for the Crown to issue leases to clubs and associations also for there to be in the Forth, a wide range of publicly available fishing. Forth District fisheries All fisheries in the District are registered with Valuation Office and entered onto the valuation roll. This is held with the Scottish Assessors Association and any of the fisheries ca be viewed on their website. (https://www.saa.gov.uk/ ) A revaluation is undertaken periodically (next is due 2017). The valuation office request information from all listed proprietors on the catch returns for the last 5 years, income, expenditure, etc. and they then value the fishery. There are 195 fisheries in the Forth District and we have three valuation offices. There is currently a minimum value of £50. The values across the District range from £50 to £11,000. On some rivers there are few fisheries e.g. the Avon only has 2, whereas the Tyne has 30. Salmon fishing rights have only been ‘activated’ where salmon are known to be present. This is a bit tenuous as there some right above impassable barriers and the Crown owns the rights regardless of whether there are salmon present. It is generally believed that local management is required and generally they have been left in abeyance if this is not in place. There are areas which still need to be tidied up and we do h=not have an accurate map of where each fishery is. Netting Stations There are 45 netting in the District owned by a range a people from SNH, BP, Fife Council, large estates, individuals and by the FDSFB (9). Approx. 4-6 are active within the Estuarine Area. Open and closed times These are also set in the legislation and back again to the 1868 Act. The closed time for the Forth is from the 27th August to 10th February, with an extension for rod and line from 27th August to 15th October. The Season has been further extended to its current form, i.e. from 1st February and to end of October, however the exact byelaw is ‘missing’. Other Regulations The Conservation of Salmon (Annual Close Time and Catch and Release) (Scotland) Regulations 20144 Brought in for the 2015 season, this regulation prohibits the killing of salmon in the Forth District before 31st March (and incidentally states the Forth season dates as being from 1st February to 31st October). This applies to Atlantic salmon only and not sea trout. The Conservation of Salmon (Scotland) Regulations 20165 Brought in for the 2016 season, this regulation categorises all Districts across Scotland plus the SACs. The three categories are Category Probability of Effectively Advice Meeting CL CL Met in: 1 At least 80% 4 out of 5 Exploitation is sustainable therefore no additional years management action is currently required. This recognises the effectiveness of existing non-statutory local management interventions. 2 60-80% 3 out of 5 Management action is necessary to reduce exploitation; years mandatory catch and release will not be required in the first instance, but this will be reviewed annually. 4 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2014/327/pdfs/ssi_20140327_en.pdf 5 http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2016/115/pdfs/ssi_20160115_en.pdf Category Probability of Effectively Advice Meeting CL CL Met in: 3 Less than 60% ≤ 2 out of 5 Exploitation is unsustainable therefore management actions years required to reduce exploitation for 1 year i.e.